246 seen working the 11X on March 1st.

A new MMC for OBC, YX25OJL (not sure of fleet number) on the 35 at Westgate this afternoon today before working the 12:15 to Abingdon

80956 ex Carousel working an X3 on March 5th.

 
Sitting in the sun today 80810 NN74 BUS on an H4 service heads a line of buses at Witney Market Place.    

Next in line is Enviro400 80616 YX74 OFN on the 19 service to Carterton     

   
Photos from today of PULHAMS vehicles on route H2 together with the timetable leaflet. 

Alan Horwood

OX NEx 4 of 5 new Levante 3A coaches seen on March 3rd

The new NEx Oxford coaches

   
 
First of the new Levante IIIs 80062 in Gloucester Green on March 7th.

 
including Courtney, Newbury & District & Thames Valley

Thames Valley Buses have today announced that the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead will have a new bus network from Sunday 6 April.

The move follows retendering of the most lightly used services in the area by the Council, and Thames Valley buses have taken the opportunity to introduce a raft of improvements to the most popular services in the area that they run without public funding.

The company say that the changes encompass some new services, as well as some improvements to timetables, the creation of new links between areas that currently have no direct service, and the introduction of brand-new buses.

Simon Fisher, General Manager of Thames Valley Buses outlined the changes; “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to operate historic route 1 between Ascot & Windsor, via Sunninghill, Sunningdale, Cheapside and Windsor Great Park – a service with one of the more quirky routes through Windsor Great Park.  We have simplified the route within the Great Park to start the service, but during the summer, we will be serving Savill Garden Visitor Centre on Saturdays and Bank Holidays as a route 1A variant.  On weekdays, route 1 will be extended to Dedworth via St Andrews Crescent and Wolf Lane, replacing service W1 which is being discontinued.”

Continued Simon; “Our Route 2 will be changed give Dedworth residents a much faster service direct to Slough, reducing the journey time to around 15 minutes from the current 35-40 minutes. Most journeys will also extend to Wexham Park Hospital via Farnham Road, providing new direct links to the hospital from Windsor, Dedworth & Farnham Road”.

“Our route 7 from Woodlands Park to Maidenhead town centre will see an improved timetable.  Buses will run later in the evening until 10.20pm, and 7.20pm on Sundays. One bus per hour will now extend to St Marks Hospital via Boyn Hill. The other bus per hour will now connect seamlessly with route 16 to provide easy connections to Windsor.”

Simon also outlined a new more direct route for the 16; “Route 16 will run hourly between Maidenhead, Dedworth and Windsor, reducing the end-to-end journey time to as little as 28 minutes.

Routes 2 and 16 will combine to provide a half hour frequency between Dedworth and Windsor via Dedworth Road, significantly improving the offering for customers in this area.

New route 227 will replace route 234/5 to Waltham St Lawrence and will be extended to Twyford Station for commuters and leisure travellers alike.

New route 228 will replace routes 238/239 to Hurley and provide a consistent service from Maidenhead to Henley six days a week with most journeys calling at Stubbings Garden Centre.

Following a review, we are introducing a new timetable for route 53 to improve punctuality.  The Saturday service through to Wexham Park Hospital will be doubled in frequency to hourly.”

Simon explained that there are brand new buses on order for most of these routes, which will feature a striking new design for buses in Windsor & Maidenhead.

“We have ordered a suite of new high specification buses for the network and we expect them to be here in the summer. An updated colour scheme, bespoke for Windsor & Maidenhead, will make our buses look amazing, with the aim of attracting residents and tourists alike. They will also have significant on-board improvements taking the services to the next level – as customers on our most recent buses on Bracknell routes 171/172, can attest.”

“We regret that we will no longer be operating town routes 3, 8 or 9 in Maidenhead, or a service to Fifield, which will be provided by another operator.”

Thames Valley Buses say that full information on all of the changes can be found at www.thamesvalleybuses.com including updated timetables.

Thames Valley Buses is a renowned local bus operator, owned by Reading Buses – the company is the name for local bus travel in Wokingham, Bracknell, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead.

Gavin Francis was at Stoke Mandeville Hospital on March 7th

   
Serving the 130.

   
Serving the 300

BF63HEJ seen in STOKENCHURCH with the RL01 on March 3rd. 

Gavin Francis was at Stoke Mandeville Hospital on March 7th 

 
Serving the 9

and

RED ROSE E8RRT with the 40 in STOKENCHURCH on March 5th.

Stagecoach West Fleet Card for Period 11, dated 28/02/2025. 

Here are the changes we have found on the Period 11 Fleet Card for Stagecoach West. the changes affecting Oxford (Thames Transit) depots being shown in yellow as usual.  

The move of the E400MMC from Oxford to Witney is in connection with the transfer of Service S7 to Witney. 

Next week, 11^th-14^th March, is Cheltenham Gold Cup Race Week. There will be the usual loan of buses from around the Stagecoach Group to operate the shuttle services to the Racecourse. 

     London operations    

Go Ahead London LT280 with a 453 on March 1st.