www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk
Thanks for posting this, much appreciated.Buckinghamshire's bus changes webpage shows some changes from 2 April, mainly that the 4 will only run between Heathrow and Cippenham and a new 6 will run hourly on to Maidenhead - actually it is the existing 6 to Knolton Way extended to Maidenhead. This section used to be very frequent - now hourly!
Changes to bus services and timetables
View changes to bus timetables and when they will take effect
Nothing on First's own website yet.
With these double deckers coming from Glasgow, what routes are they going to be used on?
The 4 - Heathrow to Cippenham - I guess will have a pvr of 4 or 5
The new 6 will be pvr of 2
The 7 - Britwell to Heathrow T5 looks like pvr of 5
The 8 - Slough to T5 via Staines looks like pvr of 6
I wouldn't consider any of the others likely and the 3 I think is impossible.
Intrigued to know what they are required for, given there have been very few double deckers in the area for many years.
There must be a need or they would surely have stayed in Glasgow where there clearly is, from the posts on this forum.
Too little, too late, the problem is that they cannot suit the buses to the demand, these doubledeckers won't be needed during the day, apart from maybe 2 journeys in the morning and 2 in the afternoon as they just carry air from one terminus to the other. Shame to say that First Berkshire is a shadow of its former glory, with reduced routes, frequencies totally not suited to the demand, especially in peak times, everyday cancellations and shambolic level of passenger information - not mentioning that they don't even accept competition tickets which used to be a case when I was a regular user of buses in Slough back in 2015-16. I would be glad if they finally left Slough for good and leave their operations to Thames Valley Buses or any other operator that can provide a much better and unified service across the area.
Slough is isolated from other First operations, which doesn't help
Agreed. First London took a hands off approach, letting the local Beeline management get on with things largely without interference. The rot very much did set in when management was transferred to Southampton.
Seems to be a common theme between Plymouth (ugobus), Southampton and Slough?
Couldn't comment on that...
I remember for a while during that time the X74 was using ex. Bracknell Tridents, as for some time they did not allow standees on the M40 stretch of the route, so the remedy was to provide a bigger vehicle once they got rid of ex. Madejski P&R Scania's Wrights which were IMHO the best buses for this route. the engines on them were well suited for the motorway bit and the A355 stretch between Farnham Royal and Beaconsfield services, they had easily accelerated on the hills, whereas other buses struggled to climb, especially Streetlites which I think were the worst possible choice for this particular route.
I don't think you can draw that many parallels. Plymouth was a foolhardy opportunistic competitive foray that First embarked upon and was then outflanked by the sale to Go Ahead. First were thinking that they could bully their way (courtesy of their then senior leadership team) and as soon as Plymouth was sold to GA, that was put to bed.
Those Trident/Plaxton Presidents were pretty sprightly from a standing start. I only rode one once when it was randomly on the 4B route (Britwell-Slough via Haymill & Slough Trading Estate, IIRC 4B route was axed in the big 2016 route cull).
They only compete south of Beaconsfield Services. Carousel's 103 serves Beaconsfield whilst the X74 takes the M40 direct to/from Loudwater.
It’s operated from Slough, and it’s not all that uncommon for buses to turn up in place of an unavailable coach.
Slough to Guildford is 27 miles, a lot of dead miles there
Indeed. You might suppose they start and finish at Heathrow, next door to Slough, but looking at the timetable all workings start and finish at Guildford.
If you're trying to hang this round one individual's neck... well, I don't think they're culpable for Plymouth. You'd have to look higher up for that one.
The RA2 runs past the end of my road. I used to be very cynical about how it could make any money but it is sufficiently well used (and priced) to be a success and I've even used it myself a few times.
A former chief executive who runs a farm in Aberdeenshire.......
That wasn’t the person I thought was being alluded to. Plymouth was definitely down to a corporate strategic failure and at that time, it was his way…
Beeline 1.0: 1990's - National 1's and VR's in their third decade, scruffy Lynxes and unwanted Renault S75s, dusty interiors and woeful punctuality.
The livery looks like Cadbury's Double Decker wrapping
Surely we had a Beeline 1.1?
I rather liked 1.1.
I agree with you - was definitely a good scheme. Sadly, the bees were smoked out, the badgers gassed, etc as First corporate identity was imposed
