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Post by vjaska on Aug 2, 2020 12:12:37 GMT
Judging by that paragraph they don't seem to be particularly impressed with Optare. Something I do wonder if what caused the delays, the 134s buses seem to have arrived and I think the 702 buses were ordered around the same time. Also could be interesting to see if the C3 and 23s buses are ready by the Autumn too. It's also worth noting that the MetroDeckers weren't ordered on Mr Williams' watch - they were ordered when Martijn Gilbert was CEO, and both he and John Bickerton, his chief engineer at the time, have moved on. I wrote it on another thread but I had wondered why suddenly the demonstrator went from positive to mixed reviews.
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 28, 2020 17:12:33 GMT
A few snippets:
All routes will run to their current Sunday timetables on Holiday Monday 31st August.
From 1st September there will be a few timetable changes:
- leopard 3/8/9: minor changes to evening times. The peak-hour X3 which operates non-stop between Central Reading and Foster Wheeler (Shinfield Park) will be reintroduced. - purple 17: increased daytime frequencies, with buses running up to every 8 minutes on Mondays-Fridays, every 10 minutes on Saturdays and every 12 minutes on Sundays (these are still lower than pre-covid). - claret 21: minor timetable changes. The additional route 21a journeys between Reading Station and the University will recommence at the start of term. - greenwave and Buzz 42: these services will revert to their pre-covid times.
Also from 1st September, ENCTS time restrictions will be reimposed for journeys starting in the Boroughs of Reading and Wokingham. This means that they now apply in all Council areas in which Reading Buses operates. Note that Wokingham allows free travel from 09.00 rather than the standard 09.30 on Mondays to Fridays.
Schools: school routes 81-93 will be reintroduced in September, and will be for student travel only until further notice. They will be joined by temporary routes 80 (Caversham Heights-Reading School) and 94 (Lower Earley-Reading School). Selected journeys on routes 5, 13/14, 15, 16 and 26 will become students-only (and will be able to operate at full capacity), these journeys will be renumbered 905/913/914/915/916/926 and are mostly journeys that only operate on schooldays anyway.
Thames Travel: from Sunday 30th August there will be new timetables on the River Rapids X38/X39/X40 between Reading, Wallingford and Oxford. Route X38 will be withdrawn between Reading and Henley (Tesco), but an hourly Sunday service will be introduced between Henley and Oxford. Arriva route 800 provides an alternative service between Reading and Henley. School route BB3 (Reading-Woodcote, Langtree School) will become students-only.
Courtney Buses: The 07.55 Reading-Bluecoat school and the 16.20 Bluecoat School-Reading will be renumbered 129B and will be for students only. Route 194 will have additional student-only journeys between Bracknell and Sandhurst School (194S) or Edgebarrow School (194E). Some journeys on routes 7, 8 and 16A will also become student-only over the section between Maidenhead Town Centre and local schools.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2020 16:36:50 GMT
Thames Travel: from Sunday 30th August there will be new timetables on the River Rapids X38/X39/X40 between Reading, Wallingford and Oxford. Route X38 will be withdrawn between Reading and Henley (Tesco), but an hourly Sunday service will be introduced between Henley and Oxford. Arriva route 800 provides an alternative service between Reading and Henley. School route BB3 (Reading-Woodcote, Langtree School) will become students-only. They could probably do with editing the River Rapids advert on the front page. Still talks of their "Fantastic new & improved services. Travel between Oxford, Wallingford, Henley and Reading up to every 20 minutes. Perfect for leisure days out", only for you to click on it and read that you can no longer travel Henley to Reading and the 20 minute frequency is no more! Attachment DeletedAttachment Deleted
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Post by vjaska on Aug 30, 2020 17:35:24 GMT
Thames Travel: from Sunday 30th August there will be new timetables on the River Rapids X38/X39/X40 between Reading, Wallingford and Oxford. Route X38 will be withdrawn between Reading and Henley (Tesco), but an hourly Sunday service will be introduced between Henley and Oxford. Arriva route 800 provides an alternative service between Reading and Henley. School route BB3 (Reading-Woodcote, Langtree School) will become students-only. They could probably do with editing the River Rapids advert on the front page. Still talks of their "Fantastic new & improved services. Travel between Oxford, Wallingford, Henley and Reading up to every 20 minutes. Perfect for leisure days out", only for you to click on it and read that you can no longer travel Henley to Reading and the 20 minute frequency is no more! View AttachmentView AttachmentAhh, that's a shame, I really enjoyed my Oxford to Reading return journey to the point I was contemplating coming back - even got a 06 reg ex Go-Ahead WVL for my troubles
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Aug 31, 2020 22:38:22 GMT
A few snippets: All routes will run to their current Sunday timetables on Holiday Monday 31st August. From 1st September there will be a few timetable changes: - leopard 3/8/9: minor changes to evening times. The peak-hour X3 which operates non-stop between Central Reading and Foster Wheeler (Shinfield Park) will be reintroduced. - purple 17: increased daytime frequencies, with buses running up to every 8 minutes on Mondays-Fridays, every 10 minutes on Saturdays and every 12 minutes on Sundays (these are still lower than pre-covid). - claret 21: minor timetable changes. The additional route 21a journeys between Reading Station and the University will recommence at the start of term. - greenwave and Buzz 42: these services will revert to their pre-covid times. Also from 1st September, ENCTS time restrictions will be reimposed for journeys starting in the Boroughs of Reading and Wokingham. This means that they now apply in all Council areas in which Reading Buses operates. Note that Wokingham allows free travel from 09.00 rather than the standard 09.30 on Mondays to Fridays. Schools: school routes 81-93 will be reintroduced in September, and will be for student travel only until further notice. They will be joined by temporary routes 80 (Caversham Heights-Reading School) and 94 (Lower Earley-Reading School). Selected journeys on routes 5, 13/14, 15, 16 and 26 will become students-only (and will be able to operate at full capacity), these journeys will be renumbered 905/913/914/915/916/926. Thames Travel: from Sunday 30th August there will be new timetables on the River Rapids X38/X39/X40 between Reading, Wallingford and Oxford. Route X38 will be withdrawn between Reading and Henley (Tesco), but an hourly Sunday service will be introduced between Henley and Oxford. Arriva route 800 provides an alternative service between Reading and Henley. School route BB3 (Reading-Woodcote, Langtree School) will become students-only. Courtney Buses: The 07.55 Reading-Bluecoat school and the 16.20 Bluecoat School-Reading will be renumbered 129B and will be for students only. Route 194 will have additional student-only journeys between Bracknell and Sandhurst School (194S) or Edgebarrow School (194E). Some journeys on routes 7, 8 and 16A will also become student-only over the section between Maidenhead Town Centre and local schools. I got stung today by the timetable change on River Rapids service. I saw my expected 9.12am departure for route X40 at Reading as I came out of the station, thought I had a few minutes to see the area outside the station that had been rebuilt, then noticed it had left about 4 minutes early. The next one left at 10.08 but it reached Oxford faster than expected. I then got caught out in Oxford as route 4 had been replaced to Wood Farm by new route 15, now just running from Abingdon to (I think) Westgate Centre. OmniCity 914 on route X40 wasn't particularly nice, but Volvo B5LH 361 was fine and Enviro 400 - MMC 607 was excellent.
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Post by Catford94 on Sept 2, 2020 19:43:41 GMT
a few observations from the new timetable (it's now officially school term, but as usual schools are starting back gradually over the course of this and next week)
some of the plain red liveried Vodafone fleet have moved from Newbury to Reading (the Vodafone network is currently suspended)
Park and Ride 500 seems now exclusively to be Vodafone single deckers (Greenwave buses are needed back on Greenwave now it's reverted to full timetable, and the regular park and ride buses are still on the 'little orange' 19 group of routes (as they have been for some time now) - not sure what the 'little orange' midis are doing.
One or two Vodafone double deckers turning up on Reading urban and / or 'Lion' 4 / X4 and quite a lot of route branded buses on the wrong route the last couple of days (not sure whether any of the 'odd workings' are scheduled or day to day allocation.
The irregular 6a (a variation of Whitley Wood 6 serving the large Tesco distribution centre in south reading, running only around shift change over times) seems to have extra buses running (presume for social distancing) which can be a variety of different route branded buses not just from the usual 5 / 6 'emerald' allocation.
Route 33 (usually 'royal blue') seems to be mostly generic d/d and not seen any of the regular buses out recently, for reasons that aren't quite clear.
The Caversham one-way system that was announced during lockdown, then took some time to be implemented, and which has caused quite a lot of fuss locally, was abruptly un-implemented this afternoon. Presume this means Reading 25 / Arriva 800 will revert to normal route soon.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2020 22:11:26 GMT
the regular park and ride buses are still on the 'little orange' 19 group of routes (as they have been for some time now) - not sure what the 'little orange' midis are doing. The 'little orange' Enviros have received 'Thames Valley' fleet names for Wokingham area routes.
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Post by wirewiper on Sept 4, 2020 11:00:51 GMT
I don't think it has been noted yet that the "Kennections" brand for services operated under contract to West Berkshire Council has been quietly dropped, everything is now operated under the Newbury & District banner. www.reading-buses.co.uk/newbury-district
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Post by Catford94 on Sept 4, 2020 19:42:41 GMT
I don't think it has been noted yet that the "Kennections" brand for services operated under contract to West Berkshire Council has been quietly dropped, everything is now operated under the Newbury & District banner. www.reading-buses.co.uk/newbury-district
That web page is a bit of a mess - it's got both the restricted (now ended) and full timetables (now reinstated) for the 1a / 1c, lists everything under 'Newbury and District' but offers the 'Kennections' app...
The Kennections routes transferred to the N and D O-Licence a few months ago, but I understand they are still being run separately from the Mill Lane depot and the N and D routes are still at the Greenham Common base.
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Post by wirewiper on Sept 6, 2020 9:39:46 GMT
ADL Enviro400 no.208 has appeared in a revised "yellow 26" livery, featuring the multicoloured orbits, the orange element toned down and a brighter shade of yellow. The whole yellow 26 batch will be treated.
The 26 was due to have new buses this Autumn, but Covid-19 hit before the order was placed and there is now a moratorium on new vehicles until the long-term financial situation becomes clear.
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Post by Catford94 on Oct 11, 2020 20:05:26 GMT
All fairly quiet on the Reading front - some tinkering with school routes since term started.
Notices and Proceedings lists changed timetable to the 702 / 703 and some Courtney services from 2 November. Nothing on public websites yet.
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Post by planesandtrains on Oct 14, 2020 22:40:38 GMT
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Post by wirewiper on Oct 27, 2020 12:00:49 GMT
As well as the timetable change and reroute of Greenline 703 via Colnbrook, Greenline 702 also has timetable changes. More of the "garage journeys" to and from Reading will now operate directly between Reading and Slough via the A329M/M4, omitting Windsor and Bracknell.
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Post by Catford94 on Oct 31, 2020 20:04:05 GMT
The 'Greenwave' network (50+ / 60+ routes that serve the junction 11 park and ride, and the various business parks in south Reading) is being 'reimagined' from 9 November and sounds like it will be much simplified. www.reading-buses.co.uk/exciting-changes-greenwave
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Post by wirewiper on Nov 3, 2020 10:07:03 GMT
The 'Greenwave' network (50+ / 60+ routes that serve the junction 11 park and ride, and the various business parks in south Reading) is being 'reimagined' from 9 November and sounds like it will be much simplified. www.reading-buses.co.uk/exciting-changes-greenwaveYes, from 9th November: - Central Reading to Kennet Island will become a self-contained route, "ruby 10". All buses will operate the same clockwise loop around Gillette Road and Kennet Island. - Central Reading to Green Park will also become a self-contained route and will retain the "greenwave" branding, with all journeys numbered 50. The routing within Green Park varies at different times of day to meet travel needs. Note that there is no Sunday service. It is hoped that post-covid 19 passengers numbers will recover sufficiently to justify the purchase of new vehicles, possibly dual-door gas powered Scania/Enviro400 City similar to those used on route 17. - Central Reading to Mereoak Park & Ride will become "park & ride 600". Selected journeys will operate via Tesco Depot to coincide with shift changeovers. On Mondays to Fridays, morning peak journeys from Central Reading and evening peak journeys towards Central Reading will call at Reading International Business Park, as will most inter-peak journeys in both directions. - The stops at Madejski Stadium and Northern Way are now little used and will no longer be served by buses. Alternative stops at 100 Brook Drive, 250 Brook Drive and South Oak Way (Costco) are served by greenwave 50 and are a few minutes walk away. - There are also changes to the Buzz 42 timetable. The Sunday service to Rivermead Leisure Centre (which had been operated as part of Greenwave) will no longer operate. The changes coincide with a renewal of the partnership between Reading Borough Council, Reading International Business Park and Green Park, on whose behalf the routes are operated. The new routes will benefit from the bus priority measures along the A33.
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