Monday Variety

 Where Does The 22 Go 2?

After leaving its town centre terminus, the bus passes the front of Reading Station ...

... before diving under the railway ...

... and calling at the newer interchange north of the station.

Caversham Bridge crosses the Thames ...

... and takes the 22 to Caversham, an old community just north of the river.

We enter the Caversham Heights development passing housing which generally dates from the 1930s.

The long straight stretch of Albert Road and Caversham Avenue come next and we note plenty of front gardens turned into car parking.

After a right turn into Uplands Road our particular trip 'enjoys' a tight squeeze between two parked cars.

At the left hander ahead, we see more front garden parking for multiple cars ...

... before joining Kidmore Road with housing which probably dates from post WW2.

One thing is clear. There are plenty of cars in Caversham Heights!

There is a pleasant oasis of greenery ...

... before our pink gas bus trundles via Woodcote Way nack towards Reading and joins the A4074 ...

... where the Thames Travel X40 sticks with the 22 ...

.

... all the way back to the town centre, sharing the stops ...

... now equipped with posh 'flags' ...

... and whence the X40 fare is cheaper.

The route of the 22 is clearly not "good bus territory" and, were fbb to be consulted (for a substantial fee, of course), he would be recommending that a deal be struck with GoAhead Thames Travel to divert the X40 via the Caversham Heights estate, thus giving the people a better service and removing a loss-making route from Reading Buses' catalogue.

Seemples!

As a bonus, the revellers of the estate would get a proper evening service and late late buses on Friday and Saturday nights.

Party Time!

Portsmouth And Bournemouth

There's a bit of a craze going on. The two authorities are "working tirelessly" to improve, nay to enhance bus travel for their respective communities.

Cheaper fares? More frequent services? A printed timetable book? An up-to-date route map?

None of these!

Both councils are seeking to improve their bus stops. You would have thought that this was the desire if the bus operator! Of course, when the operator was the council, it was a policy of civic pride that passengers were well looked after as they waited.

They certainly were in the centre of Brighton ...

... and Sheffield ...

... in some cases with toilets attached!

Portsmouth has gone for 27 "Super Stops" in the busiest locations.

The enhanced stops will be installed in key locations including  Cosham, Southsea, Fratton, Hilsea, Copnor, and the city centre, helping to create a more connected and accessible transport network. 

And the enhancements?

Sounds impressive. Let's hope all this luxury is vandal proof!

And there's more!

The only pictures of Super Stops suggest that they are very ordinary bus shelters with a repaint and a few extra bits. The highlight seems to be yellow arms to the seats ...

... and bright pink edges to the roof. Oddly most articles show a snap of the supplier of this luxury.

Pictures do not show the promised electronics but they may be grouped on screens in the end wall of the shelter.

Meanwhile in Bournemouth we are told that bus stops have gone "green".

fbb is tempted to say "they are not green, they are orange" but he will resist the temptation.

Such infrastructure is not new nationally! When fbb was touring Cornwall a few years ago he saw lots of 'green' wooden bus shelters.

But back in his teenage years he waited for the United Counties bus from Billing Turn to take trips into Northampton. The shelter was, of course, 'green' but blackened in an "ungreen" way by today's standards ...

... with coats of creosote - now banned! The trouble with 'green' timber is the problem of 'ungreen' damage to forests. The other problem is that wood rots eventually!

The above is in Bulgaria!

So how green is green?

Blast The Ballasting?

Is "blast" blasphemous? fbb does not use expletives, deleted or undeleted, but occasionally loses control and utters something akin to "poo bags" for which asperity he does repent.

His track ballasting did not go well.

And it got worse! The white poster paint designed to reduce the natural grey of the ballast grains ...

... made it too pale. It was a right mess. 

So fbb cut out most if the mess, glued in a new edge ...

... waited for the weighted join to set ...

... and began to tidy the mess and recover the failed bodge.

Well it's a start! More in due course.

 Next Variety blog : Tuesday 4th August 

Reading Re Reading's Rethhink - 4

 And So To The Rethink!

Matt is cincerned ...

... but there is absolutely nothing he can do about it! The withdrawal of Reading's PINK route 22 is a commercial decision by an independent business which happens to be owned by Reading Council. So, as owners, you would assume that the council agreed with the Company management decision.

But this man is more hopeful ...

... as the key Councillor for public transport.

Well, John, you have given up as it is your company that is withdrawing it!

Other ideas are discussed ...

... most of which are impractical. Reducing frequency will lose even more passengers; fiddling with the X40 would need the cooperation of Thames Travel, and smaller buses cost the same to run as the current vehicles, less a dribble of fuel.

One suggestion, of running left hand drive buses on the wrong side of the road and moving all the shelters ...

... seems unlikely to help!

But the Council comes up with three stunning ideas. 

Stunning Idea 1

Run less buses at peak time when most customers might be persuaded to travel AND run every 50 minutes during the main part of the day so people can never remember the timetable!

Stunning Idea 2

The Council will give its own company an electric bus which will be kinder to the environment, will be more expensive than the existing bus ...

... and need expensive charging facilities. This will save loadsa money as electricity is cheaper than gas and, as if waving a magic wand ...

... make route 22 profitable again.

As a reality check, it is worth remembering that the biggest cost of running a bus is the driver's wage. It matters not if he is driving a small bus, an electric bus, a diesel bus or a steam bus ...

... the wage bill will be much the same.

Stunning Idea 3

Tell the people of Caversham Heights to use the buses more often. No 3 idea is so brilliant in concept and so certain of success that you wonder why no one has thought of it before.

Despite some unusual financial calculations and unlikely savings, the Council's munificence has enabled the company it owns to proudly announce the salvation if the 22.

On 15th July, just days before the axe was due to fall, the 22 was saved and there was dancing in the leafy lanes of Caversham Heights until the early hours!

So the Council's bus company duly reported the Council's noble rethink and unexpected generosity!

Sorry, Council and bus company, fbb smells one of these ...

... and an almighty stitch-up.

But we should read what the company reports about the salvation of the 22.

Great news for Caversham Heights residents and customers of pink 22 as the service will no longer be cancelled thanks to an agreement with Reading Borough Council. 

That is an agreement between us and us! 

Reading Borough Council will provide us with a one-off capital grant to allow us to buy a new electric bus which, alongside existing Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) funding grant from Government, will allow the valuable service between Caversham Heights and Reading Town Centre to continue to operate.

Valuable, or profitable?

Whilst we await the new, electric, bus, the service will continue to be run on sustainably sourced, bio methane gas.  

The service has been saved from the planned withdrawal and will run along the same route, but from Monday 20 July, there will be a new timetable. 

With less buses, a timetable cut

It is important to emphasise though, that residents still need to make good use of the service for it to be able to continue to run in the future. 

As explained previously, pink 22 has been run at a significant loss since the pandemic, followed by the closure of Kidmore Road by Thames Water which had an additional impact on customer numbers. We urge those who have been vocal about retaining the service now use it and encourage others to do the same. 

Use it (whether you need it or not) or ...

... farewell 22 for ever!

We have been working with Reading Borough Council since we let them know of our intention to withdraw the service to see if there were any funding streams that could help us to continue to run it. 

A fall in the price of purchasing electric buses means funding already secured by the Council through a successful ZEBRA bid to Government can be stretched further to enable the purchase of an additional vehicle. The use of an electric bus will also benefit air quality along the route and provide a quieter journey for passengers. 

Anyway, the Government is paying, so that's all right. Right?

With the new electric bus not available until spring 2027, the Council has reached agreement with us to operate an interim service from Monday 20 July to ensure continuation of service for passengers. 

The provision of a new electric bus on the pink 22 to Caversham Heights, combined with timetable changes, will reduce our operating costs and help to continue to afford to run the service.

Hmmm?

As part of tomorrow's delayed blog, we will take a ride on a route 22 and readers may liKe to assess the chances of the service ever being profitable.

  Next NOT Weekend Variety blog : Mon 3rd Aug 

Reading Re Reading - 3

 The Tangled Web

Once upon a time, Reading Council had a transport department that ran trams, trolleybuses and motor omnibuses. 

The aim was to be a service to the town's ratepayers whilst, as far as possible, contributing some bonus revenue (like a profit for a commercial business) to the civic piggy bank.

But this did not sit well with the lemming like political desire for privatisation and competition.

So Reading Council was forced to sell Reading Buses.

But the council was allowed to sell Reading Buses to a limited liability company wholly owned by ...

... Reading Council!

So it was that Reading Buses Ltd was losing money (we know not how much) on PINK route 22 to Caversham Heights ...

... operated by a shiny PINK bus powered by gas.

It ran to a somewhat disjointed timetable as shown by the extract below.

Note two journeys at 4.00pm, also noting that the company has yet to catch up with the rest of public transport and the computer age, in order to grapple with the intractable problem of the 24 hour clock!

So the boss of Reading Buses Ltd told (so the report goes) his bosses at Reading Council that he would be withdrawing route 22 from 20th July 2026. Note the use of the word "told" rather than "proposed" or "suggested".

The Council bosses do not appear to have made any comment, any protest or even said, "O no you don't!".

But the councillors responsible for Cavesham Heights (e.g. Saadia Saadat, below) ...

... were not at all happy that their colleagues had happily accepted that their bus company was going to withdraw a bus service to part of their municipality; where their constituents would perforce be less than pleased and might withdraw their vote.

The PINK 22 had suffered badly as a result of Covid and further suffered from a major and baffling diversion in 2025 because of a road closure.

Then there was an on-going proposal to divert the route away from its traditional roads ...

... and we all know how regular loyal passengers just LOVE those annoying route changes for operational reasons.

Much to everyone's surprise (very much NOT!) there was vehement opposition to the withdrawal ...

... with a strong poster campaign.

If you were good with computers, you could scan the QR code and add your name to a petition. fbb is not sure how well the demographic of Caversham Heights reacted to an electronic petition. He suspects not well!

Or you could parade threateningly at one of the many bus stops that would no longer be served.

This must have been a very busy stop.

Indeed, IF that had been a typical load, the route would need a bus at least every 5 minutes!

But the press loves to exaggerate, ably supported by contrived pictures!

One plan put forward (fbb knows not by whom) is that the bus-deprived but athletic residents of Caversham Heights could jog a few hundred yards and catch Thames Travel's X40 ...

... running along the main A4074 ...

... and even sharing a few stops with the 22.

It was more frequent than the 22!

So that would be great!

Well now, the 22 still runs; so a solution was found and fbb cannot help thinking that the whole withdrawal episode was a cunning plan by the company and its owners to manipulate the Council (itself!) into a position where it could "bend the rules" and subsidise route 22 without a tendering exercise.

The Council would not want their "Reading Buses Limited" to allow an intruder operator into Caversham Heights, thus risking an outbreak of competition throughout their network.

More tomorrow.

 Next Reading Re Reading blog : Sun 2nd Aug