purple 17 in december 2013 parent reading borough council founded 31 october 1901 headquarters reading service area berkshire service type bus services routes 92 destinations reading bracknell newbury fleet 192 september 2016 fuel type diesel natural gas hybrid chief executive martijn gilbert website www.reading buses.co.uk reading buses is a bus operator serving the towns of reading bracknell newbury and the surrounding area in the county of berkshire england . the operating company is officially known as reading transport limited 1 and is owned by reading borough council . contents 1 history 1.1 horse tram era 1.2 electric tram era 1.3 trolleybus era 1.4 expansion and competition 1.5 premier and vitality routes 2 current operations 2.1 reading buses 2.2 kennections 3 obsolete brands 3.1 newbury buses 3.2 goldline travel 3.3 loddon bridge park & ride 4 fleet 5 fuels 6 references 7 external links history edit previous logo horse tram era edit horse tram on oxford road in 1893 main article reading tramways company the origins of reading transport can be traced back to 1878 when the privately owned reading tramways company part of the imperial tramways company was formed . they were initially authorised to construct and operate a horse tram route on an east west alignment from oxford road through broad street in the town centre to cemetery junction . significantly this route formed the core of what became known as the main line of the tram and trolleybus network . 2 construction started in january 1879 with the entire line being open by may . a fleet of six single decked cars were initially used with 31 horses providing a 20 minute frequency . the cars operated from a depot on the south side of the oxford road immediately to the east of reading west railway station . by the 1890s the whole fleet had been replaced by double decked cars operating at a 10 minute frequency . the company made several proposals to extend the system add routes and electrify the system . but none of these came to anything and in 1899 the borough corporation decided to purchase the system . 2 the purchase deal was completed on 31 october 1901 and the reading corporation tramways came into being . the corporation set out about first extending and then electrifying the system . the extensions were completed by december 1902 and the last horse cars ran in july of the following year . 2 electric tram era edit reading corporation tramways opening ceremony on 22 july 1903 main article reading corporation tramways the new electric trams started operating in july 1903 . extensions were constructed to the wokingham road and london road both from cemetery junction and new routes added to whitley caversham road erleigh road and bath road . the trams operated from a new depot in mill lane a site that was to remain reading transport s main depot until it was demolished to make way for the oracle shopping mall in 1998 . 3 the electric tram services were originally operated by 30 four wheeled double decked cars supplied by dick kerr & co. in 1904 six bogie cars and a water car used for keeping down the dust on the streets were added to the fleet also from dick kerr & co. no further trams were acquired and a planned extension from the caversham road terminus across caversham bridge to caversham itself was abandoned because of the outbreak of world war i. the war also led to a significant maintenance backlog . 3 in 1919 reading corporation started operating its first motor buses . these ran from caversham heights to tilehurst running over the tram lines and beyond the tram termini . because of the state of the track the bath road tram route was abandoned in 1930 followed by the erleigh road route in 1932 . eventually it was decided that the tramways should be abandoned and replaced by trolleybuses operating over extended routes . the last tram ran on the caversham road to whitley route in july 1936 and last car on the main line ran in may 1939 . 3 trolleybus era edit main article trolleybuses in reading reading trolleybus in newtown in 1965 the first trolleybus wiring erected was a training loop on erleigh road which opened in early 1936 . this loop was never used in public service and was subsequently dismantled . public service commenced on 18 july 1936 4 on a route replacing the tram route from caversham road to whitley street . in may 1939 the remaining tram routes from oxford road to wokingham road and london road were converted to trolleybus operation with a short extension from wokingham road to the three tuns and a much longer extension from the oxford road through the centre of tilehurst to the bear inn . the extended main line from the three tuns to the bear still exists today as bus route 17 the town s busiest and most frequent route and the first to be designated a premier route . 4 during world war ii a trolleybus branch was constructed from the oxford road to kentwood hill enabling trolleybuses to replace motor buses with a consequential saving in precious oil based fuel . in 1949 the whitley street line was extended to whitley wood and northumberland avenue and a short branch was built to reading general station . subsequent short extensions took the system to its full extent with the kentwood route running to armour hill and the northumberland avenue line running to the junction with whitley wood road . 4 by 1965 most uk trolleybus systems had closed and the manufacturers of the overhead equipment gave notice that they would cease production . at the same time the trolleybuses came in for some bad publicity in the local press because they cost more to operate compared to motor buses and they were inflexible even though the trolleybuses were profitable reading s motor buses made a loss faster and less polluting . reading corporation decided to abandon the trolleybus system and the routes were phased out between january 1967 and november 1968 . 4 the uk s first contra flow bus lane was instigated along kings road when that road was made one way in the early 1960s . the trolleybuses continued to operate two way as it was considered uneconomic to erect wiring on the new inbound route london road . the concept of the contra flow bus lane was proved successful and adopted in other places for motor buses . expansion and competition edit reading transport offices in 1985 now the oracle shopping centre the transport act 1980 deregulated long distance bus services . reading transport took advantage of this new freedom to start a service from reading through london to southend . the service was numbered x1 and was run jointly with southend transport . 5 in 1982 the x1 was shortened to run from reading to aldgate in east london under the gold line brand and joint operation ceased . as a result of the legislation that accompanied the deregulation of local bus services in 1986 the operations of reading transport were transferred to reading transport ltd an arms length company whose shares were held by reading borough council . bus deregulation also meant that the local council no longer had any power to regulate the routes and fares of reading transport nor could they prevent other operators from starting competitive services within the borough . in 1992 reading transport acquired the reading and newbury operations of beeline one of the privatised successors to the state owned alder valley . these acquisitions led to reading transport operating buses in newbury and in the rural areas around reading and newbury for the first time . additionally beeline had operated a reading to london service under the londonlink name and that was merged into the gold line service and the resulting service renamed london line . the gold line name was retained for use by reading transport s non scheduled service business . the london line service ceased in 2000 . reading transport faced competition on reading urban routes from 1994 when reading mainline an independent company started operations with aec routemasters acquired from transport for london . labour shortages created problems for the competitor and reading transport acquired reading mainline in 1998 . reading transport continued to operate the routemasters under the reading mainline brand until they were finally withdrawn in july 2000 . 6 premier and vitality routes edit optare excel lowrider in 1999 in a variant of the livery used until the introduction of premier routes since 2004 reading buses and reading borough council have made a significant investment in upgrading the quality of reading s main urban bus routes . in autumn of that year reading buses introduced its first branded premier route in the form of the number 17 running between the three tuns on wokingham road and the bear inn at tilehurst via the town centre and oxford road and the linear descendent of the old main line . this was intended as the first in a series of such routes each providing a weekday daytime frequency of between 3 and 8 buses per hour . each premier route or group of routes would be allocated a distinctive colour to be used on the buses on that route and also on maps and other publicity . 7 since then the premier route concept has been rolled out on most of reading s urban routes . in april 2009 a similar concept was introduced to some of reading buses longer distance rural routes . these were rebranded as vitality routes using specially branded green and silver or red and silver buses . 7 8 in 2014 these too were changed to a colour brand becoming lime routes . current operations edit reading buses edit reading transport operates public service buses under the reading buses brand throughout the town of reading and to a lesser extent in the rural area around reading . most of the urban routes have been branded as premier routes with each route or group of routes allocated a distinctive colour . these colours are used on the buses used on that route and also on maps and other publicity . premier routes provide a weekday daytime frequency of between 2 and 8 buses per hour depending on the route . 7 other routes including some rural routes and non premier urban routes operate at lower frequency varying from several buses a day to two buses an hour . they are allocated a grey colour in maps and publicity and are currently operated by a mixture of vehicles in a new silver based fleet colour scheme similar to that used on the premier routes together with vehicles in various previous colour schemes . reading buses also operates the nighttrack network under contract to reading borough council . these services run on their own routes from 23 45 until late into the night . premier route 17 also operates at these times but all other routes finish by then . 9 kennections edit following a contract win from west berkshire council reading buses will be operating a new brand bus brand called kennections in the newbury area from september 5 2016 . these routes were previously run by newbury & district the bus service trading name for weavaway travel who in turn took them over from reading buses now defunct newbury buses brand . all drivers will be tuped to reading buses . obsolete brands edit newbury buses edit newbury buses dennis dart pre newbury & district competition reading transport operated public service buses in the town of newbury until august 2011 and the surrounding rural area under the newbury buses brand . two routes were branded using the same vitality route brand that was used by reading buses and provide weekday daytime frequencies of 2