trading as Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. An early form of trade, barter, s ...

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. First B&TV SC23010

First_Berkshire_%26_The_Thames_Valley_60754

In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berks Bucks Bus Company took over the

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

,

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

,

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

, Newbury,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

Wokingham Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell. History Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may ...

operations of

Alder Valley Alder Valley was a bus operator in South East England. National Bus Company era Alder Valley was formed when National Bus Company (NBC) subsidiaries Aldershot & District Traction (A&D) and Thames Valley Traction (TV) merged on 1 January ...

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.The BeeLine Timeline
Busworld In 1990 the High Wycombe operations were sold to the

Oxford Bus Company Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. Company Number 91106 It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Horse trams ...

, and in 1992 the Reading and Newbury operations were sold to

Reading Buses Reading Buses is a bus operator serving the towns of Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and the surrounding areas in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire, England, as well as parts of Greater L ...

. In 1993 Beeline purchased the Slough operations of Luton & District Transport, until 1986 the Slough depot of

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

and later part of the

London Country North West London Country North West was a bus operator in South East England and London. It was formed from the split of London Country Bus Services in 1986, and operated a fleet of around 360 buses from five garages, with its headquarters located in Ga ...

division. In March 1996 Beeline was sold to CentreWest who in turn was sold to

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Courtney Buses Thames Valley Buses, known until 2021 as Courtney Buses is a bus company based in Bracknell, England. Founded in 1973, the company operates a network of commercial and contracted local bus services and school buses in Berkshire, north Hampshire ...

on 13 July 2015 and the sale of route 90 Bracknell to Reading to

Reading Buses Reading Buses is a bus operator serving the towns of Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and the surrounding areas in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire, England, as well as parts of Greater L ...

on 26 July 2015, the Bracknell garage closed on 28 August 2015.

Services

The company currently operates services in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

, as well as services to surrounding areas such as

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

,

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

. The company was previously the dominant operator in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

, but town services there were abandoned in 2004 and are now run by

Thames Valley Buses Thames Valley Buses, known until 2021 as Courtney Buses is a bus company based in Bracknell, England. Founded in 1973, the company operates a network of commercial and contracted local bus services and school buses in Berkshire, north Hampshire ...

. 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 Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

s and have been using

Volvo 7900 The Volvo 7900 is an integrally-constructed single-decker rigid bus and single-decker articulated bus, most commonly available as a hybrid electric bus named Volvo 7900 Hybrid or just Volvo 7900H, but is also available with both diesel and ...

Hybrids. Some routes in Slough were branded as ''Slough Trading Estate Hoppa'', and used red liveried

Optare Solo The Optare Solo is a low-floor minibus/midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Optare in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketing its vehicle as having an entrance that is ...

s, but these vehicles were transferred away from Slough in 2014 and several routes through the Trading Estate have been abandoned. The

Legoland Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...

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 Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

. 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.

Other services

First Berkshire & The Thames Valley operates American

Blue Bird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. B ...

school buses from an outstation in

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in the ...

for schools around

Runnymede Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining hi ...

. The company also used to operate Ride Pegasus!, a larger scheme run under contract to

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

from an outstation in

Merrow Merrow (from Irish ', Middle Irish ' or ') is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is of Hiberno-English origin. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap ( ga, cochaillín draíochta; Hiberno-English: cohuleen druith) in order ...

,

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. This ceased in July 2010 after the council cut the funding.

Fleet summary

As at August 2017 the fleet consisted of 98 buses and coaches.First Berkshire Fleet List
Buszone 25 August 2017

Gallery

File:First B&TV ES64037.JPG, Heathrow 7 series liveried

Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

in April 2008 File:First_Berkshire_%26_The_Thames_Valley_DME43925_LK56_JKN_4.JPG, Ride Pegasus! liveried

East Lancs Myllennium The East Lancs Myllennium was a type of single-decker bus body manufactured by East Lancashire Coachbuilders on DAF SB220, Dennis Dart SLF, MAN 14.220 and Scania OmniTown chassis. It was designed in 1999 as a bus for Millennium Dome routes M1 ...

bodied

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor second ...

SLF in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

in November 2009 File:First_Berkshire_%26_The_Thames_Valley_37275_LK58_EDJ_2.JPG, Green Line liveried

Wright Eclipse Gemini The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generat ...

bodied

Volvo B9TL The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version has been sup ...

in

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

in June 2010 File:First Berkshire & The Thames Valley DMP42644.JPG,

Legoland Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...

liveried

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) was a single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Reeve Burgess, Plaxton and latterly built by Alexa ...

2 bodied

Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floo ...

in

Merrow Merrow (from Irish ', Middle Irish ' or ') is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is of Hiberno-English origin. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap ( ga, cochaillín draíochta; Hiberno-English: cohuleen druith) in order ...

in October 2008

References

External links