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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2018 2:01:18 GMT
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Post by LBOTG on Mar 25, 2018 9:44:45 GMT
Just out of interest - what do you already have in mind? I am quite familiar with the Reading Buses network and some routes are easy to link up - for instance you can ride out to Calcot on a 15 and return to town on a 26. Apologies for not replying sooner, totally forgot about your reply Mainly, I'm looking to ride on the more interesting vehicles in the fleet and whilst the RVF will serve me well, I also do like routes that have fast sections or some nice scenery involved. I've only been to Reading once but I was quite successful in having a variety of types and routes done. In terms of routes with nice scenery/fast sections, I'd recommend the 1 to Newbury Bus Station, 15 to Calcot IKEA, 2 to Mortimer, Greenwave (53, 50a and 60X are really good) and possibly 25 (Peppard Common) or 3b (Bracknell), although some more urban routes that I found or look interesting are the 17, 21 and 23/24. In terms of types, the sky blue Olympi are worth doing as there are only three of them around and the 15 is very hilly so will test them rather nicely. The Claret Spritzer vehicles on the 21a are great for a more exotic type, the gas-powered E400 Cities on the 17 are also said to be really nice. Even though the Woodley routes are quite dreary their Streetdecks are brilliant, very fast vehicles. On the single deck front perhaps the Scania E300s, as common as they are, are good to try especially on the Greenwave services which utilise a dual carriageway. The Mellor Strata on the buzz 42 is a very nice minibus and if any of the Solo's are around that might be something to try too. In terms of ticketing the "simply Network" ticket is probably best, costing £8, if you want to actually experience the faster, more rural routes. I also just remembered that a London Bus Blog recently had a (lengthy) post documenting everything in the Reading network so that might assist you with your planning: londonbusesonthego.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/introducing-reading-buses.htmlEnjoy your day!
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 25, 2018 16:55:49 GMT
Just out of interest - what do you already have in mind? I am quite familiar with the Reading Buses network and some routes are easy to link up - for instance you can ride out to Calcot on a 15 and return to town on a 26. Apologies for not replying sooner, totally forgot about your reply Mainly, I'm looking to ride on the more interesting vehicles in the fleet and whilst the RVF will serve me well, I also do like routes that have fast sections or some nice scenery involved. No worries The "London Buses on the Go" blog post above has a pretty good synopsis of all the Reading Buses routes, and I would have to agree that the Greenwave routes would give you the fast run down the A33 coupled with a gas-powered Scania saloon. What I do sometimes is catch one to Reading International Business Park, from there it is possible to use the pedestrian crossings and footbridge across the A33 to reach Whitley Wood and return on the 6 via the original Basingstoke Road for the contrast. As you get closer into the centre of Reading, observe the polychromic brickwork on the Victorian terraces, a feature for which Reading is noted - it exists elsewhere but is particularly prolific and exuberant in the town. You also see a lt of it along the 17 route, which is also worth riding to bag one of the new gas-powered Scania/Enviro400 Citys - absolutely superb buses which far outclass anything currently operating in London. Reading bus routes aren't what I would particularly call "scenic", but I do like a ride on the 23/24 over the Thames to Caversham which was once a separate settlement in a different county and still has something of a different feel to the rest of Reading. Otherwise the 15 I mentioned before packs in quite a lot of contrast and you might gt to ride one of the Optare Olympus bodied Scanias before they finally leave the fleet - they can only have a few weeks left to go now.
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Post by MoEnviro on Mar 26, 2018 17:34:24 GMT
703 had been mentioned on N&P (whatever that is), at the same time as the withdrawal of the 2. As well as the (official) registering of the White Bus 441 from 26th April. The date of May 8th had also been given for the withdrawal of the 2. I assumed therefore that this was the announcement, and an official one at that. Though not knowing what N&P actually is means a pinch of salt should have been required.
Notices and Proceedings are about as official as it gets in respect of registering a service or alteration / cancellation thereof. Genuinely surprised you haven't heard of them. I expect TfL's Service Permit bulletin will have to reflect the 702 and 703 changes fairly soon. Now updated 702 & 703
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 29, 2018 12:08:39 GMT
Between Tuesday 3rd and Saturday 14th April inclusive, Thames Valley route 2 is being extended to and from Legoland. This means that buses operating in the Dedworth-Slough direction will generally run 15 minutes later than usual.
Back on home turf, as well as route 7 commencing on Monday 16th April, from the same date there will be changes to sky blue routes 15/15a/16 and royal blue route 33. The 33a variant will be withdrawn, with all route 33 buses operating the full route to Turnhams Farm up to every 15 minutes. To provide a replacement service for the Mayfair area of Tilehurst, the existing short-working route 15a journeys to and from Dee Park will be extended to and from Tilehurst Triangle, operating in a one-way loop anti-clockwise via St Michael's Road, Park Lane and Mayfair (no this is not a game of Monopoly, those last two really are the road names!). As routes 15/15a and 16 interwork the timetable for the 16 will also change, but there will be no change to the route or frequencies.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2018 20:27:48 GMT
Between Tuesday 3rd and Saturday 14th April inclusive, Thames Valley route 2 is being extended to and from Legoland. This means that buses operating in the Dedworth-Slough direction will generally run 15 minutes later than usual. Back on home turf, as well as route 7 commencing on Monday 16th April, from the same date there will be changes to sky blue routes 15/15a/16 and royal blue route 33. The 33a variant will be withdrawn, with all route 33 buses operating the full route to Turnhams Farm up to every 15 minutes. To provide a replacement service for the Mayfair area of Tilehurst, the existing short-working route 15a journeys to and from Dee Park will be extended to and from Tilehurst Triangle, operating in a one-way loop anti-clockwise via St Michael's Road, Park Lane and Mayfair (no this is not a game of Monopoly, those last two really are the road names!). As routes 15/15a and 16 interwork the timetable for the 16 will also change, but there will be no change to the route or frequencies. The network never stands still long enough to take breath!
Sounds like I need to make another visit sharpish ...
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 30, 2018 11:30:31 GMT
I must admit, I'm surprised they are doing the 15/15a/16/33/33a changes now, given that the partial closure of Cow Lane is wrecking services especially at peak times (Oxford Road in the afternoon peak is particularly bad). I would probably have waited until Cow Lane is fully open again. The Caversham routes are a disaster area at the moment and the additional resources they are putting in, to keep something vaguely resembling a service going in the peak hours, must be negating any savings made by restructuring the services in the first place!
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 1, 2018 10:48:40 GMT
I spent Friday night in Reading and rode some buses there yesterday. In numerical order these were
Mini E200 134 (12) Streetlite 163 (27) Minibus 382 (42) Gas Scania-E300 414 (22) Gas Scania-E400-MMC 705 (33) Gas Scania-E400-City 716 (17) E400-MMC 755 (21) Scania-Olympus 844 (15) StreetDeck 903 (13) Scania OmniCity DD 1106 (23) E400 1211 (4)
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Post by wirewiper on Apr 1, 2018 11:04:26 GMT
That's a good cross-section of the fleet and routes.
The remaining few Scania-Olympus will be gone pretty soon as more of the refurbished ex-route 17 E400s come on stream. The pink Scania Onmicitys (such as 1106) are also due to depart soon (and indeed at least two are already with Midland Classic), although generic-liveried 1108-1114 will be retained for the time being.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 1, 2018 11:12:19 GMT
That's a good cross-section of the fleet and routes. The remaining few Scania-Olympus will be gone pretty soon as more of the refurbished ex-route 17 E400s come on stream. The pink Scania Onmicitys (such as 1106) are also due to depart soon (and indeed at least two are already with Midland Classic), although generic-liveried 1108-1114 will be retained for the time being. Thanks! At least at the beginning of the day I started by prioritising the oldest buses (while I could) and newest buses (for the novelty) ahead of midlife vehicles. Hence no ride on a pure E400H in particular. I wonder where the 59-reg E400s for routes 4/X4 (ex-First 90) came from? A word of warning is that, much as you may like the idea of a refurbished OmniDekka on route 21, a majority of buses on this route are 64-reg E400-MMCs. I think these were the first production batch in the country, ahead of Stagecoach Manchester even.
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Post by wirewiper on Apr 1, 2018 11:39:47 GMT
That's a good cross-section of the fleet and routes. The remaining few Scania-Olympus will be gone pretty soon as more of the refurbished ex-route 17 E400s come on stream. The pink Scania Onmicitys (such as 1106) are also due to depart soon (and indeed at least two are already with Midland Classic), although generic-liveried 1108-1114 will be retained for the time being. Thanks! At least at the beginning of the day I started by prioritising the oldest buses (while I could) and newest buses (for the novelty) ahead of midlife vehicles. Hence no ride on a pure E400H in particular. I wonder where the 59-reg E400s for routes 4/X4 (ex-First 90) came from? A word of warning is that, much as you may like the idea of a refurbished OmniDekka on route 21, a majority of buses on this route are 64-reg E400-MMCs. I think these were the first production batch in the country, ahead of Stagecoach Manchester even. 1210 and 1211 I believe came from University of Portsmouth (or possibly from an operator sub-contracted to run a service for the University). The refurbished OmniDekkas are intended for the short-working route 21a to the University, which only operates on Mondays-Fridays during term times. They have appeared at other times on the 21 and other routes but such appearances are spasmodic and not guaranteed. There are also five generic-liveried OmniDekkas which can crop up anywhere, especially during the evening peak. You may well be right about the MMCs (the 751-759 batch), certainly Reading had them before London as they entered service during October 2014. The first MMC in London service appeared on route 157 on 27th January 2015 (Abellio 2502, one of the batch for route 109 but one of several which entered service early before Abellio took over the route on 31st January).
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Post by vjaska on Apr 1, 2018 13:21:32 GMT
Thanks! At least at the beginning of the day I started by prioritising the oldest buses (while I could) and newest buses (for the novelty) ahead of midlife vehicles. Hence no ride on a pure E400H in particular. I wonder where the 59-reg E400s for routes 4/X4 (ex-First 90) came from? A word of warning is that, much as you may like the idea of a refurbished OmniDekka on route 21, a majority of buses on this route are 64-reg E400-MMCs. I think these were the first production batch in the country, ahead of Stagecoach Manchester even. 1210 and 1211 I believe came from University of Portsmouth (or possibly from an operator sub-contracted to run a service for the University). The refurbished OmniDekkas are intended for the short-working route 21a to the University, which only operates on Mondays-Fridays during term times. They have appeared at other times on the 21 and other routes but such appearances are spasmodic and not guaranteed. There are also five generic-liveried OmniDekkas which can crop up anywhere, especially during the evening peak. You may well be right about the MMCs (the 751-759 batch), certainly Reading had them before London as they entered service during October 2014. The first MMC in London service appeared on route 157 on 27th January 2015 (Abellio 2402, one of the batch for route 109 but one of several which entered service early before Abellio took over the route on 31st January). Yeah, I think it went Reading Buses, then Stagecoach and then Abellio in terms of Enviro 400 MMC.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 1, 2018 15:28:55 GMT
1210 and 1211 I believe came from University of Portsmouth (or possibly from an operator sub-contracted to run a service for the University). The refurbished OmniDekkas are intended for the short-working route 21a to the University, which only operates on Mondays-Fridays during term times. They have appeared at other times on the 21 and other routes but such appearances are spasmodic and not guaranteed. There are also five generic-liveried OmniDekkas which can crop up anywhere, especially during the evening peak. You may well be right about the MMCs (the 751-759 batch), certainly Reading had them before London as they entered service during October 2014. The first MMC in London service appeared on route 157 on 27th January 2015 (Abellio 2402, one of the batch for route 109 but one of several which entered service early before Abellio took over the route on 31st January). Yeah, I think it went Reading Buses, then Stagecoach and then Abellio in terms of Enviro 400 MMC. I saw generic OmniDekkas on routes 26 and X4 at least. My own first ride on an E400-MMC in the country was with Stagecoach Manchester (on 28.2.15), then a Hybrid with Abellio on route 109 (on 23.5.15).
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Post by wirewiper on Apr 1, 2018 17:17:05 GMT
Yeah, I think it went Reading Buses, then Stagecoach and then Abellio in terms of Enviro 400 MMC. I saw generic OmniDekkas on routes 26 and X4 at least. My own first ride on an E400-MMC in the country was with Stagecoach Manchester (on 28.2.15), then a Hybrid with Abellio on route 109 (on 23.5.15). My Flickr page has a photo of an MMC in service in Reading on 27th October 2014, so presume I would have ridden on one that day. The caption I wrote at the time states that the MMC first appeared in service with Oxford Bus Company, then Reading Buses. www.flickr.com/photos/wirewiping/15039263273/in/album-72157641702305144/My first ride on a London MMC was Abellio 2501 on route 157 on Thursday 29th January, two days after 2502 appeared in service and two days before Abellio took over the 109 with the type.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 1, 2018 22:18:49 GMT
I saw generic OmniDekkas on routes 26 and X4 at least. My own first ride on an E400-MMC in the country was with Stagecoach Manchester (on 28.2.15), then a Hybrid with Abellio on route 109 (on 23.5.15). My Flickr page has a photo of an MMC in service in Reading on 27th October 2014, so presume I would have ridden on one that day. The caption I wrote at the time states that the MMC first appeared in service with Oxford Bus Company, then Reading Buses. www.flickr.com/photos/wirewiping/15039263273/in/album-72157641702305144/My first ride on a London MMC was Abellio 2501 on route 157 on Thursday 29th January, two days after 2502 appeared in service and two days before Abellio took over the 109 with the type. I think the Oxford ones are strictly speaking Scania double-decks with E400-MMC bodywork. They are used for Brookes Bus services. As an aside, it's a pity that we can no longer locate an Abellio E400H-MMC on route 157.
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