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Post by wirewiper on Aug 17, 2019 18:07:29 GMT
Reading Buses is to trial an all-electric bus. Yellow 26-liveried ADL Enviro400H no. 205 will have its diesel engine removed and additional batteries installed so it can operate entirely on electric power.
This is purely an experiment for now. A roll-out of electric vehicles would require significant investment in charging facilities, so for now Reading Buses remains committed to using Compressed Natural Gas.
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 18, 2019 13:10:41 GMT
Not previously mentioned are the two special Shuttle Bus services that Reading Buses operates each year for the Reading Festival. This year the services run from Wednesday 21st August through to Monday 26th August. A temporary "Bus Station" is set up in the grounds of Rivermead Leisure Centre, adjacent to the Festival Red Entrance/Exit (the Leisure Centre itself is closed from Thursday to Monday). Route 98 operates from Reading Station (North Interchange, stop ND) to Rivermead. There is a continuous service through Sunday night/Monday morning after the Festival ends, with frequent departures between 21.00 and 00.40 and again from 04.00 to 12.00. Last bus leaves the Festival site at 14.00. Route 97 operates from Rivermead into Reading Town Centre, calling at Friar Street stop FH outside Sainsbury's. A limited service operates on the Wednesday from 12.00 to 21.00, the service then operates from Thursday through to Sunday, between around 09.00 and midnight each day. There is no service on the Monday. Both services have a flat fare of £1 per passenger, per journey. The buses will have fareboxes so drivers will not give change, but multiple fares can be paid for using a banknote. Contactless is also accepted. www.reading-buses.co.uk/festival
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 21, 2019 13:45:39 GMT
Four ex-Nottingham Scania OmniDekkas have arrived. They are former 972-975 (YT59 OZN/O/P/R) and will be 863-866 in the Reading Buses fleet. Further to this, the four OmniDekkas will enable the blue East Lancs-bodied Tridents (532-535) to be confined to school services from September. The Tridents will be withdrawn for disposal in October when the new Optare Metrodeckers enter service on Green Line 702, enabling the buses which have been covering this route to be redeployed on local routes. Three 41-seater ADL Enviro200 MMCs have been ordered for Thames Valley Buses route 5 (Slough-Cippenham). New vehicles will be ordered for yellow route 26 (Calcot) in 2020. All non-EuroVI emissions vehicles are being converted to EuroVI emissions standard, this is due to be completed by the end of 2019.
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Post by galwhv69 on Aug 21, 2019 16:03:54 GMT
Four ex-Nottingham Scania OmniDekkas have arrived. They are former 972-975 (YT59 OZN/O/P/R) and will be 863-866 in the Reading Buses fleet. Further to this, the four OmniDekkas will enable the blue East Lancs-bodied Tridents (532-535) to be confined to school services from September. The Tridents will be withdrawn for disposal in October when the new Optare Metrodeckers enter service on Green Line 702, enabling the buses which have been covering this route to be redeployed on local routes. Three 41-seater ADL Enviro200 MMCs have been ordered for Thames Valley Buses route 5 (Slough-Cippenham). New vehicles will be ordered for yellow route 26 (Calcot) in 2020. All non-EuroVI emissions vehicles are being converted to EuroVI emissions standard, this is due to be completed by the end of 2019. Doesn't the 26 use compliant E400's already?
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 21, 2019 16:53:30 GMT
Further to this, the four OmniDekkas will enable the blue East Lancs-bodied Tridents (532-535) to be confined to school services from September. The Tridents will be withdrawn for disposal in October when the new Optare Metrodeckers enter service on Green Line 702, enabling the buses which have been covering this route to be redeployed on local routes. Three 41-seater ADL Enviro200 MMCs have been ordered for Thames Valley Buses route 5 (Slough-Cippenham). New vehicles will be ordered for yellow route 26 (Calcot) in 2020. All non-EuroVI emissions vehicles are being converted to EuroVI emissions standard, this is due to be completed by the end of 2019. Doesn't the 26 use compliant E400's already? There's nothing to "comply" with! Reading doesn't have a ULEZ, as far as I know it is Reading Buses' own aspiration to have a 100% EuroVI fleet by the end of this year. Of course Reading Borough Council owning 100% of the shares may have an influence on this. The 26 will get new vehicles as it is a high-profile route, its current vehicles will be ten years old in 2020 and will either be redeployed by Reading Buses or sold for further service elsewhere.
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 31, 2019 17:02:43 GMT
Due to roadworks by South Eastern Water, Nine Mile Ride will be closed between California Country Park and California Crossroads from 2nd September until 20th December.
Routes 3, 3b and 93 will be diverted between Arborfield Green (Sheerlands Road) and California Crossroads. A free shuttle minibus will operate 07.00-19.00 Mondays to Saturdays between California Country Park and Sheerlands Road to connect with the main routes. The shuttle is being paid for by South Eastern Water.
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Post by wirewiper on Sept 25, 2019 7:49:13 GMT
Four ex-Nottingham Scania OmniDekkas have arrived. They are former 972-975 (YT59 OZN/O/P/R) and will be 863-866 in the Reading Buses fleet. Further to this, the four OmniDekkas will enable the blue East Lancs-bodied Tridents (532-535) to be confined to school services from September. The Tridents will be withdrawn for disposal in October when the new Optare Metrodeckers enter service on Green Line 702, enabling the buses which have been covering this route to be redeployed on local routes. <snip> There's been a change of plan. Whilst 863/864 have been duly painted into Reading Buses generic livery as intended, 865/866 have been repainted in the new Newbury & District colours. Jetblack-liveried ADL Enviro400s 1201/1202 are to remain in Reading and will gain generic livery in due course. 1206 is going to Newbury & District. Newbury & District Optare Solos 178/179 are on loan to Reading Buses for the shuttle service between Arborfield Green and California Country Park (see above) although they may stray onto other routes. All-white Enviro200 134 has been repainted into Reading Buses generic livery. The other three of this batch (131-133) were repainted into "little oranges" livery for routes 19a/19b/19c in Summer 2018. Lastly, the Greenwave routes along the A33 corridor had new timetables from 23rd September. Most of the changes were minor.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2019 0:46:03 GMT
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Post by wirewiper on Sept 28, 2019 8:13:08 GMT
That's an interesting development - thank you for sharing. It appears the three new Enviro200 MMCs will pioneer a new Newbury & District-inspired livery for the Thames Valley operation.
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Post by wirewiper on Oct 9, 2019 11:48:22 GMT
That's an interesting development - thank you for sharing. It appears the three new Enviro200 MMCs will pioneer a new Newbury & District-inspired livery for the Thames Valley operation. More on this: from 3rd November the Courtney Buses team at Bracknell will take on responsibility for management and customer services of all the Thames Valley Buses services in the Slough and Windsor areas, and operation of Green Line 703 will transfer to Bracknell (Green line 702 will stay at Reading). The new Thames Valley Buses livery includes an updated variation of the Courtney Buses bird logo, and will appear on the three new Enviro200 MMCs that have been purchased as a response to continued growth on route 5 (Slough-Cippenham). It is intended that Thames Valley Buses branding will gradually replace Courtney Buses branding as services are reviewed or local authority contracts come up for re-tender. A "simplyWindsor & Slough" ticket zone will be created to coordinate fares and passes across the Windsor and Slough area on Thames Valley Buses and Green Line routes. The zone will include Heathrow Terminal 5, but not Legoland. Lastly, Thames Valley Buses will no longer operate the evening service on route 4 (Slough-Maidenhead) and the Sunday service route 6 (Slough-Knolton Way) from 3rd November, these journeys, which are supported by Slough Borough Council, will revert to First Berkshire operation.
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Post by wirewiper on Oct 11, 2019 10:55:51 GMT
Slough & Windsor service changes from Sunday 3rd November:
2 (Dedworth-Windsor-Slough): New timetable with regular hourly daytime service. Co-ordinated with route 10 to provide a regular 30-minute frequency between Dedworth and Windsor.
4 (Slough-Maidenhead): daily evening journeys operated by Thames Valley Buses under contract to Slough Borough Council revert to First Berkshire.
5 (Slough-Cippenham): minor changes to early morning journeys to improve reliability. New larger buses to increase capacity due to growing demand (three E200 MMCs which are already in service).
6 (Slough-Knolton Way): the Sunday service operated by Thames Valley Buses under contract to Slough Borough Council reverts to First Berkshire.
10/10A/10S (Dedworth-Windsor-Datchet-Heathrow Terminal 5): new timetable, with regular hourly daytime service developed in partnership with Heathrow Airport. Will incorporate route 11.
11/11S (Slough-Datchet-Heathrow Terminal 5): incorporated into route 10/10A. The schoolday 11S journeys are renumbered 10S.
15 (Slough-Eton Wick-Maidenhead): minor early morning timetable changes to improve reliability.
Fares: revised fares will be introduced, and fares on Thames Valley routes, Green Line 702/703 and Courtney Buses 16/16A (Maidenhead-Dedworth-Windsor) will be coordinated over common sections. Boost reduced-rate fares will be available to all passengers aged 5-18 inclusive.
Timetables will appear on both the Reading Buses and the Courtney Buses websites soon.
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Post by ServerKing on Oct 13, 2019 8:18:59 GMT
There's a video of ex DW55 (LJ04LEU), now X100RDG, being thrashed along the M4 on the Brentford flyover on the 702. Engine sounds awful, like a knackered washing machine on its final spin cycle youtu.be/0Lt8PaTuowI
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Post by wirewiper on Oct 13, 2019 9:24:51 GMT
There's a video of ex DW55 (LJ04LEU), now X100RDG, being thrashed along the M4 on the Brentford flyover on the 702. Engine sounds awful, like a knackered washing machine on its final spin cycle youtu.be/0Lt8PaTuowIThis vehicle is now with Lynx in Norfolk (Reading Buses has sold all seven of its ex-London DWs). The registration X100 RDG has been transferred to Scania OmniDekka 801. Select registration by Julian Walker, on Flickr
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Post by YY13VKP on Oct 13, 2019 10:11:14 GMT
There's a video of ex DW55 (LJ04LEU), now X100RDG, being thrashed along the M4 on the Brentford flyover on the 702. Engine sounds awful, like a knackered washing machine on its final spin cycle youtu.be/0Lt8PaTuowIThis vehicle is now with Lynx in Norfolk (Reading Buses has sold all seven of its ex-London DWs). The registration X100 RDG has been transferred to Scania OmniDekka 801. Select registration by Julian Walker, on Flickr Meanwhile DW55 has now been re-registered UWW3X, believe this used to belong to a Leyland Titan?
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Post by M1104 on Oct 13, 2019 10:17:27 GMT
There's a video of ex DW55 (LJ04LEU), now X100RDG, being thrashed along the M4 on the Brentford flyover on the 702. Engine sounds awful, like a knackered washing machine on its final spin cycle youtu.be/0Lt8PaTuowISounds like it's misfiring, although still a healthy performer
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