In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berks Bucks Bus Company[3] took over the Bracknell, High Wycombe, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading and Wokingham operations of Alder Valley as part of the preparation for privatisation of the National Bus Company, trading as "Beeline" once the name was changed in October 1986. In late 1987 The Berks Bucks Bus Company was sold to Q Drive.[4]
In March 1996 Beeline was sold to CentreWest who in turn was sold to FirstGroup in March 1997. Initially trading as First Beeline, in 2001 it was rebranded as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley.
Following the loss of nine Bracknell Forest Council supported services to Courtney Buses on 13 July 2015 and the sale of route 90 Bracknell to Reading to Reading Buses on 26 July 2015, the Bracknell garage closed on 28 August 2015.[5][6][7]
In April 2023, the company was rebranded to First Beeline.[8]
Servicesedit
The company currently operates services in Slough, as well as services to surrounding areas such as Heathrow Airport, High Wycombe. The company was previously the dominant operator in Maidenhead, but town services there were abandoned in 2004 and are now run by Thames Valley Buses.[9]
As well as normal First branded services, there were five specially branded groups of routes. Some routes to Heathrow Airport were run with blue Heathrow 7 SeriesMercedes-Benz O530 Citaros and have been using Volvo 7900 Hybrids. Some routes in Slough were branded as Slough Trading Estate Hoppa, and used red liveried Optare Solos, but these vehicles were transferred away from Slough in 2014 and several routes through the Trading Estate have been abandoned. The Legoland Shuttle is run with yellow buses in Legoland graphics. However, this was abandoned in late 2017.
A new service, route 100, started on 2 June 2012, linking tourist destinations close to Windsor. However, this service no longer operates.
Coach services are also run under different brands. The Reading to Heathrow service are branded as RailAir, and routes 701 and 702 as Green Line. Operation of the Green Line services transferred to Reading Buses in December 2017.[10]
Other servicesedit
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley operated American Blue Bird school buses from an outstation in Chertsey for schools around Runnymede.
^"Popular bus route to continue after Reading Buses assume control".
^First Berkshire & The Thames Valley - "About us". Retrieved 30 April 2008. Archived 1 January 2011 at WebCite
^. 10 May 2008. Archived from the original on 18 March 2008.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to First Berkshire & The Thames Valley.
First Beeline website
First Group website
First Berkshire gallery
October 27, 2023
first, berkshire, thames, valley, first, beeline, buses, limited, trading, first, beeline, operator, providing, services, around, slough, subsidiary, firstgroup, first, beelinealexander, dennis, enviro200, high, wycombe, eden, station, november, 2013parentfirs. First Beeline Buses Limited 2 trading as First Beeline is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup First BeelineAlexander Dennis Enviro200 at High Wycombe Eden bus station in November 2013ParentFirstGroupFounded1986HeadquartersFareham 1 Service areaSloughService typeBus servicesRoutes10 June 2022 DestinationsSloughHeathrow AirportWinsdorDepots2Fleet98 July 2018 Websitewww firstbus co uk berkshire thames valley Contents 1 History 2 Services 2 1 Other services 3 Gallery 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory edit nbsp Wright Axcess Ultralow bodied Scania L113CRB in Camberley in 2009In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited later renamed The Berks Bucks Bus Company 3 took over the Bracknell High Wycombe Maidenhead Newbury Reading and Wokingham operations of Alder Valley as part of the preparation for privatisation of the National Bus Company trading as Beeline once the name was changed in October 1986 In late 1987 The Berks Bucks Bus Company was sold to Q Drive 4 In 1990 the High Wycombe operations were sold to the Oxford Bus Company and in 1992 the Reading and Newbury operations were sold to Reading Buses In 1993 Beeline purchased the Slough operations of Luton amp District Transport until 1986 the Slough depot of London Country Bus Services and later part of the London Country North West division 4 In March 1996 Beeline was sold to CentreWest who in turn was sold to FirstGroup in March 1997 Initially trading as First Beeline in 2001 it was rebranded as First Berkshire amp The Thames Valley Following the loss of nine Bracknell Forest Council supported services to Courtney Buses on 13 July 2015 and the sale of route 90 Bracknell to Reading to Reading Buses on 26 July 2015 the Bracknell garage closed on 28 August 2015 5 6 7 In April 2023 the company was rebranded to First Beeline 8 Services editThe company currently operates services in Slough as well as services to surrounding areas such as Heathrow Airport High Wycombe The company was previously the dominant operator in Maidenhead but town services there were abandoned in 2004 and are now run by Thames Valley Buses 9 As well as normal First branded services there were five specially branded groups of routes Some routes to Heathrow Airport were run with blue Heathrow 7 Series Mercedes Benz O530 Citaros and have been using Volvo 7900 Hybrids Some routes in Slough were branded as Slough Trading Estate Hoppa and used red liveried Optare Solos but these vehicles were transferred away from Slough in 2014 and several routes through the Trading Estate have been abandoned The Legoland Shuttle is run with yellow buses in Legoland graphics However this was abandoned in late 2017 A new service route 100 started on 2 June 2012 linking tourist destinations close to Windsor However this service no longer operates Coach services are also run under different brands The Reading to Heathrow service are branded as RailAir and routes 701 and 702 as Green Line Operation of the Green Line services transferred to Reading Buses in December 2017 10 Other services edit First Berkshire amp The Thames Valley operated American Blue Bird school buses from an outstation in Chertsey for schools around Runnymede The company also used to operate Ride Pegasus a larger scheme run under contract to Surrey County Council from an outstation in Merrow Guildford This ceased in July 2010 after the council cut the funding 11 12 Gallery edit nbsp Heathrow 7 series liveried Mercedes Benz O530 Citaro in April 2008 nbsp Green Line liveried Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TL in Bracknell in June 2010 nbsp Legoland liveried Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLF in Merrow in October 2008 nbsp RailAir liveried Plaxton Panther bodied Volvo B9R in September 2012See also editList of bus operators of the United KingdomReferences edit Companies House extract company no 2179403 First Beeline Buses Limited Companies House extract company no 2179403 First Beeline Buses Limited Companies House extract company no 1966624 First Rail Support Limited formerly The Berks Bucks Bus Company Limited a b The BeeLine Timeline Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Busworld Changes coming for Bracknell s bus users Get Reading 25 June 2015 Courtney Buses takes over First Bracknell services Coach amp Bus Week issue 1198 21 July 2015 page 10 We take over route 90 to Bracknell Archived 11 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine Reading Buses First Beeline Timetable Guide 2 April 23 First Beeline Courtney Coaches About Us Archived 8 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Popular bus route to continue after Reading Buses assume control First Berkshire amp The Thames Valley About us Retrieved 30 April 2008 Archived 1 January 2011 at WebCite Surrey County Council Access Buses Web Archive 10 May 2008 Archived from the original on 18 March 2008 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to First Berkshire amp The Thames Valley First Beeline website First Group website First Berkshire gallery Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title First Berkshire 26 The Thames Valley amp oldid 1169971460, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
