Oxford to Bletchley Park - transportation

My goodness. This isn't an easy trip. I don't have personal experience of this journey, but here's what I think may be the best option.

1. Take Megabus from Central Oxford to Milton Keynes central railway station: https://uk.megabus.com/ [Later edit: this bus operates as the Stagecoach X5]

2. Take the short train journey from Milton Keynes Central to Bletchley: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

I have visited Bletchley Park, so I know that the entrance is just a short walk from the Bletchley train station. I hope you get to visit; I liked Bletchley Park so much that I'd like to visit again.

Despite what map distances might suggest, this trip would be faster from London than from Oxford. What I'm seeing is that, from Oxford, the train will take roughly 2 to 2-1/2 hours, and there will probably be two transfers required (there's at least one single-transfer option). The bus would be faster--1 to 1-1/2 hours. I'm not sure whether there are direct buses. One company serving the route is Megabus; Rome2Rio.com indicates there are also London Midland buses operating more frequently, but following the link gets you to a London Northwest Railway webpage about rail-replacement buses. I didn't dig any deaper than that, but it appears that for the foreseeable future there will be rather a lot of buses between Oxford and Bletchley (again, not sure about transfers needed). The Bletchley rail station is a short walk from Bletchley Park.

By comparison to the travel times from Oxford cited above, there are frequent trains from London taking 35 minutes to 1 hour.

For train tickets purchased not long before your travel date, the cost from London would be a lot lower than the cost from Oxford. Buying Advance tickets early could probably narrow that gap a lot.

Not easy, I'm afraid for this year. Next year, or whenever it is finished, you will be able to take a train from either of Oxford's stations straight to Bletchley, from whence it is a 5 minute doddle across the street and around the corner.

That's the resurrection of the Varsity Line which used to link Cambridge and Oxford via Bletchley.

Alas houses and such took over thanks to Beeching and his Cuts and the Varsity Line is no more.

The new version on a similar but different alignment is now called (at least for now) East West Rail, and it is growing by leaps and bounds on the Oxford - Bicester - Bletchley half, and has not yet made it out of the starting blocks on the Bletchley - Bedford - somewhere - somewhere else - Cambridge half.

In the meantime it is the X5 I'm afraid. It is an express bus, less zippy now than pre-pandemic, between Oxford and Milton Keynes via Bicester and Buckingham, which used to continue Bedford and Cambridge but which now ends in St Neots for connection to another.

From Milton Keynes it is a 4 minute train one stop to Bletchley.

<>EDIT<> just above where I said that the X5 ends in St Neots, they have cut it back further and it now ends at Bedford.

I'll be back after dinner to deal with the load of guff propounded by rome2rio - just take it from me that it is guff.

don't take it down because I like you, just not what was given to you

<>EDIT<>

OK, back from turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, lots of veg and home made Fanny Farmer gravy. If I fall asleep it is your fault. ;-)

Again, please don't take it personally - R2R puts out some real stinkers sometimes and I'm here to set the record straight. This is personal knowledge from having worked many years in that area, and having had employees who depended on the X5 and its little brother the S5.

I'm not sure whether there are direct buses. One company serving the route is Megabus; Rome2Rio.com indicates there are also London Midland buses operating more frequently, but following the link gets you to a London Northwest Railway webpage about rail-replacement buses. I didn't dig any deaper than that, but it appears that for the foreseeable future there will be rather a lot of buses between Oxford and Bletchley (again, not sure about transfers needed).

There is no direct bus from Oxford to Bletchley.

Megabus and Stagecoach used to be more related. Megabus used to be Stagecoach's cheap cheap long distance (fares as low as £1 but very few of them) operation and in 2005 some Megabus seats became available on the X5, but I have never seen it branded as a Megabus. It usually is more associated with Stagecoach Gold, with a coach-like appearance, nice seats, chargers and wifi (disconinued during covid due to cost and not restored yet). Since 2022 Megabus has been owned by Scottish Citilink which is only partly owned by Stagecoach.

When you are looking for X5 schedules and information look on the Stagecoach website https://www.stagecoachbus.com/plan-a-journey

There is no longer a company called London Midland. It has been gone since I retired from them in 2018, it changed ownership and name just before to London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Trains. They run no buses and never have done. What might have been found is the Rail Replacement Bus service now replacing the trains on the Bletchley to Bedford Marston Vale branch line. Since Vivarail which provided LNWR an exotic London Underground train modified to use a truck engine went broke, and with that took away their service contract for that experimental train there have not been actual trains to work that branch so therefore the Rail Replacement Buses. The train company contracts for them but does not run them.

And finally - no there will not be lots of buses between Oxford and Milton Keynes or Bletchley.

The only viable route is X5 Oxford to Milton Keynes and one stop on a LNWR train to Bletchley. The X5 is participating in the £2 single fare nationwide government scheme until the end of March.

The only reasonable alternative is Chiltern trains Oxford to London Marylebone, tube to Euston station and train to Bletchley or Great Western Railway from Oxford to Paddington, tube to Euston and as above.

Sorry to be so pedantic and so long winded. Rome2Rio is used by many people and I am sure that they are useful for many things, but it burns my wick when they get so much so wrong so often and distribute it as truth.

Sorry Suz and acraven

As to travel times, the Megabus (operated as Stagecoach Bus number X5) trip from Oxford to Milton Keynes Central, is shown as 1 hour 26 minutes. The train trip from Milton Keynes Central to Bletchley is shown as 4 minutes and the fares shown are £5 or less.

I agree; if you plug in Oxford to Bletchley in the National Rail planner, the result is a long complicated journey. I tried the National Express (bus) planner, but the service seemed to take you to a coach station on the M1, from which Bletchley is another tiresome haul. I know, the trip from Euston to Bletchley is a snap! The options from Oxford are not nearly as nice.

ETA: I was writing this as Nigel was posting so I unwittingly duplicated a few things he wrote.

Further Edit:

Sorry Suz

No problem, Nigel. Although my first post above doesn't make it clear, the bus I listed is the Stagecoach X5, although I got the information from the Megabus website - uk.megabus.com - where the journeys can be located and the tickets are for sale.

AFAIK you and I agree as to transport from Oxford to Bletchley Park. And, I didn't use Rome2Rio, LOL.

Thanks, Nigel. I usually dig deeper before posting but didn't realize Rome2Rio was also fudging the names of the transportation providers. I thought that, at least, would be correct.

Thanks for the responses...it looks like I was on the same track....difficult to determine easily! I imagine renting a car would be the best option, although my husband refuses to drive overseas....and I'm a bit rusty on the left side of the road. I may check with our hotel concierge(assuming they have one) and see if they can give some options. Thanks!

Re- All the above. Until October 2024 do not on any account book the Oxford to Milton Keynes Station bus through Megabus. They charge £7.20 + £1 booking fee. If you pay on the bus the on the day fare (which you can also buy on the Stagecoach app) is just £2 (£2.50 from October 2023).
More confusingly this same service bus can also be purchased (but only to Milton Keynes Coachway, not to the town centre) through National Express.
There are also local buses #5, 6 and 100 from Milton Keynes to Bletchley Bus Station - at least every 10 minutes- for the same £2/£2.50 fare. These connect directly with the X5.
Local bus #3 (4 times per hour) and X5 (twice an hour) link the Coachway to the City Centre.

If you have any chance of doing a trip to Bletchley if/while you are in London it will be a much simpler train ride, Euston to Bletchley then the 5 minute walk to the park entrance.

I hope you can visit Bletchley. We’d been to London 10+ times and we never got out to Bletchley until last summer. It was fabulous. There are so many well done restorations and displays. We spent 5+ hours there and couldn’t see everything.

Having stayed in a village near Bletchley (Little Brickhill) and gone to Oxford from there, I can attest it is impracticable by public transport. Do what I did and rent a car. Its a little over an hour's drive through nice countryside.

Little Brickhill is south of Bletchley and even further south of Milton Keynes. As the OP is travelling from Oxford to Bletchley, anywhere south of there is off the OP's route.

Little Brickhill is south of Bletchley

Of course. 10 minutes drive away. I didn't say he should go there. But the transportation options would be nearly identical.

Thanks again for all the comments. We did not go to London this trip, which is why I was asking for transport from Oxford to Bletchley. Of course London to Bletchley would have been simple! Also a car would make it an easy trip. We took a bus to Milton Keynes central RR station and then a quick 5 minute train ride to Bletchley. With detailed research it was worth the trouble to experience such a fascinating part of WWII history. It’s pretty much a full day!