Arriva serving the Shires & Essex

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Welcome to BusZone's unofficial page about Arriva serving the Shires & Essex. For their official website click on the logo below.

Arriva serving the Shires and Essex Logo (6135 bytes)

Arriva serving the Shires and Essex operate a service linking High Wycombe with Reading. Their operations only reached Reading upon their take-over of the Wycombe Bus Company from the Go-Ahead group on 14th December 2000. The Wycombe Bus vehicles were repainted over the space of about a year, and in the interim they wore Arriva fleetnames on the old Wycombe livery. At the time of the take-over the Reading service was jointly operated with Reading Buses, Reading operated the 328 variant and the school 330 and 331 journeys, but they opted to give Arriva full control in November 2001 to help ease a severe driver shortage.

Routes that now serve Reading:

800: Reading - High Wycombe via Caversham, Ship Lake, Henley and Marlow
850: Reading - High Wycombe via Sonning, Twyford, Henley and Marlow

Routes and variants that previously served Reading:

328: Reading - High Wycombe via Sonning, Twyford, Henley and Marlow
329: Reading - High Wycombe via Caversham, Ship Lake, Henley and Marlow
330: Reading - High Wycombe via Caversham, Ship Lake, Henley and Marlow
331: High Wycombe - Reading via Marlow, Henley, Wargrave, Twyford and Sonning Halt.

Standard vehicles in Reading are generally Plaxton Verdes, whilst before Arriva took over Leyland Lynxs were also regular attendees. Below are photographs of the Arriva fleet and a few Wycombe buses from before the take-over.

G552 SGT on 18 August 2002 (42629 bytes)

Wright Handybus (or otherwise known as "bouncy castle") G552 SGT at Reading Station on service 329 on Sunday 18th August 2002.

H881 BGN on 24 November 2001 (15528 bytes)

Bouncy Castle H881 BGN at Newlands Bus Station in High Wycombe on 24th November 2001.

M504 VJO on 24 November 2001 (36239 bytes)

Former Wycombe Bus Marshall bodied Dennis Dart M504 VJO at Newlands Bus Station in Wycombe on 24th November 2001. This bus was new to the Oxford Bus Company and was transferred to Wycombe whilst the two companies were under common ownership.

R313 NGM on 23 September 2001 (20632 bytes)

Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart registration R313 NGM at the Showbus rally at Duxford on 23rd September 2001.

S216 XPP on 13 April 2002 (42861 bytes)

Dennis Dart / Plaxton Pointer 2 number 3216, registration S216 XPP on route 52 in Amersham on 13th April 2002.

J926 CYL on 23 September 2001 (19319 bytes)

Colchester Ikarus bodied DAF SB220 registration J926 CYL on display at the Showbus rally at Duxford on 23rd September 2001.

L923 LJD on 13 April 2002 (32679 bytes)

Northern Counties Paladin 1 registration L923 LJD and fleet number 3139 in Amersham on 13th April 2002.

F559 NJM in April 2001 (27361 bytes)

Former Wycombe Bus Leyland Lynx F559 NJM at Reading Station in April 2001 with Arriva fleetnames.

M783 PRS on 31 May 2008

M783 PRS at Reading Station on 31st May 2008.

622 in January 2001 (30353 bytes)

Former Wycombe Bus Plaxton Verde 622 at Reading Station in January 2001 with Arriva fleet names.

N623 FJO on 12 May 2001 (24693 bytes)

Former Wycombe Bus Plaxton Verde 623 at Reading Station on 12th May 2001 in Arriva corporate livery.

N624 FJO on 15 October 2003 (54987 bytes)

Similar N624 FJO is seen at the same location on 15th October 2003 with a new coat of paint and special branding for routes 328 & 329.

N415 NRG on 13 May 2006 (54738 bytes)

N415 NRG freshly repainted into Wycombe Connxion livery at Reading Station on 13th May 2006.

N713 EUR on 17 April 2002 (36320 bytes)

N713 EUR at Reading Station on 17th April 2002.

TPD 109X on 13 April 2002 (39457 bytes)

This Leyland Olympian with ECW bodywork is TPD 109X, fleet number 5379 and is seen at Newlands Bus Station on 13th April 2002.

G129 YEV on 13 April 2002 (39404 bytes)

Leyland Olympian with Northern Counties Palatine 1 bodywork, registration G129 YEV, fleet umber 5109 in Chesham on 13th April 2002.

E228 CFC on 13 April 2002 (41825 bytes)

Alexander RL bodied Leyland Olympian registration E228 CFC, fleet number 5828 at Newlands Bus Station on 13th April 2002.

S159 KNK on 11 December 2001 (29493 bytes)

Specially branded Northern Counties Palatine 2 S159 KNK in Oxford operating route 280 on 11th December 2001.

Wycbus.jpg (30631 bytes)

76 Alexander AM Sprint (14004 bytes)

Alexander AM Sprint fleet number 76 near the Bus Station in Wycombe.

Wycombe Bus Leyland Lynx (13260 bytes)

A Leyland Lynx at Reading Station.

622 in July 2000 (19583 bytes)

Plaxton Verde 622 at Reading Station in July 2000.
If you have anything that you think should be included here, please feel free to send an email. All contributions for the site are welcome.

Related sites to visit:

Wycombe Bus Company Showbus Photo Gallery

Contact details:

Website: www.arriva.co.uk