Reading Buses to operate some local buses in Slough

[Wirewiper]

From Saturday 20th January, Reading Buses will be taking over route 5 (Chalvey & Cippenham) from First Berkshire, as well as the evening service on route 4 (Maidenhead) and the Sunday service on route 6 (Knolton Way). The routes will be operated under contract to Slough Borough Council, who have used their emergency powers to secure these services after First Berkshire announced its intention to withdraw them.

Reading Buses plans to revive the historic "Thames Valley" name for its Slough operation. There are no details yet on which vehicles will operate the services or where they will be based.

No replacements have been announced for routes 2 (Dedworth), 10/11 (Heathrow Airport via Datchet & Wraysbury) and 15 (Eton Wick) which are also due to be withdrawn from the same date, although these routes fall mostly within The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead and not Slough.

 

[Busaholic]

Got to wonder whether First Berkshire will have ceased to exist by this time next year. As soon as meaningful competition comes along that is backed by resources First seems to capitulate, then they withdraw the stuff that isn't subject to much competition, which in Berkshire means Slough.

 

[Anthony ross]

Wonder if reading buses will replace first on the 2 10 11 and 15 or it will be another operator

 

[overthewater]

One hopes it them or Carousel.

 

[Non Multi]

Courtney? Redline? Red Eagle? RB's new 'Thames Valley'?

 

[Wirewiper]

Or maybe they will be replaced in part only, or even withdrawn without replacement. Courtney Buses 16/16a already provides an alternative link between Windsor and Dedworth, and Bear Buses 305 provides a limited service around Wraysbury and Poyle, linking with the 81 to Slough.

 

[Non Multi]

Earlier this year Courtney nearly pulled out of the RBWM supported 16/16a route, however further funding was found IIRC. Eton Wick only has the 63/68 Maidenhead - Slough 'country route', a single service on Tuesday and Fridays under Bucks CC contract.

 

[Hornet]

Back to the future for me, seeing the revival of the old "Thames Valley" name. Takes me back to these oldies on the 70 route in Slough.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/megaanorak/9738951846/

What with Blue Passports, all I need now is for my birthplace to be moved back into Bucks from Berks.

 

[Non Multi]

Is there anything in the existing Reading fleet that would be an obvious choice to be sent to Slough, or would they bring in single deckers from elsewhere like the coaches on 702?

 

[Mwanesh]

I can see First pulling out .I cant see Arriva going back to Slough having sold it to First .Stagecoach are just too far.Go Ahead may try to buy it.

 

[Non Multi]

I can see First pulling out .I cant see Arriva going back to Slough having sold it to First .Stagecoach are just too far.Go Ahead may try to buy it.

Arriva have never owned Slough. Slough was sold by Luton & District Transport to Len Wright (who owned Beeline) in 1993. British Bus Group purchased Luton and District in 1994, British Bus Group were bought by Cowie (later rebranded Arriva) in 1996.

 

[Wirewiper]

You never know, Abellio or Tower Transit might fancy Slough, especially as First have already done the work of stripping out all the unprofitable bits for them!

Maybe Reading Buses will take on Heathrow RailAir as a full sub-contractor of First - as it is they already have a full maintenance contract, all First staff do is drive the coaches and staff the RailAir office at Reading Station. Transfer then over on TUPE, job done.

 

[baza585]

You never know, Abellio or Tower Transit might fancy Slough, especially as First have already done the work of stripping out all the unprofitable bits for them!

Maybe Reading Buses will take on Heathrow RailAir as a full sub-contractor of First - as it is they already have a full maintenance contract, all First staff do is drive the coaches and staff the RailAir office at Reading Station. Transfer then over on TUPE, job done.[/QUOTE

Or RATP maybe; ISTR they already run into Slough on the 81.

As for the RailAir service, I suspect this will end up with RB, but only when a suitable price has been offered, which it presumably hasn't to date.

I'm sure the catalyst for the 702 withdrawal was the inability to make a business case for Euro 6 buses to replace the existing deckers.

 

[overthewater]

Yet half the replacements on the 702 are not Euro 6 either???

 

[Wirewiper]

The replacement fleet is temporary, and will itself have been replaced by new vehicles by the time the requirement for Euro6 vehicles comes in.

That's on 8th April. 2019.

 

[MotCO]

How would Reading Transport know what the loading levels of the First 702 are like to guage whether or not this was an economical route to take over? Would First hand over data, or would Reading Transport just take a punt on it - it would seem to be quite a business risk if this is the case?

 

[overthewater]

Crossrail will also start between Dec 2018 and April 2019 so again how will Reading transport know its worthwhile buying new stock?

 

[Anthony ross]

You never know, Abellio or Tower Transit might fancy Slough, especially as First have already done the work of stripping out all the unprofitable bits for them!

Maybe Reading Buses will take on Heathrow RailAir as a full sub-contractor of First - as it is they already have a full maintenance contract, all First staff do is drive the coaches and staff the RailAir office at Reading Station. Transfer then over on TUPE, job done.

I can't see tower transit trying there hand in Slough there struggling in London as if is what with there recent route losses there

 

[Non Multi]

Crossrail will also start between Dec 2018 and April 2019 so again how will Reading transport know its worthwhile buying new stock?

Crossrail only competes directly against the 702 in Langley and Slough. Their routes don't meet in London. The 702 has the advantage of being a direct service to Windsor, Legoland, Ascot and Bracknell (although you could use trains from Waterloo for the last two). If they can get the London to Windsor tourists on board, they'll be fine IMO. Crossrail is about bringing in commuters from the suburbs and taking pressure off the Central line core.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Am not as optimistic with regards to the 702's future. Reading tried running a London service before - eventually the traffic will kill it as it did with the commuter X1.
We had some visitors staying with us who wanted to go to Lego land. We sorted out a minicab for them - it was cheaper and far less hassle than traipsing down to Victoria to spend an indeterminate amount of time on a slow bus.

 

[plcd1]

How would Reading Transport know what the loading levels of the First 702 are like to guage whether or not this was an economical route to take over? Would First hand over data, or would Reading Transport just take a punt on it - it would seem to be quite a business risk if this is the case?

They don't know and have put out a notice to that effect. They haven't bought the route and the data. First have deregistered and Reading have registered their version. Reading Buses have said they are effectively going to "suck it and see" for the first few months to try to identify the busy journeys, where there may be potential for growth and where things are too ropey to carry on. That's also partly why there's a temporary fleet in the short run - no need to spend a fortune although it does seem some money has been spent on vinyls and so on based on a couple of photos I've seen of the buses that ran on Christmas Eve. I think it's rather brave of Reading Buses to take this on because it's not the most promising of markets given the traffic congestion and the huge investment going into rail routes in the area.

 

[Deerfold]

Got to wonder whether First Berkshire will have ceased to exist by this time next year. As soon as meaningful competition comes along that is backed by resources First seems to capitulate, then they withdraw the stuff that isn't subject to much competition, which in Berkshire means Slough.

I suspect they'll keep on with the 7 and 8 unless they get a good offer.

It surprised me that they didn't keep buses to Heathrow from west of Slough - there usually seemed to be a few through passengers at Slough.

 

[Non Multi]

I suspect they'll keep on with the 7 and 8 unless they get a good offer.

It surprised me that they didn't keep buses to Heathrow from west of Slough - there usually seemed to be a few through passengers at Slough.

The slow traffic on the Slough-Heathrow section destroyed the punctuality of the buses to/from Maidenhead & Cippenham (former routes 75 & 76). In my opinion, Heathrow Airport should fund their own staff/traveler shuttle buses and use Junction 6 to Jn 5 of the M4, not being stuck on the slow A4. Punctuality is somewhat better now, at the cost of losing passengers who liked the direct bus.

Slough Council aren't blameless, they've failed to deliver bus priority routes, their new Slough bus station is as horribly neglected as the old one and passengers now have to wait in the open. With all the constant changing of routes by First in Southampton, there are many places where newly installed stops were simply abandoned, the flags covered in black bin bags.

This thread in a London Bus area forum seems to give a good picture of what happened in Slough - http://tangytango.proboards.com/thread/9755/first-berkshire-slough-changes

 

[Wirewiper]

An update: Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead have secured replacement contracts for routes 10/11 and 15 for when First withdraws after 20th January - operator to be announced later (although Martijn Gilbert has confirmed on his Twitter feed that it isn't Reading Buses).

Reading Buses has registered a replacement service 2 between Slough, Windsor and Dedworth which will presumably operate commercially under the "Thames Valley" banner.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

An update: Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead have secured replacement contracts for routes 10/11 and 15 for when First withdraws after 20th January - operator to be announced later (although Martijn Gilbert has confirmed on his Twitter feed that it isn't Reading Buses).

Reading Buses has registered a replacement service 2 between Slough, Windsor and Dedworth which will presumably operate commercially under the "Thames Valley" banner.

Would imagine if the county council has secured a contract with an operator, then surely the details of that would be on VOSA?

 

[Wirewiper]

Maybe. But I gather that the details are still being fine tuned so the timetables aren't quite finalised for registration. I am sure we will know soon enough.

 

[cactustwirly]

An update: Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead have secured replacement contracts for routes 10/11 and 15 for when First withdraws after 20th January - operator to be announced later (although Martijn Gilbert has confirmed on his Twitter feed that it isn't Reading Buses).

Reading Buses has registered a replacement service 2 between Slough, Windsor and Dedworth which will presumably operate commercially under the "Thames Valley" banner.

Most likely Courtney that has won those routes

 

[nesw]

I’d imagine that given the age of Bill Courtney, he might consider selling at some point.
Reading Buses also need to ensure that they don’t take on too many diverse projects and lose focus on the core business.

 

[overthewater]

I’d imagine that given the age of Bill Courtney, he might consider selling at some point.
Reading Buses also need to ensure that they don’t take on too many diverse projects and lose focus on the core business.

To be fair these extra ideas do clamp onto the current network rather well..

 

[Non Multi]

Slough & Windsor have more in common with urban Reading than the more rural parts of West Berkshire that RB also operate in. I'm a little surprised RB might be going with large single deckers (as seen on the preview of their new livery), given it may take time to persuade potential customers to use buses again. Courtney mostly use Solos/Solo SRs or similar for Maidenhead, Windsor and Bracknell.



source: https://twitter.com/reading_buses/status/951034848319336448