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Reading's Buses - Heritage to Electric
In the year 2026 Reading Buses celebrates 125 years since Reading Corporation began providing passenger road transport to the town. It began in October 1901 when Reading Corporation acquired the Reading Tramways Company. In 1936 trolleybuses were introduced and operated until 1968. In 1986, operations passed to Reading Transport, an arms length company owned by the Borough Council that introduced Reading Buses as its trading name in 1991 - which is the fleet name seen on the buses today.
This independent transport videos DVD programme is in two parts. The first covers the excellent ‘Reading Runabout Bus Day’ organised by the Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust that took place in mid-November 2025. The second part covers the twelfth day of service of the brand new fleet of ADL400EV battery-electric buses with H69F bodywork that entered service on two of the town’s busiest routes. First we look at the ‘Heritage’ aspect of our programme. We also film the contemporary scene, as a number of buses will be displaced by the new battery-electric fleet. In November 2025 our cameras were out bright and early at St Mary’s Butts that was the main operating centre for the event. We see a superb selection of preserved buses taking part. This included a 1929 Leyland TD1 in J.M.T. livery, representing the type of buses that Reading and Thames Valley operated, a Thames Valley Bristol L type, AEC Routemaster – a type operated by Reading Mainline, a visiting AEC Renown from City of Oxford and a Bristol LS coach in Royal Blue livery, a type that passed through the town on service from the West Country to London. Representing Reading Buses was 38 (NDP 38R), a 1976 Bristol VRT/LL3/6LXB with a Northern Counties body, 701 (MRD 1R), a 1992 DAF/Optare Spectra and 814 (M957 VWY), a 1995 MAN / Optare Vecta. Also Reading Buses 806 (YN54 AEX), a Scania OmniDekka with an East Lancs body that was running on its last day in service.
During the day our cameras travelled on 701 on route 17A to Tilehurst Triangle and back. A ride on 806 on route 25 to Donkin Hill and back was followed by a ride on former London Transport AEC Routemaster RMC1462 (462 CLT) on the 17 to Wokingham Road and back. Then two journeys on board Bristol VR 38, first on route 20 to the University and then on route 17A towards Tilehurst Triangle via Norcot Road ending a really enjoyable day. The second part of this programme features a visit our cameras made to Reading in February 2026. Our filming locations included Oxford Road, West Street, Friar Street, Forbury Road, Blagrave Street and St Mary’s Butts. The first battery-electric bus we see is 4 (RG04 ZEB) in a commemorative wrap for the 125th anniversary year. Bus 2 (RG02 ZEB) wears a zebra design promoting the ‘Zero Emission Buses for the Reading Area’. Bus 3 (RG03 ZEB) has the mainly blue scheme carrying the latest global warming stripes. Bus 1 (MRD 1) carries the Reading Buses generic grey livery and the registration number formally used on the town’s mayoral car. Buses 5 – 18 are in purple 17 livery and 19-24 are in claret 21 livery. Our cameras travel on 17 (RG17 ZEB) on appropriately route 17 to Wokingham Road and return to St Mary’s Butts on board 3 (RG03 ZEB) completing our ‘Electric’ visit to the town! Of course Reading Buses has a large fleet of buses running on compressed bio-gas (CBG). 34 ADL Enviro300CBG bodied Scania K270UB single-deckers entered service in 2013 (401-434) and have recently been added to by 16 similar buses from Stagecoach in Sunderland (436-451) and a former demonstrator (435). These buses are also seen on this programme.
We end this programme with some archive video of the AEC Routemasters running in the town with Reading Mainline and see some of the Reading Buses of the day including Leyland Titans and MCW Metrobuses. Enjoy the nostalgia!
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| Filmed : | 2025 & 2026 |
| Duration : | 77 mins |
| Price : | Within UK - £16 |
| Rest of world - £18 | |
| Format : | DVD -R |
| Picture Aspect 16:9 | |
| Order Ref : | D504 |
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