Bus Zone - RTL Optare Deltas

The first 10 Deltas (501-510) were purchased in 1989. All were delivered new to Reading in maroon and cream with bold Reading Transport fleet names, the borough coat of arms and silver wheel trims, making them appear very smart and professional. 510 is seen below on 9th November 1989. Thanks to Chris Spencer for this photo:

When new all featured Hannover dot-matrix destination equipment, and 508 had an experimental 2+1 seating configuration. 508 spent many years with this configuration until it was upseated in June 2005. 508 is seen below on 27th April 1991 just before the application of Reading Buses livery. Thanks to Chris Spencer for this photo:

Below is 504 in Reading Buses livery at the Great Knollys Street Depot in June 2000:

In November 1995 505 was repainted into a special festive livery in aid of Children in Need Day on 24th November 1995. It is seen below in Broad Street on the following day, 25th November. Vehicles with dot matrix destination displays (the Deltas and Olympians) were reprogrammed to switch between Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as well as the normal route information, a tradition which continued for several years. Thanks to Chris Spencer for this photo:

During July 2001, 501 received a full interior refurbishment with 504 following a couple of months after, but no further vehicles were treated as the plans for their future were changing. In March 2003, 506 received a temporary Bright-Tech Light-Tech LED display whilst the Hannover displays fitted to the batch were cleaned and serviced. It is seen here on route 137 to Peppard Common on 20th March 2003:

During April 2003, 501-10 were transferred to Newbury. 508 was loaned to Newbury for a day or two in late March to allow driver familiarisation with the type, but the first one noted in Newbury livery, albeit only partially repainted, was 507. It was let out of the paint shop early so that the driver familiarisation program could continue. It is seen below in Newbury on said duties on 7th April 2003:

The first proper arrivals in Newbury were 504/7 on 11th April, followed by 502/3/8 on 12th, 501 on 15th, 506 on 17th, 503 on 13th May, 505 around 16th, and 510 on 12th June. However 506/8/9 were returned to Reading for rectification work, and Reading used them in service before returning them back to Newbury. Hence 506 was noted in service in Reading on 28th & 29th April, and 508/9 on 20th May.

These Deltas worked very hard in Reading when they first arrived, and were the only single deckers in the fleet for several years. Not only were they out during the day, but were also used on many evening and Sunday services. It took quite a few more years until the final total of 20 was actually reached. The second batch was 511-13 in 1995 and the third batch was 514-20 in 1996. Here is 519 at the Reading Buses Open Day in October 1996:

These later batches were the first to include digital number displays and Bright-tech Power Blind destination equipment. 511-3 were originally delivered with ordinary blinds but were converted after the arrival of 514-20 a year later. This became the standard equipment for new buses entering the fleet until high visibility LED displays became available in the early 2000s.

During early 2001 511-20 received a slight change to their livery to accommodate a space to display adverts, the Reading Buses logo was moved to behind the back wheels, and the stripe between the wheels thinned. 501 was similarly altered in July 2001 on the completion its refurbishment, as was 504 a month or two later. 501-10 were treated upon transfer to Newbury in April 2003. Below is 520 at Reading Station in April 2001 demonstrating the alterations.

In April 2003, 519 had its front display replaced with a Bright-Tech Light-Tech LED unit. By the following June its side and rear display had also been replaced. Further Deltas then went on to receive them as summarised below:

From time to time vehicles have been loaned from Reading to Newbury to help out when vehicles are off the road. From the Delta fleet this has included:

Below is 515 in Reading on route 102 whilst on loan to Newbury on 11th March 2006.

The delivery of 10 Wright Solars to Reading in May 2006 allowed 511-20 to leave Reading and replace 501-10 at Newbury. Originally scheduled for April, a delay with new Scania OmniDekkas also expected at that time meant that the first move had to be left until 5th May when 516 was able to be transferred. 511 transferred on 17th or 18th May, 512/8 on 23rd May, 519 on 24th May, 520 on 30th May, 513 on 1st June, 515 on 5th or 6th June, 517 on 29th June and 514 on 23rd August. All except 517 received full Newbury Buses livery before leaving. In return 502 was withdrawn and transferred to Reading on 17th or 18th May, 503/7 on 23rd May, 501 on 24th May, 506/10 on 30th May, 505 on 1st June, 508 on 5th or 6th June, 504 on 28th July and 509 on 8th August. Below is 516 during its first week in service at Newbury - thanks to Brian Coney for this photo:

501, 503, 506 passed to Ensign (dealer) on 7th June 2006, 505, 508 and 510 on 9th, 507 a few weeks after that and 502, 504, 509 on 11th August. From there 505/6 entered service with Ensignbus in July 2006 as their 605/6 on route X80. 605 was later withdrawn from Ensign in May 2007 after sustaining serious rear end damage in an accident in Dartford Tunnel, and 606 was sold to Alder Valley Travel in August 2007. 501/3/7/10 went to McKindless on 24th July, and 502/4/9 to Islwyn Borough Transport by 3rd September and 508 to Harris Coaches, Blackwood by 19th September.

Below is 503 with McKindless on 31st May 2007. Thanks to Chris Maxfield for this photo:

511-20 started to be withdrawn in July 2007 for export to New Zealand. 514 was first on 12th or 13th July and departed Reading for Portsmouth on 18th July for loading onto mv Hansa Bremen on 21st July. 516 was withdrawn later in July. 512/17/18/19 were withdrawn in August, and sailed along with 516 from Portsmouth to New Zealand on 20th August onboard mv Buzzard Bay. 516/9 were delivered from Newbury to Portsmouth on 16th and 512/7/8 on 17th. 511/3/5/20 were withdrawn in September 2007 and travelled to Hull docks on 25th September to sail onboard mv Tikeibank on 27th, 630 was used to bring the drivers back to Newbury. The buses were replaced in Newbury by second hand Dennis Dart SLFs 601-10, converting the whole depot to low floor operation (with the exception of school buses).

Reading Fleet Number	New Zealand Owner	New Zealand Fleet Number	New Zealand Registration Number	Notes
511	PartyBus	253	EHG74	Named Ares
512	PartyBus	252	EHG75	Named Poseidon
513	PartyBus	255	EHG71	Named Eros
514	Ritchies	441	EKU337
515	PartyBus	254	EHG70	Named Dionysus
516	Ritchies	444	EFT346
517	PartyBus	251	EGB613	Named Pegasus
518	Ritchies	443	EFT350
519	Ritchies	442	EFT351
520	Ritchies	445	EFT359

Thanks to Peter Thompson for this information. The Deltas were joined by Volvo B10Ms (L58/9 UNS, ex GM Buses, Manchester) and DAF SB220s (M630/822/45 RCP, ex Metrobus, Crawley) which departed Portsmouth 25th June 2007 onboard mv Hansa Stockholm all of which went to PartyBus.

Before the arrival of 6 MCW Metroriders in 1988 and the Deltas in 1989, Reading had been operating an entirely double deck fleet since 1983. The Deltas remained the only single deck buses in the fleet until 1993 when shorter Optare Vectas started to arrive, and then 1997 when Optare Excels were delivered. By the end of 1998 the number of Excels had already passed the total number of Deltas, and by 1999 the number of Deltas and Vectas put together.