Reading 's location in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line and the M4 motorway, some 40 miles (64 km) west of London has made the town an important location in the nation's transport system.
The town grew up as a river port at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet. Both of these rivers are navigable, and the locks of Caversham Lock, Blake's Lock, County Lock, Fobney Lock and Southcote Lock are all within the borough. Today navigation is exclusively leisure oriented, with private and hire boats dominating traffic.
Scheduled boat services operate on the Thames, operating from wharves on the Reading side of the river near Caversham Bridge. Salters Steamers operate a summer daily service from just downstream of the bridge to Henley-on-Thames, taking around two hours in each direction and calling at the riverside villages of Sonning and Shiplake. Thames River Cruises operate trips from just upstream of the bridge, including a service on summer weekends and bank holidays to Mapledurham, taking 45 minutes in each direction and allowing two hours ashore for visits to Mapledurham Watermill and Mapledurham House. [1] [2] [3]
Reading was a major staging point on the old Bath Road (A4) from London to Bath and Bristol. This road still carries local traffic, but has now been replaced for long-distance traffic by the M4 motorway, which closely skirts the borough and serves it with three junctions (J10-J12). Other main roads serving Reading include the A33 from Basingstoke, the A327 from Farnborough, the A329 from Bracknell to Thame, the A4074 to Oxford, and the A4155 to Henley-on-Thames. Within Reading there is the Inner Distribution Road (IDR), a ring road for local traffic movements. The A329(M), A33 and A4 national routes link the town with junctions 10, 11 and 12 of the M4 motorway respectively. The IDR is linked with the M4 by the A33 relief road, which runs past the Madejski Stadium and Green Park Business complex.
Reading has two operational park and ride sites. Mereoak, a short distance south of Junction 11 of the M4, is also a stop for National Express Coaches between London and the West. [4] A site at Winnersh Triangle opened in 2015 outside the railway station and is easily accessed from the junction where the A329(M) becomes the A3290. [5]
The River Thames is crossed by both Reading and Caversham road bridges, while several road bridges cross the Kennet. There is a long-running debate about constructing a third bridge across the Thames, to the east of the existing bridges. Some people believe that this will remove one of the town's bottlenecks and ease traffic congestion. Others believe that it will induce more traffic, move bottle necks and open up swathes of South Oxfordshire to unwanted development. However, the proximity of the county border means that any such route will have to pass through South Oxfordshire, and this development has so far been blocked by its residents and politicians. [6]
Reading is a major junction point on the National Rail system, and as a consequence Reading station is a major transfer point as well as serving heavy originating and terminating traffic. Plans have been agreed to rebuild Reading station, with grade separation of some conflicting traffic flows and extra platforms, to relieve severe congestion at this station. [7]
Railway lines link Reading to both Paddington and Waterloo stations in London. The route to Paddington offers both non-stop (typically taking between 20-25 minutes), Semi-fast and stopping services (Elizabeth line), whilst that to Waterloo offers only a stopping service, however this service does give Reading direct links with Richmond and Clapham Junction. Inter-city services also link Reading to Swindon, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Exeter, Plymouth, Birmingham and the North of England as well as Southampton Central and Bournemouth. Local services link Reading to Oxford, Newbury, Basingstoke, Bracknell, Guildford and Gatwick Airport.
Other stations in the Reading area are Reading West, Reading Green Park, Tilehurst and Earley, but all serve local trains only.
Reading serves as the western terminus of Elizabeth line with services currently running through Central London to Abbey Wood.
Connections to the London Underground network can be made at London Paddington (around 20 minutes away by direct train), London Waterloo, Ealing Broadway and Richmond. The nearest London Underground station by distance from Reading is Heathrow Terminal 5 (20 miles (32 km) away), although there is no direct rail connection (see Air section below).
Since December 2019, passengers are able to use the Transport for London contactless payment system between Reading and London Paddington on both non-stop GWR services and the Elizabeth line. [8] This is not currently available on South Western Railway services towards London Waterloo.
There have been two airfields in Reading, one at Coley Park [9] and one at Woodley, but these have both closed. Today Reading is within reach of several international airports.
The nearest airport is London Heathrow, which is 20 miles (32 km) away. An express bus service named RailAir links Reading with Heathrow, or the airport can be accessed by taking the Elizabeth line and changing at Hayes & Harlington railway station for a connecting service to Heathrow Central, Heathrow Terminal 4 or Heathrow Terminal 5, taking around 45 minutes in total by rail.
London Gatwick is 38 miles (61 km) away and is served by direct trains from Reading. London Luton is also 38 miles (61 km) away, whilst London Stansted is 58 miles (93 km) away; both can be reached by rail by changing stations in central London. The airport at London City can also be reached semi-directly by utilizing the Elizabeth line station at Custom House, followed by a short bus journey of around 5 minutes.
Looking further afield, Southampton airport is accessible by a direct train taking between 50 and 70 minutes depending on the service. By road, Southampton Airport is approximately 43 miles (70 km) away.
The first local public transport started in 1878 with the Reading Tramways Company then (part of the Imperial Tramways Company) operating a horse tram route on an east–west alignment from Oxford Road through Broad Street in the town centre to Cemetery Junction. Significantly, this route formed the core of what became known as the main line of the network. [10]
The new electric trams started operating in July 1903. Extensions were constructed to the Wokingham Road and London Road (both from Cemetery Junction), and new routes added to Whitley, Caversham Road, Erleigh Road and Bath Road. The trams operated from a new depot in Mill Lane, a site that was to remain Reading Buses' main depot until it was demolished to make way for The Oracle shopping mall in 1998. [11]
The first trolleybus wiring erected was a training loop on Erleigh Road, which opened in early 1936. During World War II a trolleybus branch was constructed from the Oxford Road to Kentwood Hill, enabling trolleybuses to replace motor buses with a consequential saving in precious oil based fuel. Reading Corporation decided to abandon the trolleybus system, and the routes were phased out between January 1967 and November 1968. [12]
Today local public transport is largely road-based, and can be affected by peak hour congestion in the borough. A frequent local bus network within the borough, and a less frequent network in the surrounding area, is provided by Reading Buses. Other bus operators include First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, Arriva Shires & Essex, RedRose and Thames Travel. [13] ReadiBus provides an on-demand transport service for people with restricted mobility in the area. [14]
Since 2004, Reading Transport and Reading Borough Council have made a significant investment in upgrading the quality of Reading's main urban bus routes. In late 2007, Reading Buses placed an order with Scania for 14 new ethanol fuelled double decker buses to replace the existing fleet of biodiesel powered vehicles operating premier route 17. At the time the order was placed, this was the largest order for ethanol fuelled buses in the UK. These buses started work on 26 May 2008. [15] [16] [17] Since then, a large proportion of the Reading Buses fleet has been upgraded to Hybrid or Natural Gas power across a number of large orders.
The OYBike bicycle sharing system operated in Reading, with approximately 15 bicycles with docking stations at Reading station, Holiday Inn (Basingstoke Road) and Green Park. [18] In March 2011 Reading Borough Council approved a larger scheme similar to the London Cycle Hire Scheme, with 1,000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading. [19] [20] The scheme, ReadyBike, began in 2014 but closed on 31 March 2019. After an initial government funding subsidy ended it was being subsidised by Reading Borough Council by £10,000 per month. [21]
Several major cycle routes in Sustrans' National Cycle Network cross at Reading. These include National Cycle Route 4 between London and Fishguard, National Cycle Route 5 from Oxford and Birmingham, and National Cycle Route 23 from Basingstoke and Southampton.
Reading is a town and borough in Berkshire, England. Most of its built-up area lies within the Borough of Reading, although some outer suburbs are parts of neighbouring local authority areas. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet, Reading is 40 miles (64 km) east of Swindon, 25 miles (40 km) south of Oxford, 40 miles (64 km) west of London and 16 miles (26 km) north of Basingstoke.
Barnes is a district in South West London, England, part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It takes up the extreme north-east of the borough, and as such is the closest part of the borough to central London. It is centred 5.8 miles (9.3 km) west south-west of Charing Cross in a bend of the River Thames.
Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed by the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel opened in 1847. It is also the site of St Mary's Hospital and the former Paddington Green Police Station.
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.
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.
Reading Transport Limited, trading as Reading Buses, is an English municipal bus operator owned by Reading Borough Council, serving the towns of Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and the surrounding areas in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Hampshire, as well as parts of Greater London.
Heathrow Terminal 5 is a shared railway and London Underground station serving Heathrow Terminal 5. It serves as a terminus for Heathrow Express services to Paddington, and for Elizabeth line and London Underground Piccadilly line services to central London. It is managed and staffed by Heathrow Express.
Reading railway station is a major transport hub in the town of Reading in Berkshire, England, it is 36 miles (58 km) west of London Paddington. It is sited on the northern edge of the town centre, near to the main retail and commercial areas and the River Thames. It is the busiest station in Berkshire, and the third busiest in South East England.
The A329(M) is a motorway in Berkshire, England. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) long and runs from the west of Bracknell to the north west of Winnersh. It is one of a small number of parts of the motorway system in England that are managed by the local highway authority, in this case Wokingham Borough Council, rather than National Highways.
Transport in Wales is heavily influenced by the country's geography. Wales is predominantly hilly or mountainous, and the main settlements lie on the coasts of north and south Wales, while mid Wales and west Wales are lightly populated. The main transport corridors are east–west routes, many continuing eastwards into England.
London has an extensive and developed transport network which includes both public and private services. Journeys made on its integrated transport network account for 37% of London's journeys while private services accounted for 36% of journeys, walking 24% and cycling 2%, according to numbers from 2017. London's public transport network serves as the central hub for the United Kingdom in rail, air and road transport.
Transport in Cardiff, capital and most populous city in Wales involves road, rail, bus, water and air. It is a major city of the United Kingdom and a centre of employment, government, retail, business, culture, media, sport and higher education.
The A4074 is a British A road from the Reading suburb of Caversham to the Heyford Hill roundabout on the Oxford Ring Road.
Transport in Swindon, England, and the surroundings has directly contributed to the town's growth and the ingress of businesses and industries.
Thames Valley Park is a high-tech business park adjacent to the River Thames on the eastern outskirts of Reading in Berkshire, England. Companies based at the park include BBC Radio Berkshire, Steria, SGI, Regus, Websense, Oracle, Microsoft, OpenText and ING Direct. The site had formerly been Earley Power Station, which had been operational from the early 1940s until the early 1970s.
London Buses route 111 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Heathrow Central bus station and Kingston upon Thames, it is operated by Transport UK London Bus.
Reading Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Reading in the English county of Berkshire between 1901 and 1939.
Heathrow Terminal 3 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, serving London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. Terminal 3 is currently used as one of the main global hubs of the International Airlines Group members British Airways and Iberia since 12 July 2022. It is also used by the majority of members of the Oneworld and a few SkyTeam alliances along with several long-haul non-affiliated airlines. It is also the base for Virgin Atlantic.
Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk, England. It is a medieval port and industrial town with a strong transport history; the urban area has a population of 122,000 and currently offers urban transport services for cars, cycles and buses. In addition there are 3 railway stations and regional coach services. London Stansted Airport is accessible by the airlink coach.
The Reading trolleybus system served the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire and was owned by Reading Corporation, which had operated an electric tramway since 1901. As there was a need for major refurbishment of the tramway in the 1930s, they decided to replace it with a trolleybus network. The first route was converted on 18 July 1936, and by mid 1939, trolleybuses were running over most of the tramway routes, with the last tram running on 20 May. By the standards of the various now-defunct trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom, the Reading system was a moderately sized one, with a total of four routes, and a maximum fleet of 63 trolleybuses, a size that lasted from 1 December 1950 to 27 March 1952.
