Issue nr 392
Sunday, June 7th 2026

Past Issues : https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/ 

Gary Seamarks

Hope everything OK at your end, did go with Clive and Phil Pointer to Windsor and had a quick chat with Gavin as well, but didn't send pictures as knew they would only duplicate what others had sent, also did an Oxford with Clive last week and popped to Didcot also, again most likely on repeating what others will send. 

Last Thursday 28/5, had to get tyres on car, so used time for a trip up to bus station, (10.15 > 12.30) was my second trip into town in just over 3 years, we only live 6 miles out !, can honestly say missing nothing, the town was dead and to watch town buses leave with only 6-8 passengers on,when services except the 1 are every 20 minutes to every hour for some, the tendered routes to the North Bedfordshire Villages were mostly leaving empty, the only routes that were carrying many were the X5 for MK and Oxford and 905 for St. Neots and Cambridge, which seemed mostly teenagers going out to the shops, Grant Palmer's 42. 44 to Ampthill and Flitwick perhaps had a fair number on as did the East Beds routes to Sandy and Biggleswade, perhaps unsurprising that more revisions have seen cuts to Stagecoach services from 31/5/26, Grant Palmer has picked up the 53 to Wootton, which stagecoach has altered to a Bedford- Wixams- Wootton routes of little value to many, except perhaps to take a few passengers of Grant Palmers 42,44,68 service. The borough council has again done nothing worth talking about to improve the situation except push the blame to others. Other SiBedford cuts has seen the 9 group to Stevenage cut to hourly north of Henlow, with Herts funding south their of, Bedford has also picked up a one bus SB12 route in Stevenage as well.  

The whole Bedford situation is becoming a joke, where last buses out of town to many villages are before 5.30, the council believing that the Universal theme park planned very near us opening in 2031 will be the turning point even though its 6 years away !, the town is already run-down and the way things are going I could see Stagecoach pull out, the peak requirement was about 120 buses in 2006, (yes a fair bit of schools on that, plus Bigglewade outstation) but now must be about 50, with 9 on X5, 7 on MK1, 5 on 905 and 7 on 9 group to Stevenage.. a few on the North Beds tendered and about 16 on towns,,,really sad to see, also the multi storey car park was always full, it was only half full and the top deck is now closed off also.  Makes you wonder what the future holds........................  

Anyway attached are a few from Bedford visit, the new livery has spread rapidly as Bedford has the paint shops ! 

 

     
     

and an interesting observation

This was 37435 last Thursday leaving for Stevenage.
This is believed to be the e200mmc that went up in flames between Buckingham and MK this morning,
it was ghost tracking as 37433 we think, bit unsure at minute.  

     Fleet News and developments   

Gavin Francis in Aylesbury on June 3rd

eVoRa 3210 seen working the X4 in the bus station.

 

Kevin Fuller

I would send you three from my local area. all taken on 21st May. 

1) 33454, ADL Enviro 400MMC, is on Wellington Street working route 7X
towards Heathrow, This is one of the vehicles transferred from Cornwall earlier this year. 

2) 63304 Wright Streetlite Max is at Britwell shops, terminus of routes 7 and 7X.
Still carrying First Solent livery, but with vinyl route branding removed. 

3) Similar vehicle 63315 approaches the route 7 terminus at Britwell at the end of its run from Heathrow.
This vehicle was new to Slough in X74 branded livery, most of which appears now to have been removed. 

Gavin Francis

First 47588 ex Solent with an X74 Eden BS May 31st.

David Bird

Carousel Enviro 200 MMC 80517 YX69 NUJ with the new look Carousel Country branding
on service 34 in Lane End yesterday 28th May.

Gavin Francis with a picture view at the end of May.

     
     
   
Note the variety of buses on loan from Oxford.

Sanjay Baker

80023 has now received updated branding like 21 nd 22 seen on June 4th.

Tony Gaze

   
Pulhams latest EvoSeti's 80997 and 80998 have been out on the 801 

Pulhams have also issued a new Cheltenham Timetable Guide 

Martin Dowling

 
This plain white Evoseti 80980 was on the X40 today.  Photo taken at Caversham Library.

Matt Cooper 

LATEST NEWS

I attended a surprise 50th birthday party in Didcot last Saturday (30th May) and also took a trip out to Wallingford where I spent a very enjoyable hour snapping the bus scene and enjoying the excellent weather. Here are some of the pics; 

A good image presented by Thames Travel who certainly dominate the scene. All Volvos double deckers with Wright bodywork (except the Rapids) and all busy with passengers out making the most of the weather it would seem.  

80908 (NK20 ELU) was making a ‘rapid connection’ perhaps standing in on the X40 bound for Reading.  

80979 (SN18 XZU) caught on the 33A. All blinds were correctly displayed, my phone has just decided to eliminate parts (or all of them)  

80920 (SN18 XZF) entering Wallingford square on the 33.  

80971 (SN18 XZK) was laying over awaiting its next trip to Henley.  

 
80995 (BU25 ZHW) front and rear shots. The first time I had seen these beasts and make for an interesting sight manouevring around the lanes and countryside.
Tri-axle double deckers in the UK seem a tad more common today and clearly more popular and preferential to bendy buses.
A good and noticeable product to surely tempt the public of South Oxfordshire and Berkshire?!  

The other pics are of the Thames, very busy due to the weather and an Italian restaurant which caught my eye! Not being near the west coast I assume this has no relation to the train operating company. I didn’t hear any announcements stating ‘see it, say it, eat it’ or ‘ we apologise for the delay with your meal today due to unforeseen kitchen engineering works!’  

 

I have a further few trips planned over the next month or so and I ll send you anything interesting and relevant. 

Gavin Francis

Edwards 100 years Anniversary Coach at Heathrow Bus Station

   
Seen on May 20that CBS Heathrow.

 
including Courtney, Newbury & District & Thames Valley

Bluer skies for sky blue routes 

Reading Buses announced that their popular sky blue 15 and 16 routes have had a make-over with refurbished buses being introduced. The newer, low-emission gas buses were previously part of their purple 17 fleet; however, they have now been fully refurbished and given a striking new sky blue design after purple became electric.  

These newer buses boast free wifi onboard and USB charging at every seat, the buses also feature a glazed staircase and a sunroof to allow extra light in as well as a table seat and reupholstered seating too.  

The buses also offer a quieter, more comfortable ride as well as front and rear doors to help speed up boarding.  

These refurbished buses are part of Reading Buses compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet and produce up to 84% less CO2 emissions compared to the previous diesel buses that they replace. Reading Buses say that not only will these buses help improve air quality, but that they are also more comfortable for customers.  

Said Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer; “After converting purple 17 to electric, we really wanted to utilise our CNG buses in the best way possible. By refurbishing them and bringing them onto the sky blue routes, we are able to make the busy Oxford Road corridor an ultra-low carbon area with all the buses we run being ultra-low or zero emission, which helps improve the local air quality.” 

Continued Robert; “It is also another step towards reducing emissions across the town to help with the Climate Emergency that aims to work towards net zero.” 

The following link contains pictures to help illustrate the story: https://we.tl/t-jfzA1YVqPT56MPG2 

 

Yellow goes electric for Reading Buses 

Reading Buses had a sunny disposition as they introduced their new yellow 26 electric buses at their depot.  

Following on from their electric buses recently introduced on purple 17 and claret 21, the company unveiled their 7 brand-new zero-emission buses for yellow 26, with an additional ‘generic’ silver bus designed to go on any route when the branded buses are being serviced. Yellow 26 runs between Central Reading and IKEA via Southcote, Ford’s Farm, Beansheaf and Calcot. 

Like the other electric buses launched in February, these new ones for yellow 26 produce zero emissions, helping the town to improve its air quality. They also don’t produce any engine noise, which helps quieten the roads and environment around them too. 

Reading Buses say the new vehicles are also built for comfort of both drivers and customers too. The buses are fitted with best-in-class features designed to help make customer’s journeys even more comfortable, including:

• USB-A and C charging,
• Seat back phone holders with wireless charging
• High back seats with plenty of legroom
• a glazed staircase and a skylight on the upper deck to help let light in
• mood lighting fitted throughout
• two wheelchair bays

Thanks to the heat-pumps installed as part of them being electric, the new buses also feature air conditioning, particularly helpful during the current hot weather, and heating for the winter.

The drivers also benefit from camera mirrors for improved visibility, reversing sensors, a PA system and a curved windscreen to reduce risk of injury in the event of an incident. 

Said Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer; “Hot on the heels of our launch of electric buses on purple 17 and claret 21, comes more Zero-Emission Buses for the Reading Area! We know that customers will love the new buses for not only their environmental credentials, but also the comfort on-board that they bring.  

At a time when fuel prices are still rising, customers can be assured that we have great value fares regardless of how they travel – whether taking advantage of our period tickets if commuting regularly or trying easysaver or daysaver products if only travelling with us every now and then.” 

Robert was also keen to highlight some future activity to promote the electric buses; “The keen-eyed may just have noticed that we have a zebra in our photos! This is Zippy, the mascot of the buses – with ZEBRA standing for Zero-Emission Buses for the Reading Area. Zippy will be out and about the town soon to help spread the word about our greener buses, so keep your eyes peeled!” 

Reading Buses say that the yellow 26 buses will be in service from Monday 1 June which is just in time for Reading’s Climate Festival which starts on 6 June.  

Service revisions from Monday 20 July 

Reading Buses have announced two permanent service cancellations to take effect at the start of the school summer holidays, whilst also making improvements on other routes. 

Pink 22 from Reading to Caversham Heights will no longer run following successive falls in patronage. Berry 23/24, pink 25/25a and aqua 28/28a will all continue to provide frequent services from Reading to central Caversham, and school route 81 will also continue to run to Caversham Heights during term time. Some areas of Caversham Heights will also continue to be served by Thames Travel X40. 

Route 12 from Reading to Twyford will also no longer run as patronage hasn’t met expectations since the service was introduced in November. However, Thames Valley Buses routes 127/128/129 will continue to serve this area, along with Carousel Buses routes 127/850, as was the case prior to November. 

The improvements on other route see aqua 28/28a having a more direct route from Reading to Henley. The service, which has been a major success since its introduction, will use Reading Bridge and Prospect Street instead of Caversham Bridge. This will cut journey times to Henley by around 5 minutes whilst maintaining connections to central Caversham and providing a service along the full length of Henley Road for the first time. 

The timings of pink 25/25a to Peppard Common will be adjusted alongside this to create a coordinated frequency with aqua 28/28a between Prospect Street and Reading. 

Little berries 29/29a to Lower Caversham will be doubled in frequency on Sundays to run every 30 minutes, with 29a journeys via central Caversham introduced to match the rest of the week. 

There will also be minor timetable changes to improve punctuality on orange 13/14. 

These changes take effect from Monday 20 July. 

Robert Williams, Chief Executive Officer said “Whilst we would like every change we make to be positive, in this case we have had to make the very difficult decision to stop running pink 22 to Caversham Heights.”  

He continued “A fearsome combination starting with a poor recovery from the pandemic, followed by extensive road closures, competition on the busiest sections of the route, and rising costs has led to pink 22 no longer covering its basic running costs. We can’t expect users of other bus services to pay for that on an ongoing basis.”  

“Whilst we appreciate that this will be a great loss for the people who still rely on pink 22, some alternatives are available a short distance away – whether it be our school bus, our services to central Caversham, or other operator’s services.  

We do not take decisions like this lightly but have not been able to identify any alternative after making significant efforts to regrow patronage. Our objective is to provide the best possible service for Reading that we can, but it has to be within our own financial means. The rest of our network changes are broadly positive and reflect that overall patronage has grown by nearly 1% over the last year.” 

Cllr John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said: “We are obviously concerned by the loss of this well-established service to part of Reading and the Council supported the bus company’s efforts to increase patronage through special fare offers. However, it is understandable that Reading Buses reacts to the financial conditions that they face. We will continue to explore any opportunity to improve bus provision in this part of the town”.

Martin Dowling

After the introduction of electric buses on route 17, the Enviro MMC City buses formerly used have been displaced.  714 to 722 have been repainted into Sky Blue livery for route 15 and they entered service today, Wednesday 27th May.   

Another batch is being repainted for use on Berries 23 and 24.  These are having the centre door removed  as well as being refurbished so will be a few weeks yet. 

A new batch of electric buses 25-32 are scheduled to enter service on Monday 1st June for route 26.  After that the only Enviro 400s in service are likely to be on 23 and 24 until they in turn get replaced. 

Here are a few photos taken today in Friar Street.

Martin Dowling

After the introduction of electric buses on route 17, the Enviro MMC City buses formerly used have been displaced. 

 
714 to 722 have been repainted into Sky Blue livery for route 15 and they entered service today, Wednesday 27th May.   

Another batch is being repainted for use on Berries 23 and 24.  These are having the centre door removed  as well as being refurbished so will be a few weeks yet. 

A new batch of electric buses 25-32 are scheduled to enter service on Monday 1st June for route 26.  After that the only Enviro 400s in service are likely to be on 23 and 24 until they in turn get replaced. 

Here are a few photos taken today in Friar Street.

 
Photo of vehicles that came off Reading Purple route 17 after being replaced by electrics
earlier this year and have now been allocated to the Sky Blue group of routes.

Peter Edgar

Reading Buses Yellow Route 26 going electric! 

June 1st saw Reading Buses Yellow Route 26 changing from diesel to electric vehicles, this is the third route in Reading to be converted.

   

 

Gavin Francis in Aylesbury on June 3rd

 
YX21RUU and YX67VGL.

 

 

Gavin Francis in Aylesbury on June 3rd

Redline BF67GJU osf with a 130.

Redline BU25YZH.

 

Gavin Francis in Aylesbury on June 3rd

Red Rose latest new bus, YX26KHV with the Town Servicle route 1.

Red Rose MX61BAO.

Red Rose Y25RRT working the 7. 

 
RED ROSE FORMER ARRIVA DW 444 LJ11AAE working the 50 and in its Arriva days in London

and in Stokenchurch

 
Y22RRT seen in 2023 and now in 2026 with a livery variation. 

Dave & Deric

Here are the changes for Stagecoach West as given in the Fleet Card for Period 1 (dated 22/05/2026). Changes affecting Stagecoach Oxford depots shown in yellow.

 

Out of Reserve	10784	Reserve	To	Oxford
	15352	Reserve	To	Gloucester
	15344	Reserve	To	Swindon
	15831/4	Reserve	To	Oxford
	27713	Reserve	To	Swindon (Driver Trainer)
	80008/33	Reserve	To	Oxford
Transfers	15969/70	Gloucester	To	Cheltenham
	18422	For Disposal	To	Swindon
	36982	Cheltenham	To	Stroud
	48172	Stroud	To	Cheltenham
For Disposal	37246	Reserve	To	For Disposal
Sold/Gone	15532	For Disposal	To	Sold for scrap

 

15532 was an RTA victim. 37246 is the Cheltenham District heritage livery Enviro200 which caught fire. A decision has been made not to repair it.

Sanjay Baker

80016 works the 13 and passes 80037 in Speedwell Street on June 1st.

80033 with a 9  in Speedwell Street on May 31st.

  London operations 

Gavin Francis

Metroline VWH 2399 by SAINSBURY'S, LADBROKE GROVE on May 26th

 

Gordon Scott

Stagecoach North Scotland, sorry for Slate Blue new livery I am slightly taken to it, shots taken in Inverness Bus Station and town. 

Stagecoach 53735 - BF63 ZRT Volvo B8R Caetano Levante based at Inverness sub depot Elgin. 

Stagecoach 84038 - LC71 KBV Alexander Dennis BYD Enviro City EV seen in new slate blue livery running out of service.

Taken in Cullen 

Stagecoach North Scotland Macduff based 11790 - SK23 CTV on route 35 Elgin to Aberdeen just came through the Viaduct bridge.

Another shot taken in Inverness of Local Coach and Bus operator D & E Coaches taken in Bus Station on route 307 SV75 DEE Wright Electroliner. 

A new model

I have taken Stagecoach 11716 - YX73 PFJ, ADL Enviro 400 MMC with Stagecoach Yorkshire,
not the real thing I received model in the post yesterday by maker Northcord ukbus 6544 just released in current steel blue livery. 

 

Thought you might want to see this and all weekly readers.

Paul Hawkins

Cairnryan Stena line port by Paul Hawkins

Caught the following vehicles outside Cairnryan Port 

Stagecoach Western Scottish Enviro 100EV on route 360 Ayr-Stranraer, must be one of the longest end to end routes operated by a Electric vehicle

Translink Ulsterbus operating for Scottish Citylink service 923 from Stranraer to Glasgow

East Yorkshire Electrics

East Yorkshire is the latest Go-Ahead Group Fleet to introduce Electric Vehicles both single and double deck Wrightbus Electroliners

EYMS Services from Hull to Withernsea