football bus suspensions

As many of you will have seen in the news over the last year, there is a nationwide shortage of bus drivers. We have been largely unaffected by this to date and although we have been operating with a fewer drivers than we would ideally like, unlike most other companies, we are able to cover out core network of bus services. We do however, need to be mindful of our responsibilities outside of operating our core bus network and ensure we do no over commit ourselves. This is in such areas as the football buses as we don't want to cause ‘on the day’ problems to our customers, especially during the summer holidays where more of our hard working and committed employees are on annual leave. 

For this reason, for the month of August only we are unfortunately having to suspend the operation of some of the football services for the home games current scheduled for the 6, 9, 17 & 20 August. We are obviously sorry for this news, but feel it best to make this decision now as opposed to causing potential, short notice, issues once your matchday travel plans have been made. 

After consulting with the club and supporter groups, we have made a decision on which services will run and which ones won't whilst ensuring that anyone whose normal match-day bus is suspended has an alternative means of travelling to the football stadium by bus by using our existing network.  

We have made sure that any supporter who is not on a football route which has a 'normal' alternative service will still have their football bus available to get them to the stadium. For some supporters whose football buses are not running, you will need to catch your normal service bus into Reading and change onto the F1 at Reading Station for no additional charge when using the new special matchday ticket below.

new 'special football day' ticket

For supporters whose football buses are not running, there will be a new 'special football day' ticket available for August. This ticket can be bought on your normal service bus after 12pm on game day for 3pm kick-offs and after 5pm game day for 8pm kick-offs. The ticket can be used on any normal service bus all day and is also valid for transfer onto the F1 to take you to and from the match. You must retain this ticket and scan it on each bus that you board. 

The prices for the ticket are:

Adult £4.20

Boost (under-19s) £2.90

Please note, you must buy this ticket for transfer onto the F1. A normal simplyReading day ticket is not valid on the F1. 

Concessionary passes

If you have a concessionary pass and your football bus is not running, you will be able to use your normal service bus for free to and from Reading, but will then have to pay for your travel on the F1 shuttle as outlined in the below table. 

If your football bus is running as normal, you will also have to pay for your travel to and from the stadium as outlined in the table below - the amount you pay will depend on which bus you use, but will be no more than £2 return thanks to our partnership with Reading FC to keep bus fares affordable. 

The fares for concessionary pass holders are as follows:

	F1 shuttle	park & ride	urban services	F51-54
single	£1	£1	£1	N/A
return	£1.50	£2	£2	£2

Please note, if your journey starts within the Wokingham Borough Council, Oxfordshire and Bracknell Forest Council boundaries your travel is free to the stadium, but the return journey must be paid for in line with the table above.

route and timetable information

Currently, we only have six routes that will not run in August. We have worked hard to ensure we can cover as much of the local area as possible. The table below shows the routes that will not be running and which alternate services you can catch to get into Reading and transfer onto the F1. Click the service name in the alternative column for the timetable of that route. 

service	route	alternative
F11	Emmer Green	berry 23 and berry 24
F13	Caversham Park	berry 23 and berry 24 (little berries 27/29 for Lowever Caversham)
F22	Tilehurst	sky blue 15, sky blue 16 or purple 17
F24	Purley	sky blue 15, sky blue 16 or purple 17
F31	Woodley Airfield	lion 4/X4, orange 13, orange 14 and claret 21
F32	Woodley	emerald 5, emerald 6, orange 13, orange 14 and claret 21

The services in the table below will still be running as normal in August. Click on the route description for a PDF timetable.

service	route
F1	Reading Station Shuttle
F2	Shinfield Park park & ride
F3	Mereoak park & ride
F10	Sonning Common
F12	Emmer Green & Caversham
F14	Henley-on-Thames
F20	Newbury
F21	Norcot
F23	Theale & Pangbourne
F30	Twyford
F33	Lower Earley
F51	Basingstoke & Tadley
F52	Farnborough, Yateley & Crowthorne
F53	Wokingham, Emmbrook & Winnersh
F54	Bracknell