cactustwirly
Established Member
Don't First run a Maidenhead to Heathrow route but to Terminals 2&3?
Has existed for years as part of the 7 before they messed around with that
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Reading Buses and Thames Valley
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Has existed for years as part of the 7 before they messed around with that
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Goldfish62
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There's currently no direct service between Maidenhead and Heathrow.
It's an obvious link to restore and I dare say Heathrow is providing some funding.
AlastairFraser
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Goldfish62
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No that's out of date.
AlastairFraser
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Sorry mistook "Don't" for "Didn't"!
Rebel Viking
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Historically Alder Valley/Beeline route 69/B ran Maidenhead-Bath Road-Slough-Langley in the late 80’s to early 90’s every 30 minutes.
This evolved when Beeline took over LC in the late 90’s to become 55/75 Maidenhead-Bath Road-Slough every 30 minutes and the 75 continued to Heathrow Airport via Langley alongside hourly the 74 from High Wycombe for a 30 minute service to Heathrow along the old 69 route Langley Road section.
Route 76 from Maidenhead to Heathrow via Britwell and Slough was also added at some point.
Despite many final destination and route number changes by First post millenium the Maidenhead to Slough section generally remained at 30 minutes, and Slough to Heathrow section generally 4-6 buses per hour via either Langley Road, Trewlawney Ave Langley or London Road until a few years ago when First retrenched a bit and Thames Valley got a foot in the door.
First now have route 6 from Maidenhead to Slough only hourly, extending to Wexham Court, an area itself with only a shadow of the service it use to have, route A4 from Cippenham to Heathrow via Bath Road, Slough and London Road every 15 minutes, the most this corridor has ever seen, and route 7 from Britwell to Heathrow via Slough and Trelawney Ave Langley every 20 minutes which historically was every 15 minutes.
Since Thames Valley got a foot in the door they have grown the 703 to run Bracknell to Heathrow via Windsor, Slough and London Road every 30 minutes, and they have also extended route 5 Cippenham to Slough hourly onwards to Heathrow.
I suspect they’ll put high spec vehicles on the new 704, and eventually nudge First off the Maidenhead to Slough via Bath Road corridor
This evolved when Beeline took over LC in the late 90’s to become 55/75 Maidenhead-Bath Road-Slough every 30 minutes and the 75 continued to Heathrow Airport via Langley alongside hourly the 74 from High Wycombe for a 30 minute service to Heathrow along the old 69 route Langley Road section.
Route 76 from Maidenhead to Heathrow via Britwell and Slough was also added at some point.
Despite many final destination and route number changes by First post millenium the Maidenhead to Slough section generally remained at 30 minutes, and Slough to Heathrow section generally 4-6 buses per hour via either Langley Road, Trewlawney Ave Langley or London Road until a few years ago when First retrenched a bit and Thames Valley got a foot in the door.
First now have route 6 from Maidenhead to Slough only hourly, extending to Wexham Court, an area itself with only a shadow of the service it use to have, route A4 from Cippenham to Heathrow via Bath Road, Slough and London Road every 15 minutes, the most this corridor has ever seen, and route 7 from Britwell to Heathrow via Slough and Trelawney Ave Langley every 20 minutes which historically was every 15 minutes.
Since Thames Valley got a foot in the door they have grown the 703 to run Bracknell to Heathrow via Windsor, Slough and London Road every 30 minutes, and they have also extended route 5 Cippenham to Slough hourly onwards to Heathrow.
I suspect they’ll put high spec vehicles on the new 704, and eventually nudge First off the Maidenhead to Slough via Bath Road corridor
cactustwirly
Established Member
First are running high spec vehicles, newly refurbished E400MMCs right?
Thames Valley are operating the same but with the city bodies. The rest are a hotch potch of ex Courtney or Weaveaway E400s which have their old interiors
Goldfish62
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First's buses are just standard First - spec E400MMCs. Nothing particularly high spec about them, unlike the Thames Valley E400 Cities on the 703, which are in a different league (unless you also count the 14 year old E400 reserve bus
).
cactustwirly
Established Member
I've been on the non Green line E400 cities, they're ok nothing to write home about. Just some different lighting and wireless charging which is just a gimmick.First's buses are just standard First - spec E400MMCs. Nothing particularly high spec about them, unlike the Thames Valley E400 Cities on the 703, which are in a different league (unless you also count the 14 year old E400 reserve bus
First spec is high back leather seats and USB chargers right?
Goldfish62
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Personally I find the wireless charging useful.
The Lazzerini seats have extra padding, there's a handful of tables, the seats are covered in cloth rather than vinyl, there's air chill and next stop displays which actually work. Oh and there are luggage racks downstairs.
Each to their own on the spec of the buses, especially if you want to support a particular view, but it's been highlighted by the likes of Roger French and Geoff Marshall as particularly good.
Yes, nothing high spec about them.
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cactustwirly
Established Member
That's high spec to myself, most buses are low backs, cloth seats and no chargers.
The First leather seats are very comfortable.
Shame both buses are the bog standard ADL chassis instead of the Scania variant, like the Dark Blue ones in Reading which are nicer to travel on
Goldfish62
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Not these days. Even TfL buses come with high back seats, fake wood flooring and USB chargers.
Vinyl / fake leather seats are on the way out, thankfully. They wear quickly and are cold in the winter and hot in the summer. That's why First have moved back to moquette.
Scania don't partner with ADL anymore.
Or, before that, the 75 (except that was half hourly and fitted in with an hourly Maidenhead - Buenham - Britwell - Heathrow and an hourly Britwell - Heathrow (both 76s then, later, a half hourly 5 from Maidenhead-Britwell-Heathrow)
AlastairFraser
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I may be slightly too young to remember those running or the numbers, at least.
cactustwirly
Established Member
With the Blue 7 series Citaros right?
Correct
The 76 was then rerouted to serve Bath Road & Cippenham St Andrews Way, and the 75 still going all the way to Maidenhead, each every 30 minutes, so a combined 15 minutely frequency up the bath road.
The 75 then got cut to run just Maidenhead to Slough in the 2016 cuts, and renamed Route 4, with the 76 being completely withdrawn.
And for now we just have Route 6 from Slough (Wexham) to Maidenhead running hourly, and not running very late or starting very early.
Sad how much First Beeline has deteriorated in the last 10 years.
Route 6 Maidenhead - Wexham via Slough town centre is all Streetlites (cascaded from the south coast) and thanks to AI, running at an irregular frequency between 60 and 70 minutes.
When the 4 ran Maidenhead to Heathrow Central Bus station on a half hourly schedule, I'd always see people waiting for the 4 on the Bath Road between Maidenhead and Cippenham, yet it was axed in favour of the current route. These days I just don't see as nearly as many people waiting at those stops anymore.
Heathrow routes (A4 via A4 to Cippenham, 7 to Britwell, 8 Slough via Staines and Windsor) are a mix of (7yo ex-First Glasgow) e400mmc and Streetlites. The old ex-'City Red' B7RLE are being moved to the north AIUI.
I quite like the choice of fake leather, but only because they didn't (or couldn't) deep clean moquette at Slough.
If Slough returns to being a dumping ground for knackered ex-First London fleets, it'll be easy pickings for further Carousel and TVB expansion. However, I wouldn't expect First to leave the Slough depot as it's required for Railair and the new Flixbus contracts.
TVB's recent RBWM contract losses has probably freed up enough drivers to allow them to start the new 704 route.
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I lived on the 76 route 2001-4 (though by the end of that the 76 Had become Heathrow - Cippenham and was replaced by the 5 along Eastfield Road (which is where i lived) - remembered that the frequency wasn't doubled to half hourly until after the renumbering. That was very annoying as the reason I rarely caught it to Taplow station was because it started too late and finished too early. There was a burst of publicity about twice as many buses I couldn't catch (I did sometimes on a weekend). The 53 was also routed along Eastfield Road every 2 hours.
markymark2000
Established Member
I'm thinking is there any potential for just another bus from Slough to Heathrow? London Road is already flooded with buses to Heathrow and while each route might do something slightly different, the basics are still primarily linking Slough to Heathrow.
The 5 is the scenic route to Terminal 5 hourly.
The 7 via Langley to Terminal 5 every 20 minutes
The A4 down London Road every 15 mins to Heathrow Central Bus Station.
703 down London Road every 30 minutes to Terminal 5
While not linking to Heathrow Terminals, the 81 runs every 12 minutes as well down London Road, through Colnbrook and to many Heathrow Hotels.
It's business and it's perhaps great for locals who are benefitting from deregulations and Heathrow's funding over the years, but is there really that much gap in the market for another bus? The corridor is mostly flooded so would only really potential for passengers to use this route over others is passengers from Maidenhead to Heathrow, from along Bath Road to Terminal 5, or those between Slough and Maidenhead. And neither of these opportunities seem that big to justify the hourly bus.
I hope it goes well, I really do. I am just struggling to see it being viable unless something changes (like First withdraw the 6 from Maidenhead, but even then, that doesn't sort out the large number of buses duplicating over this roure on the Heathrow end).
The 5 is the scenic route to Terminal 5 hourly.
The 7 via Langley to Terminal 5 every 20 minutes
The A4 down London Road every 15 mins to Heathrow Central Bus Station.
703 down London Road every 30 minutes to Terminal 5
While not linking to Heathrow Terminals, the 81 runs every 12 minutes as well down London Road, through Colnbrook and to many Heathrow Hotels.
It's business and it's perhaps great for locals who are benefitting from deregulations and Heathrow's funding over the years, but is there really that much gap in the market for another bus? The corridor is mostly flooded so would only really potential for passengers to use this route over others is passengers from Maidenhead to Heathrow, from along Bath Road to Terminal 5, or those between Slough and Maidenhead. And neither of these opportunities seem that big to justify the hourly bus.
I hope it goes well, I really do. I am just struggling to see it being viable unless something changes (like First withdraw the 6 from Maidenhead, but even then, that doesn't sort out the large number of buses duplicating over this roure on the Heathrow end).
The 704 will have funding from Heathrow. There hasn't been a direct service to Heathrow from Maidenhead for 3 years, much to the annoyance of anyone working there. As it's only an hourly service, I doubt two extra Flightline buses on the A4 through Langley will be an issue. TVB can adjust the 703 timetable if necessary.
The 704 will also provide a direct terminal 5 service between Maidenhead and the southern edge of Slough Trading Estate for the first time, as the route A4 (and the withdrawn route 4 to Maidenhead) runs to Heathrow Central Bus station.
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Goldfish62
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Thanks for the confirmation that Heathrow will be providing funding. I fully expected that to be the case
And yes, one additional bus per hour Mon-Sat between Slough and Langley is hardly saturation! It's a big wide road and I doubt if traffic will grind to a halt as a result.
greenline712
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Heathrow Airport is a huge employer, albeit often at the lower end of wage scales. Housing in Slough is cheaper than in West London now, and so therefore passenger numbers are quite large. Even in the 1980s, bus driver recruitment in Slough was difficult.Thanks for the confirmation that Heathrow will be providing funding. I fully expected that to be the case
And yes, one additional bus per hour Mon-Sat between Slough and Langley is hardly saturation! It's a big wide road and I doubt if traffic will grind to a halt as a result.
I daresay that the new 704 route is to test the water to see if the numbers are there ... if they are, then a expansion to 0400 - 2400 might follow.
markymark2000
Established Member
If Heathrow are funding it, changes things slightly but still seems somewhat odd considering the amount of duplication, which could surely be solved just by improving links from Maidenhead to Slough and people changing buses onto one of the many existing services?
I was coming from a perspective of viability rather than congestion caused by the bus.And yes, one additional bus per hour Mon-Sat between Slough and Langley is hardly saturation! It's a big wide road and I doubt if traffic will grind to a halt as a result.
Goldfish62
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Heathrow want to restore a direct link between Maidenhead and the airport. It's the only large town nearby without a direct bus link. It's a completely sensible proposition.
It's likely to be more popular than the 6.
It'd be good if it slotted in between 6s, but that's going to be tricky as the 6 is every "hour and a bit" and I'd guess they'll want the 704 is be actually hourly.
Goldfish62
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The 704 is not quite hourly due to longer running times in the peaks.
AlastairFraser
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I just about remember the 90 (I think it was) from Bracknell to Reading, in terms of 2000s First Berks, but I didn't regularly go east out of Reading except to London until around 2015.
Sounds like a pain with you not being able to utilise the increased frequency of buses though. Seems to be a theme with Berks buses, the 28 Reading to Henley came about 5 years too late for me to use it regularly, and I was stuck with Arriva when I really needed something decent!
Goldfish62
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The 90 is now Reading Buses 4/4A, four buses an hour using high spec buses delivered last year.
AlastairFraser
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Yes I remember this change, because it related to a Reading Buses addition to the network. Less familiar with First Berkshire.
Reading Buses is starting to replace the Yellow 26 fleet with EVs:
media.reading.gov.uk
Another eight electric buses are coming to Reading to join the fleet of 24 new zero-emission double-deckers arriving this summer.
Funding of around £1.3m for the extra buses and four charging points was announced by the Department for Transport this week, following a successful joint bid by the Council and Reading Buses.
The eight buses will operate on the yellow 26 route which runs between the town centre and Calcot via Southcote, Ford’s Farm and Beansheaf.
Reading Buses already has one of the most environmentally friendly fleets in the country and the arrival of 32 electric buses will support the Council’s aims of encouraging public transport use, reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality for the health of Reading residents.
The Council and Reading Buses secured £4.7m from the Zero Emissions Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) fund in March last year to purchase 24 electric buses and 12 charging points.
Alexander Dennis double deck Enviro 400 EV buses are on order and are due to start running on the popular purple 17 and claret 21 routes in August. The charging points are currently being installed in the Reading Buses Great Knollys Street depot.
The eight additional buses are expected to be the same model, which offers comfortable high back seating, USB charging sockets, social seating areas, full air-conditioning, audio visual next stop announcements and enhanced accessibility. They are due to arrive in summer 2026.
The latest DfT funding of £1,348,680 provides for 75% of infrastructure costs at the bus depot and 75% of the difference in cost of a zero-emission bus compared with a regular diesel bus, with the remainder being funded by Reading Buses.
Cllr John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said:
“The £1.3 million government funding for more electric buses in Reading is excellent news.
“I am already looking forward to the arrival of the 24 new electric buses on the busy 17 and 21 routes this summer and the new electric fleet on the yellow 26 will also be very welcome.
“The number of people traveling around Reading by bus is on the increase and the introduction of these new double-deckers will provide a smooth, comfortable journey for passengers while having zero impact on air quality.
“Through the government-funded £26m Bus Service Improvement Plan, the Council is working to make travelling around Reading by bus even easier, more reliable, cheaper and more convenient. These new vehicles will make taking the bus even more attractive.”
Robert Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Reading Buses, said:
“We are delighted that we will be able to continue rolling electric buses out on to more routes in 2026.
“Our new electric buses promise to bring significant improvements to the journey experience for our customers, from a smoother ride to full air-conditioning provided by an electric heat pump. This is all whilst emitting zero emissions at the tailpipe.”
- Bus usage grew by 11% to 19.5m passenger journeys in Reading in 2023/24.
- Reading has the third highest number of bus passenger journeys per head of population in England outside of London.
- Bus journeys per head of population in Reading (109.4) are 74% above the national average (62.9) and 240% above the south-east average (32.1).
- 89% of Reading Buses users are satisfied with their service according to passenger watchdog Transport Focus 2024 survey results, up 3% on the previous year, and well above the national average of 82%.
Eight extra electric buses heading for Reading | Reading Borough Council News
Government funding of £1.3m announced for eight more zero-emission buses to run on Reading – Calcot route Funding on top of £4.7m already secured for fleet of 24 electric buses on routes 17 and 21 Investment supports Council’s aims of encouraging public transport use, reducing carbon emissions...
media.reading.gov.uk