I will be in London in a couple of weeks and plan on taking a day trip to Oxford using the "Oxford tube" bus service from Victoria Station. Once in Oxford I will take a walking tour that begins at the Oxford Information Centre, 15-16 Broad St.

How far is the "Oxford tube" bus stop to the Oxford Information Centre? Is it walkable?

Thanks!

The bus stop is in St Aldate's which is about a 5 min walk from the TIC.

Easily walkable. Just go across Gloucester Green Market Sq to where the taxi's are parked. Go to the right a few yds until you come to George St., go left and continue pass Cornmarket St (pedestrian) and onto Broad St. George St actually turns into Broad St. The O.I.C. is a few yds along on your right. Probably takes about 3/4 minutes.

Are you sure historytraveler? The one and only time I took the Oxford tube, the stop for getting off was in St Aldate's. I know Gloucester Green well and assumed we would get out there -- but the driver had us all disembark in St Aldate's.

I got the impression folks boarded for London in Gloucester Green but got off in St Aldate's. But it could have been a special situation - construction and/or congestion at the bus station or something. The driver was not having a good day so I didn't ask him for details. And I was headed up the High anyway so I was glad they had us get off in St Aldate's.

meant to add -- Douglas, don't worry whether you get off at Gloucester Green or in St Aldate's, both are a very easy walk to the TIC.

I do know that the tube makes a number of stops once in actually gets to Oxford, but I've always taken the bus all the way to Glocester Green simply because it was closest to my final destination. I have no idea why you were made to disimbark at St. Aldgate's. I think your assumption about construction was the likely reason. There's been a lot of that in the past few years. I know when I lived there, the bus companies were grumpy about some of the changes being made.
Needless to say, you're right that it's a short walk regardless.

Sorry my last post obviously refers to janisj's comments.

Spellcheck where are you? That's disembark.

A more likely scenario is that the driver wanted to turf every one out as it was the end of his shift. Much easier to head from St Aldate's back to the garage than from Gloucester Green. Bound to be a bacon sandwich with the driver's name on it at the depot canteen.
If you have a map of Oxford, another equally short route, and far more scenic than Cornmarket or George Street, is to get off at Queen's Lane and either walk up that lane or venture a little further along High Street and walk across Radciffe Square. It's not essential as your walking tour will cover this route anyway, just an alternative.

Bookmarking! I will be in Oxford and London in March. This is helpful. Thanks!

You can either get off at the High Street/Queen's Lane stop or the Gloucester Green stop (the last one). There's not a huge difference in terms of distance to the Oxford Information Center, which is very close to Boswells on Broad Street.

I'd recommend taking Oxford Espress over the Oxford Tube ... I've had bad experiences with the Tube in the past. Prices are the same, and they stop at the same places in Oxford.

I'm curious. Why not just take the train out of London's Paddington Station directly to Oxford?

The Oxford tube is cheaper, goes from central London to central Oxford and goes far more frequently than the train (and all night).

For the train, by the time you've travelled to Paddington, bought a ticket in advance and waited for a train, it often takes the same time and only goes to Oxford station (10/15 minutes walk to the city centre).

Personally I usually take the train, but I can see the advantages of the Oxford tube.

So, JoeTro, what is the Oxford Express?

The rival bus company to the Oxford Tube.

Besides net cost - whether the Oxford tube/express or the Paddington train is better for you depends a lot on where in London you are starting from.

If you are staying in Paddington/Bayswater/Queensway, the train might work out better. But from Victoria etc the coach is easier.

From some other neighborhoods it would be 6 of 1, half dozen of the other -- so just flip a coin.

The Oxford Tube also has pick up points near Marble Arch and Nottinghill Gate.

The walk from the train station is a bit further (to TIC) but still doable.

I'm looking at taking the Oxford Tube bus for my trip in June as well. One reason why it appealed to me was that the cheap train fares aren't available until after the morning rush. I'm thinking that I can take an early bus (7ish) and have more time in Oxford (which I hope to use for a trip to Blenheim in the morning) for slightly less than the train fare. Does that sound reasonable?

Yes.

I think you would be very rushed to do Oxford and Blenheim in one day. I spent about 3-4 hours at Blenheim if I remember correctly (the gardens are massive and great to walk around), and it was maybe 45 minutes - 1 hour away. You will have to pick and choose what you want to see in Oxford. The other consideration is that many colleges have limited opening hours to the public.