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Carousel Buses (Go-Ahead group)

RELL6L

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19 May 2014
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Perhaps they're due their MOT checkup?
It’s got to be more than this. Just 13 out of 24 in service this morning and the 850 seems to be bearing the brunt of it. Only one of the four Henley shorts boards running which will have caused issues for college students and, with delays at the Reading end, big gaps.

Resourcefully, yesterday they borrowed two Streetdecks from Thames Travel yesterday. Both worked the H2 then one came off service at Thornhill park and ride while the other was swapped in Headington - both out on the 32 in High Wycombe by late morning! One is still here, the other is now back working in Oxford.
 
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RELL6L

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Things have improved dramatically since my previous post (with which this may be merged - this is now 18 March). 18 of 24 Scanias working today, 3 of the others worked yesterday so probably routine maintenance and only three off for longer - 2 early March and 80219 has been off for 6 months. Only 80678 appears to remain of the borrowed buses. 7 double deckers on the 850 which is a weekday high for a long time, plus all the 102 (except one), 41/101, 106, two 31s and two 1s.

Looking at the allocations today it is as if there is a Royal visit. Everything is allocated to what is should be / is branded for. The 103/104 entirely running with the Streetlites, the 10/36/37 with the Carousel Country E200MMCs and B7RLEs, the 850 all deckers and B7RLEs, the locals pretty much all with The Wycombe Bus Company branded E200s, for the first time ever that I have seen the Citaros are on the 458 and the 1s and nothing else. One B7RLE on the 102 which is unusual but only four of the seven Flightline E400s are out. No E200s on the 1s or 850s, all very regulation. Just diversions in Beaconsfield and the usual traffic in Wycombe are spoiling the perfection!
 

Mgameing123

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Closure of Cookham Bridge​

Yesterday Tue 24th Mar 2026

During this closure Thames Valley Buses Service 20 will be operating only between Maidenhead and Cookham Railway Station in each direction.
Carousel Buses Service 37/37M will be operating normally between High Wycombe and Bourne End, then directly to Furze Platt (and not serving Cookham). There will be no buses serving Cookham on Sundays 5th and 12th April.
Valid Thames Valley Buses tickets and passes will be accepted on Carousel Buses Service 37 (and also on Service 36 through Flackwell Heath) whilst valid Carousel tickets and passes will be accepted on Thames Valley Buses Service 20.
Regrettably, customers travelling from Cookham to Bourne End & High Wycombe (either way) will need to travel via Maidenhead and change buses - please notify our driver when you board the bus.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
Interesting that Thames Valley and Carousel Buses will be working together for the Cookham Bridge closure and will accept each others passes on the affected routes including 36.
 

RELL6L

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Even though it is school holidays there appears to still be a shortage of vehicles. One board on the 850 is cancelled all day and noted on the website due to ‘technical issues’.

There are more Scanias on the road, two have apparently been withdrawn and four others are short term off the road but this is better than a few weeks ago. Two Streetdecks seem to be long term additions, a 14-plate E400 has turned up and yesterday two 09-plate E400s ex NXWM came in during the day. I don’t imagine these will stray far from base. The Flightline E400s seem particularly unreliable, only 3 of 7 out this morning.

Sometimes arrivals on the 850 are regularly advanced onto an earlier departure. Yesterday this was happening for a couple of hours. For example the 09.05 arrival at Wycombe was sent out on the 09.00 departure. The light traffic of school holidays mean they soon catch up!

A couple of the B7RLEs have apparently gone to Thames Travel but there is still no sign of the batch of 65-plate Citaros that was supposed to be coming for Carousel Country.

Is it an engineering issue, staff or just money? When Carousel took over from Arriva they were so much better. Now they aren’t. Yesterday the 15.30 850 to Reading broke down before reaching Marlow. Not long ago a replacement bus would have been sent out, or at worst the return journey from Reading covered by another vehicle. Not so yesterday leaving a huge gap in the return service. No bus from Henley towards Wycombe from about 17.45 to 19.00.

Much of this with the usual BusTimes caveat, but generally here it is very reliable. Assuming it is correct then 80206 - a Scania double decker - is on its way to Windsor on the 37 on a working that becomes a 10/A to Staines afterwards. Not sure a Carousel double decker has made it to Staines before...

Edit - the missing 850 board has now been covered from 11.15 with Scania 80207 coming out on it.
 
Last edited:

Fletcj10

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Reading
BusTime's is not always to be believed but i found the 2 Scania's as withdrawn with someone saying it was due to chassis issue's
 

Mark L

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Much of this with the usual BusTimes caveat, but generally here it is very reliable. Assuming it is correct then 80206 - a Scania double decker - is on its way to Windsor on the 37 on a working that becomes a 10/A to Staines afterwards. Not sure a Carousel double decker has made it to Staines before…
There are a few overhanging trees between Datchet and Staines that could be an issue for a double decker. I wonder, however, whether it’s a ticket machine swap…
 

Mgameing123

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Even though it is school holidays there appears to still be a shortage of vehicles. One board on the 850 is cancelled all day and noted on the website due to ‘technical issues’.

There are more Scanias on the road, two have apparently been withdrawn and four others are short term off the road but this is better than a few weeks ago. Two Streetdecks seem to be long term additions, a 14-plate E400 has turned up and yesterday two 09-plate E400s ex NXWM came in during the day. I don’t imagine these will stray far from base. The Flightline E400s seem particularly unreliable, only 3 of 7 out this morning.

Sometimes arrivals on the 850 are regularly advanced onto an earlier departure. Yesterday this was happening for a couple of hours. For example the 09.05 arrival at Wycombe was sent out on the 09.00 departure. The light traffic of school holidays mean they soon catch up!

A couple of the B7RLEs have apparently gone to Thames Travel but there is still no sign of the batch of 65-plate Citaros that was supposed to be coming for Carousel Country.

Is it an engineering issue, staff or just money? When Carousel took over from Arriva they were so much better. Now they aren’t. Yesterday the 15.30 850 to Reading broke down before reaching Marlow. Not long ago a replacement bus would have been sent out, or at worst the return journey from Reading covered by another vehicle. Not so yesterday leaving a huge gap in the return service. No bus from Henley towards Wycombe from about 17.45 to 19.00.

Much of this with the usual BusTimes caveat, but generally here it is very reliable. Assuming it is correct then 80206 - a Scania double decker - is on its way to Windsor on the 37 on a working that becomes a 10/A to Staines afterwards. Not sure a Carousel double decker has made it to Staines before...

Edit - the missing 850 board has now been covered from 11.15 with Scania 80207 coming out on it.
Could there also be a driver shortage?
 

RELL6L

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There are a few overhanging trees between Datchet and Staines that could be an issue for a double decker. I wonder, however, whether it’s a ticket machine swap…
It was a 10A each way - don't know if that makes a difference. It seems to have gone and come back. Could be a ticket machine swap but these are not common on Carousel, I have not seen any vehicle being something when BusTimes said it was something else. But I guess it could have been 80827.
Could there also be a driver shortage?
If it was a driver shortage then it wouldn't be a whole board missing and the advances at Wycombe wouldn't be driver related. So doubtful.
 
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Flange Squeal

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A network review will see some changes to a number of routes from 21 June, primarily in the Maidenhead area. It would appear to see some softening of the competition between Carousel and Thames Valley, with Carousel withdrawing their 7A Maidenhead to Cox Green and Thames Valley withdrawing their 20 Maidenhead to High Wycombe. There will also be mutual ticket acceptance over common sections of some routes.

We will be making changes to some bus services across the Carousel network from 21st June 2026.​

These changes aim to provide a more sustainable network of services across Windsor and Maidenhead as part of a network review exercise with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and more generally to allow services to better keep to time.

A list of these changes can be found below. Timetables will be available shortly.

Service 3 | Maidenhead - Boyn Hill - Altwood - Farmers Way​

Buses will now operate to a revised timetable throughout the day. Due to low demand, there will be some reductions to the late evening service, with the last journeys now operating at 1910 from Maidenhead and 1931 from Highfield Lane on Mondays to Saturdays.

View the new timetable here (valid from 21st June 2026)

Service 4 | Maidenhead - Ray Mill - Boulters Lock​

A revised timetable will operate to better reflect the demand on this service.

View the new timetable here (valid from 21st June 2026)

Service 7A | Maidenhead - Cox Green​

Working in partnership with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the overall service provision between Maidenhead and Cox Green will become better coordinated. As part of this, service 7A will be withdrawn, replaced by an enhanced service 7 operated by Thames Valley Buses, offering an improved service for customers in the Larchfield and Cox Green area. See the Thames Valley Buses website for more details.

Service 8 | Maidenhead - St Mark's Hospital - Halifax Road​

A revised timetable will operate to improve punctuality, particularly in the morning peak ensuring more reliable connections for students.

View the new timetable here (valid from 21st June 2026)

Service 9 | Maidenhead - Cookham Road - Cranbrook Drive​

A revised timetable will operate to improve punctuality, particularly in the morning peak ensuring more reliable connections for students.

View the new timetable here (valid from 21st June 2026)

Services 10 & 10A | Windsor - Datchet - Wraysbury - Staines​

Buses will now operate to a revised route between Datchet and Windsor.

Between Staines and Datchet Queen’s Road, the route remains unchanged. From here, buses will now run via Southlea Road, serving stops by the Farm Shop and Clayhall Lane Roundabout, before running along Albert Road, Kings Road and Sheet Street to Windsor Parish Church.

Returning to Staines, journeys will now start from the Windsor Castle stops by Theatre Royal, before serving the Parish Church stop (southbound), and then running via Sheet Street, Kings Road, Albert Road and Southlea Road to Datchet Queen’s Road, where the current route resumes. All bus stops along the new route will be served.

Due to very low usage, the variation via Staines Sainsbury’s at school time will be withdrawn and all buses on service 10 will now follow the same route throughout the day.

Service 15 | Maidenhead - Taplow - Dorney - Eton Wick - Eton - Slough​

A new Sundays and public holidays service will operate. This will provide new Sunday connectivity between Maidenhead, Taplow, Dorney, Eton Wick, Eton and Slough.

To improve the experience for our customers, we will accept return tickets issued by Thames Valley Buses on services 53 or 704 on common parts of the route. For service 53, this is between Maidenhead and Taplow Sainsbury’s and for service 704, this is between Maidenhead and Slough town centre. Thames Valley Buses will accept return tickets issued by Carousel on service 15 on their 53 and 704 routes across the same sections of route.

View the new timetable here (valid from 21st June 2026)

Services 36 & 36S | High Wycombe - Flackwell Heath - Bourne End​

A revised timetable will operate to improve school time connections, and offer a more punctual timetable for our customers throughout the day. Additional journeys will now operate on school day mornings between Bourne End, Flackwell Heath and Marlow Hill Schools to provide additional capacity and better timed journeys for scholars.

A new hourly service will be introduced on Sundays and public holidays.

Services 37 & 37M | High Wycombe - Wooburn Green - Bourne End - Cookham - Furze Platt - Maidenhead - Dedworth - Windsor​

Working in partnership with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, as part of a wider network review process, we are pleased to share that the 37 will be enhanced in frequency between High Wycombe, Bourne End, Cookham, Furze Platt and Maidenhead up to every 30 minutes on weekdays. Service 37 will continue to operate from early to late, 7 days a week between Maidenhead, Dedworth and Windsor.

As part of these improvements, the service pattern will be simplified. Service 37B on Sundays will now operate via the main 37 route, with Flackwell Heath now being served by the new Sunday 36 service. Service 37S trips will now be replaced by equivalent journeys on the main 37 route.

We will be revising the stopping arrangements within Windsor to more closely align with other services towards common destinations, to make it easier for customers to get about by bus. For journeys towards Windsor, buses will terminate at Parish Church as now. Leaving Windsor, buses will now depart from the Windsor Castle stop by Barclays Bank (same stop as 16), and then serve Charles Street and Victoria Street before returning to the current route at Sheet Street.

To further improve the experience for our customers, we will accept return tickets issued by Thames Valley Buses on services 1/1A, 2 or 16 on common parts of the route. For services 1/1A and 2, this is between Windsor and Dedworth and for service 16, this is between Windsor and Maidenhead. Thames Valley Buses will accept return tickets issued by Carousel on service 37 on their 1/1A, 2 and 16 routes across the same sections of route.

View the new timetable here (valid from 21st June 2026)

Service 681 | Colnbrook - Langley - Wexham School​

The timetable will be revised to improve punctuality, with the morning journey now starting earlier to better ensure on time arrival for students at Wexham School. At the request of Slough Borough Council, the route will extend within Colnbrook to start and finish at the Galleymead Road stops.

View the new timetable here (valid from 21st June 2026)

Service 850 | High Wycombe - Marlow - Henley - Wargrave - Twyford - Reading​

There will be a revised timetable throughout to improve punctuality. With support from Buckinghamshire Council, we will be introducing additional late evening journeys between High Wycombe and Marlow.
Source: https://www.carouselbuses.co.uk/service-changes-21st-june-2026
 

Jamiescott1

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I see that as part of the upcoming timetable changes that the 850 service between wycombe and henley will reduce from a bus every 15 minutes to a bus every 30 minutes
 

aswilliamsuk

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10 Jul 2016
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I see that as part of the upcoming timetable changes that the 850 service between wycombe and henley will reduce from a bus every 15 minutes to a bus every 30 minutes
Does it? The new timetable shows x15 Wycombe - Henley M-F, and x30 at weekends.
 

Bwsbro

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7 Oct 2013
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I see that as part of the upcoming timetable changes that the 850 service between wycombe and henley will reduce from a bus every 15 minutes to a bus every 30 minutes

850 currently operates every half an hour
 

cactustwirly

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I'm glad common sense has prevailed and the 850 continues to operate to Reading
The 12 by Reading buses was an inferior service, no service on Sundays or weekday evenings.
 

Mgameing123

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I'm glad common sense has prevailed and the 850 continues to operate to Reading
The 12 by Reading buses was an inferior service, no service on Sundays or weekday evenings.
What do you mean by “continues”? Was there a plan to withdraw the 850?
 

Forty29

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Serves Reading buses right trying to oust customers off the 850 with the number 12 to make it unviable.
I've heard they don't want Carousel in the area, but can't see that happening as the 850 is a long route and doesn't really step on their feet until Shepherds House Hill l believe.
It's probably a fuel cutting exercise.
 

Deerfold

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I'm glad common sense has prevailed and the 850 continues to operate to Reading
The 12 by Reading buses was an inferior service, no service on Sundays or weekday evenings.
A shame, though there are some improvements, the last bus from Reading gets even earlier.
 

hornbeam

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22 Jul 2015
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Serves Reading buses right trying to oust customers off the 850 with the number 12 to make it unviable.
I've heard they don't want Carousel in the area, but can't see that happening as the 850 is a long route and doesn't really step on their feet until Shepherds House Hill l believe.
It's probably a fuel cutting exercise.
Go ahead in various ways, have been poking at RT for a while and it’s understandable they are fighting back just like first group are. Competition goes both ways.
 

route101

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I used the Flightline 102 and the E400MMC had air con unit above the stairs blowing out hot air.
 

cactustwirly

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Go ahead in various ways, have been poking at RT for a while and it’s understandable they are fighting back just like first group are. Competition goes both ways.
They'll be poking more cos all the Wokingham tendered routes are up for retender soon. Go Ahead used to have them with Thames Travel
 

Mgameing123

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Serves Reading buses right trying to oust customers off the 850 with the number 12 to make it unviable.
I've heard they don't want Carousel in the area, but can't see that happening as the 850 is a long route and doesn't really step on their feet until Shepherds House Hill l believe.
It's probably a fuel cutting exercise.
To be fair if Reading Buses really want to push back on Carousel the best attack would probably be to extend the aqau to High Wycombe atleast during rush hour.
 

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