A new route between Reading and Henley

Exciting times are coming North of the river as we announce plans to introduce a new service between Reading, Caversham, Shiplake and Henley-on-Thames from Monday 29 July.

The new ‘aqua 28’ route will run every 30 minutes Mondays-Saturdays and up to every hour evenings and Sundays.

The introduction of this route follows the recent announcement from Arriva that they are closing their High Wycombe and Aylesbury operations after 27 July, including the 800/850 bus routes that serve this corridor.

We have previously received requests from customers asking us to introduce a more regular and reliable service to Henley. With the latest unfortunate news from Arriva, we thought this was a good time to test the water. 

Whilst other operators in High Wycombe and Aylesbury are stepping in to provide replacements for Arriva’s services, our aim is to supplement those efforts with a fast and high-quality service that we know we can operate reliably as part of our ongoing network development.

We also feel very deeply for employees affected by the closure, and would be happy to speak with any of Arriva’s employees who live within a commutable distance of Reading about the possibility of joining our award winning team, at what must be a very worrying time for them.

combined ticketing

Combined ticketing will be introduced meaning that customers on aqua 28 will be able to have onwards journeys onto the rest of the Reading Buses network - currently customers need to buy separate tickets to make onward journeys to places like the Royal Berkshire Hospital or Reading University. Customers can use our tap on, tap off system to be assured that they are only charged for the best value ticket for their journeys.

The new route brand ‘aqua’ is the latest addition to our brightly coloured routes, and has been inspired by the River Thames that also links the two towns. The buses themselves will run on sustainably sourced bio-methane, keeping the carbon impact very low.

timetable

The aqua 28 timetable can be downloaded here and our app will be updated with it shortly.