First Beeline Buses Limited,

trading as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

First Beeline, is a bus operator providing services in and around

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

. It is a subsidiary of

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Bracknell Bracknell () is a 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 borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Re ...

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

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

, Newbury,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

Wokingham Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...

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

Oxford Bus Company The City of Oxford Motor Services Limited, trading as Oxford Bus Company, 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 horse buses The City of Oxf ...

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

Reading Buses Reading Transport Limited, trading as Reading Buses, is an English Municipal bus company, municipal bus operator owned by Reading Borough Council, serving the towns of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury, Slough, ...

. 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 in the United Kingdom, bus deregulation programme. History From 1933, L ...

and later part of the London Country North West 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 on 13 July 2015 and the sale of route 90 Bracknell to Reading to

on 26 July 2015, the Bracknell garage closed on 28 August 2015. In April 2023, the company was rebranded to First Beeline. In December 2024 following the return to a national identity by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Services

First Beeline currently operates bus services in and around

and to surrounding areas including

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

and

. The company also operates the

RailAir RailAir describes a number of airport bus and coach services designed to connect the National Rail network to airports in the United Kingdom. Services are currently concentrated on Heathrow Airport, with one other from Luton Airport. RailAir ser ...

coach services connecting Heathrow Airport with surrounding major

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

stations. The company were the primary operator of services in and around Maidenhead until 2004 when most local services were withdrawn. These services are now operated by

Thames Valley Buses Thames Valley Buses Limited, trading as Thames Valley Buses, is a bus company based in Bracknell, England. It was known as Courtney Buses until 2021. Founded in 1973, the company operates a network of commercial and contracted local bus services ...

. The company also formerly operated the Green Line branded routes 702 and 703 between

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Heathrow Airport, Slough, Windsor,

Legoland Legoland (, trademarked in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family amusement parks focusing on the Lego building toy brand. They are owned and operated by the British theme park company Merlin Entertainments, which shares a common owner ...

and

Bracknell Bracknell () is a 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 borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Re ...

. Operation of these services transferred to

in December 2017.

Bus Services

First Beeline currently operate the following bus services:

RailAir Coach Services

First Beeline currently operate the following

branded coach services:

Gallery

File:First B&TV ES64037.JPG, Heathrow 7 series liveried Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro in April 2008 File:First Berkshire & The Thames Valley 37275 LK58 EDJ 2.JPG, Green Line liveried

Wright Eclipse Gemini The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 2001 and 2021, based on the single-decker Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, fo ...

bodied

Volvo B9TL The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo Buses, 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 ...

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

liveried

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) is a single-deck midibus body that was manufactured between 1991 and 2006, predominantly on the Dennis Dart chas ...

2 bodied

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

Merrow Merrow (from Irish language, Irish ', Middle Irish ' or ') is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is anglicised from the Irish word murúch. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap (; anglicised: #Cohuleen druith, cohuleen dr ...

in October 2008 File:First Berkshire & The Thames Valley 20807 YX11 HPP.jpg,

liveried Plaxton Panther bodied Volvo B9R in September 2012

References

External links

First Beeline website

First Group website

{{DEFAULTSORT:First Berkshire and The Thames Valley FirstGroup bus operators in England Transport in Berkshire

Bus Services

RailAir Coach Services

Gallery

See also

References

External links