West Reading

 Summary of service changes

·        Services 31, 37 and 38 will be replaced by new services 15 and 16, and will be operated by brand new light blue coloured double deckers.

·        New Service 15 (replacing Service 31) will operate via Oxford Road and Grovelands Road to Dee Park instead of via Tilehurst Road, then via its present route of The Meadway, Mayfair, Park Lane, Westwood Road and Pierce’s Hill, and will then operate around the Westwood Glen loop.

·        Westwood Glen and Lower Elmstone Drive residents will have direct access to Tilehurst Triangle, and will continue to have access to Oxford Road and the new Tesco store together with the residents of The Meadway and Dee Park areas.

·        The frequency continues to be every 15 minutes at peak times and every 20 minutes during the Monday to Saturday daytimes.  However we are introducing an hourly Sunday service for the first time, hoping to encourage customers to use the bus particularly from Westwood Glen and Westwood Road areas where there is currently no Sunday service.

·        New Service 16 (replacing Service 37 and the Long Lane to Purley section of Service 31) will continue to operate via Oxford Road and Overdown Road, then via Dark lane, Long Lane and Knowsley Road to both termini at Purley Post Office and Purley Village during rush hours and Monday to Sunday daytimes.

·        The frequency continues to be every 15 minutes at peak times and every 20 minutes during the Monday to Saturday daytimes.

·        Service 16 will also replace the current Service 38 which operates via Overdown Road to Purley Village during the evening.

·        On Sundays the daytime frequency on Service 16 will be doubled to operate every 30 minutes.

·        On Tilehurst Road new dark blue coloured double deckers will be introduced on the Service 33 to Turnham’s Farm.

·        The frequency of Service 33 is improved to every 15 minutes at peak times and during the daytime Monday to Saturday following the withdrawal of Service 31.

·        On Sundays the present Service 30 is renumbered 35 and continues to operate through Dee Park.  With the new Sunday hourly frequency on Service 15, this means that Dee Park will have two buses per hour to/from Central Reading.

·        In Tilehurst, both Service 33 and 35 will operate via Chapel Hill to reach Hildens Drive rather than via Berkshire Drive.

·        Service 31 will continue to operate in the evenings via Tilehurst Road, Dee Park, The Meadway and Westwood Road to Pierce’s Hill, using grey coloured buses.

·        There will be improvements to Sunday frequencies on Service 17. The 15 minute frequency will start earlier in the day, and the evening frequency is increased to every 20 minutes in line with the Monday to Saturday service.

·        The present hourly daytime extension on Service 17 to Calcot on Sundays will be transferred to Service 18, giving a Sunday service to the Kentwood Hill area.

·       There will now be more frequent buses on the Oxford Road. By using Services 15, 16, 17 and 18 between Central Reading and Grovelands Road there will be services every 4-5 minutes, during Monday to Saturday daytime and rush hours.

 ·        Community link Service 28 will be re-routed via Tilehurst Road and Water Road to gain access to Dee Park rather than to the present routing of Oxford Road and Grovelands Road.

·        It had been proposed that Service 28 be extended from Tilehurst Triangle via Westwood Road, Pierce’s Hill and Overdown Road to Kentwood Circle returning to Tilehurst Triangle via Oxford Road, Long Lane, Dark Lane, Pierce’s Hill and Westwood Road preserving the Long Lane to Tilehurst link.  *UPDATE 6/2/08* As this is a tendered service, this proposal was discussed with Reading Borough Council and West Berkshire Council and they have agreed funding to extend Service 28 from Tilehurst Triangle via Westwood Road, Pierce's Hill, Dark Lane, Long Lane and a loop around Knowsley Road and Long Lane. The service then returns to Tilehurst Triangle, Central Reading and the Royal Berkshire Hospital. This route extension replaces the Service 31 link between Knowsley Road, Long Lane and Dark Lane with Tilehurst Triangle, and also provides a link to Asda in Honey End Lane. The service will run every 100 minutes during Monday to Friday daytimes, . 

Your comments

Most comments received centred around the present link between the Knowsley Road/Long Lane area of Tilehurst to the centre of Tilehurst at The Triangle. The introduction of new Premier Route 16 is designed to deal with the problem that the present Service 31, operating via Tilehurst Triangle to Purley, is not carrying enough customers to cover its operating costs (this includes those travelling on concessionary passes). This is caused by the present route between Purley and Reading being too slow because it is indirect.

We are therefore going to swap the western ends of the present routes 31 and 37 as described above, however no roads in these areas will be left unserved by this change.

We have invited the local authorities (both Reading Borough and West Berkshire Councils) to consider whether it is in the public interest to procure the direct service from this part of Tilehurst to The Triangle, to take into account the social need and value for money. The improvement to the Community link Service 28 was suggested by a number of respondents to the consultation, by extending the service to fill the gap created by the changes to the main services (new Services 15 and 16), and at the same time improving the present frequency of this service to hourly. *UPDATE 6/2/08* Discussions on this matter have now been concluded and there will be a revision to Service 28 as described above.

Movement of pupils from the Tilehurst Road/Dee Park areas to Denefield was also a concern and a special school bus (Service 95) will be introduced to cater for this demand.

There was some concern over the reduction in frequency on Tilehurst Road between Honey End Lane and Russell Street from the present 10 minute combined service to every 15 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytimes offered by Service 33. The changes followed from detailed surveys on customer loadings on this section of Tilehurst Road and we believe that the new frequency will not affect the ability to travel. There are consequential benefits to Turnham’s Farm residents who receive a more frequent service, and for residents in The Meadway who now have a choice of routes to and from the Town Centre. Additionally Service 28 is being re-routed via Tilehurst Road giving additional journeys on this corridor.

Some comments were expressed over the use of Chapel Hill. This road has regularly been used as a bus route over the years, and diversion via this route will give a better bus service to the Lower Elmstone Drive/Chapel Hill area. To aid safety the pair of stops at the Park Lane end will only be used for the Sunday service.

A number of respondents requested improvements to evening services to Westwood Glen and Purley. Improved Sunday services have been included in the changes to be introduced (new Service 15 to Westwood Glen and a doubling of the 16 service to Purley), but evening service levels are currently unchanged as we currently do not have the resources to improve this further.  This will be reviewed during 2008.

Some residents were concerned that the increased 4-5 minute frequency of buses on Oxford Road would add to levels of congestion. Our belief is that providing customers with a frequent and reliable ‘turn up and go’ service, will encourage motorists to leave their cars at home which will ultimately reduce levels of congestion.