 | |
 Alexander Dennis Enviro200 at High Wycombe Eden bus station in November 2013 | |
| Parent | FirstGroup |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Fareham [1] |
| Service area | Slough |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Routes | 10 (June 2022) |
| Destinations | Slough Heathrow Airport Winsdor |
| Depots | 2 |
| Fleet | 98 (July 2018) |
| Website | www.firstbus.co.uk/berkshire-thames-valley/ |
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.
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 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 & 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 & 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]
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 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]
Major Routes
A4- Cippenham (Moreton Way), Bath Road, Three Tuns, Slough, Langley Toby Carvery, Colnbrook-by-Pass, Harmondsworth North, Heathrow Central Bus Station
6- Wexham (Knolton Way Estate), Slough, Three Tuns, Bath Road, Taplow, Maidenhead Station
7- Britwell Estate, Farnham Road, Sheffield Road, Elliman Avenue, Slough, Langley, Axis Park, Colnbrook-by-Pass, Heathrow Terminal 5, Heathrow Central Bus Station (1st bus of the day only)
8- Slough, Windsor, Old Windsor, Englefield Green, Royal Holloway University, Egham, Pooley Green, Staines, Heathrow Terminal 5
X74- Slough, Three Tuns, Farnham Road, The Farnhams, Beaconsfield Service Station, M40, Loudwater, High Wycombe
First Berkshire & 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]
Slough is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley 20 miles (32 km) west of central London and 19 miles (31 km) north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2020, the built-up area subdivision had an estimated population of 164,793. In 2011, the district had a population of 140,713. Slough borders Greater London and Buckinghamshire.
The Royal County of Berkshire, commonly known as simply Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north and the north-west, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town.
Colnbrook is a village in the Slough district in Berkshire, England. It lies within the historic boundaries of Buckinghamshire, and straddles two distributaries of the Colne, the Colne Brook and Wraysbury River. These two streams have their confluence just to the southeast of the village. Colnbrook is centred 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of the Slough town centre, 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Windsor, and 19 miles (31 km) west of central London.
Bracknell is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies 11 miles (18 km) to the east of Reading, 9 miles (14 km) south of Maidenhead, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Windsor and 25 miles (40 km) west of central London. Bracknell is the third largest town in Berkshire.
The A4 is a major road in England from Central London to Avonmouth via Heathrow Airport, Reading, Bath and Bristol. It is historically known as the Bath Road with newer sections including the Great West Road and Portway. The road was once the main route from London to Bath, Bristol and the west of England and formed, after the A40, the second main western artery from London.
Eton is a town in Berkshire, England, on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor, connected to it by Windsor Bridge. The civil parish, which also includes the village of Eton Wick two miles west of the town, had a population of 4,692 at the 2011 Census. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Buckinghamshire, in 1974 it became part of the Berkshire admin area following the Local Government Act 1972; since 1998 it has been part of the unitary authority of Windsor and Maidenhead. The town is best known as the location of Eton College.
Poyle is a largely industrial and agricultural area in the unitary authority of Slough, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is located 18.5 miles (30 km) west of Charing Cross in London and immediately west of the M25 motorway, near Heathrow Airport; it also adjoins the Colne Valley regional park.
Reading Transport Limited, trading as 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, Surrey and Hampshire, England, as well as parts of Greater London. The operating company is owned by Reading Borough Council.
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 services are operated as public transport services by or on behalf of train operators, where the whole journey is paid for as a through ticket which combines the railway and bus journey, although journeys can be made using the bus only. As such, many are operated where the train and bus operator are owned by the same company.
Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home counties of England. The trademark is owned by Arriva, with services operated by Arriva Herts & Essex.
The Berks & Bucks Football Association is the County Football Association for Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. It is responsible for the development of association football in the two historic counties. It organises cup competitions between affiliated football clubs and the selects two representative teams. It was formed in 1878, with the first president and driving force being Mr J H Clark from Maidenhead.
Alder Valley was a bus operator in South East England.
Thames Valley Traction Company Limited was a major bus company operating services to and from Reading, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Newbury, High Wycombe and Oxford and surrounding areas for 52 years in the 20th century. For many years it ran the "Reading A" and "Reading B" limited-stop services between London's Victoria Coach Station and Reading via two differing sets of intermediate stops.
The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name Oxford Tube, there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, High Wycombe Coachway, Hillingdon, Shepherd's Bush and Baker Street terminating on Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria.
Carousel Buses Limited, trading as Carousel Buses, is a bus company based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally an independent company, it is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. It is grouped together with Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, both of Oxfordshire, with the fleets of each operator regularly interchanged.
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 and school buses in Berkshire, north Hampshire and small parts of Oxfordshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire. In March 2019 it was purchased by Reading Buses, with the company having gradually rebranded to its current name between October 2019 and April 2021.
The Western Rail Approach to Heathrow is a proposed bi-directional link westward from London's Heathrow Airport to the Great Western Main Line. It would thus run, in council areas, from Greater London under Iver, South Bucks, Buckinghamshire to Langley, Slough. Beginning at Heathrow Terminal 5 station, it would run via a tunnel to a junction east of Langley station, therefore allowing trains to run to and from destinations in the west: Slough, Reading and beyond. When completed, it would improve rail connections to Heathrow from the Thames Valley as well as from South West England, South Wales and The Midlands. It would also reduce congestion at London Paddington station by removing the need, which presently exists, for passengers from Heathrow who are bound for those regions, to travel to Hayes and Harlington and then change at Reading or to make their interchange at Paddington, central London. Paddington would remain an interchange for services to/from Euston, Saint Pancras and London generally and a little of the Great Western Main Line would gain rail capacity as many services would take the resultant side loop via Heathrow.
London Line routes 701 and 702 and Flight Line route 703, are bus routes that run between Reading, Windsor, and London.
The Borough of Slough is a borough with unitary authority status in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, Southern England. The borough is centred around the town of Slough and includes Langley. It forms an urban area with parts of Buckinghamshire and extends to the villages of Burnham, Farnham Royal, George Green, and Iver. Part of the district's area was in Buckinghamshire prior to the district's formation and in Middlesex until 1965.
