The award-winning bus company Readingbuses know how to put on a party! Their ever-popular summer ‘Open Day’ certainly brings in the crowds, whether it be the general public or the bus enthusiast. Engaging the potential and regular passengers, showing them what goes on behind the scenes of their local, friendly bus company. That being so, the independent transport videos cameras went along to record the festivities at the 2017 and 2018 open days. Our filming will give you an insight as to what goes on if you have not yet attended or as a souvenir of the Open Days if you are a regular attendee.
The day runs to a well-organised formula. There are displays of each type of bus from the current Readingbuses fleet, therefore displaying a bus from each route, open for the public to inspect and to have the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat! This is a colourful display as each bus route in Reading is identified by a different colour, name and brand. The older order is not forgotten, with former Reading Corporation and Reading Transport AEC Regents and a Bristol VRT in attendance and at the 2018 event a Reading trolleybus to commemorate 50 years since the system closed in 1968. Reading Mainline is represented by a former London Transport Routemaster and local operator Thames Valley by a Bristol K type. There are rides through the bus wash and tours of the control room and the workshops. An informative guide explains all that there is to know about the buses you see in the workshop. There are also open-top tours of Reading using either their own open-topper, 520 (V524 ESC), a former Lothian Buses Dennis Trident with Plaxton President bodywork, or visiting open-toppers. At the end of the day there is an impressive cavalcade of all of the display buses making a brief tour of the town centre before returning to the Great Knolleys Street depot which is captured by our cameras at each event.
The visiting buses you will see in the 2017 footage are two former London Transport open-top vehicles, AEC Routemaster, RMC1510 (510 CLT) and Titan, T1100 (NIB 5232, B100 WUV). During the 2018 visit our cameras travel onboard Readingbuses open-top Dennis Trident 520 for the tour of the town. Other visiting buses in 2018 include former Southdown ‘Queen Mary’ open-topper, 409 (409 DCD) and preserved London Transport Routemaster RM1005 (5 CLT), which now runs with a Cummins Euro 6 engine. The other star of the 2018 show was the appearance of the prototype Optare Metrodecker, numbered 899 (YJ16 DFG) in the Readingbuses fleet painted in the latest Green Line livery for the Windsor/Legoland to London services. This bus is on long-term loan from Optare, as five of the type have just been ordered by the company for delivery in 2019 for this service.
The Readingbuses fleet is probably one of the most innovative contemporary fleets in the UK. A visit to Reading is recommended. Have a look at our other Reading’s Buses titles that will certainly whet your appetite!
Produced by Independent Transport Videos
Running time - 52 minutes (approx)
Format - 16:9 Widescreen
DVD only
Release date - August 2018