Scania OmniDekka
Reading have 34 OmniDekkas. The first 17 are 12m examples bought primarily for use on cross town service 17, whilst the rest are 10.5m examples. All wear Reading Buses 'quality travel for Reading' livery of beige with a coloured roof/front and a silver swoop. The colour of the roof/front varies according to the route on which each bus is designated to appear on. 801-4 were delivered in charcoal grey for use on any route and 805-17 purple for route 17.
The first OmniDekka to arrive was 801 on the 11th September 2004. It made its first appearance at the Wroughton bus rally the following day, before very quickly taking up driver training duties across the town and carrying out a private hire on 24th September, as photographed below outside the Oracle.
The side view of 801 illustrates the new generic Reading Buses livery that is to be applied to buses without specific route branding.
Particular attention was been paid to the location of the advert frames on these vehicles, the nearside being free from advertising, whilst the frames on the offside have been suitably located so that the main branding and features of the livery are not be covered up. On vehicles with route branding there is lettering inside the advert frames, so when there aren't adverts inserted there is route advertising there in its place.
802 arrived on 5th October, 804/5 on 11th October, 803/6/7 on 14th October. 801-15 entered service on 25th October 2004, with 816/7 following a few weeks later.
This is 17 branded 806 at the official launch of the vehicles at the Old Town Hall on 20th October 2004.
This is 17 branded 809 on 25th October 2004, its first day in service. In front of it is 812, and 808 is opposite.
Similar 814 is seen on 28th December 2004, apparently on a short working along the Oxford Road to Norcot.
816 was exhibited at Coach & Bus 2004 at the NEC in Birmingham (2nd-4th November) before entering service in Reading. It is seen below on the stand with other Scania Omni vehicles around it.
Along with all of the Optare Spectras and Dennis Tridents in Reading, the OmniDekkas feature full tree deflectors. They also follow the trend that started with the low floor Spectras and have a full rear destination display. The displays on the first 17 OmniDekkas are made by Mobitec (as opposed to Bright-Tech in the low floor Spectras). There is a full CCTV system, including cameras located on the outside above the doors and drivers cab.
Whilst reversing the Mobitec destination displays switch to show appropriate warning messages. The front of 804 is illustrated below on 13th January 2007:
802 was loaned to Brighton & Hove for evaluation from 12th to 13th July 2005.
818 arrived on 28th October 2005 as a one-off replacement for Optare Spectra 703 which was badly damaged in a low bridge accident on Loddon Bridge Road on 19th July 2005. It entered service on or by the 1st December 2005 in generic grey livery and features Hanover LED destination displays (but with only numerals on the side and rear), a small rear window on the bottom deck, and yellow internal grab rails rather than silver. It's initial primary use was to operate on the 25/44/45 corridor, later rebranded 23/24/25/26. It is pictured below on route 25 on 3rd December 2005:
819-26 were originally expected to arrive week commencing 20th March 2006 to enter service on 27th March, however the vehicles were delayed and 822 arrived on 25th March, 820 on 26th, 819 on 28th, 823 on 29th, 825 on 30th, 821 & 826 on 31st and 824 on 1st April. They started to enter service on Tuesday 4th April 2006, with all eight in service by 5th in light pink for use on routes 25/26. 820 is seen below with 802 on 4th April 2006:
827-34 were expected to follow 819-26 and be introduced a few weeks later in dark pink for routes 23/24. 827 and 831 arrived on 25th April, 833 on 26th, 829 on 2nd May, 828 on 4th, 830/2 on 5th and 834 on 9th. They started to enter service from Monday 8th May. 832 is seen below on 13th May 2006:
Following an order for 14 ethanol powered Scania double deckers, due in May 2008, 805-17 were displaced from route 17 onto other routes. Repaints were as follows:
- 801 - August 2008 to silver (returned to service on 26th)
- 802 - August 2008 to silver (at North West Bus & Coach on 24th)
- 803 - August 2008 to silver (returned to service on 26th)
- 804 - August 2008 to silver (at North West Bus & Coach on 24th)
- 805 - August 2008 to dark green route 5 livery (returned from repaint by 10th August, returned to service by 16th August)
- 806 - August 2008 to dark green route 5 livery (returned from repaint around 11/12th August, returned to service on 15th August)
- 807 - August 2008 to dark green route 5 livery (returned from repaint on 14th August, returned to service by 18th August)
- 808 - July 2008 to dark green route 5 livery (at North West Bus & Coach on 27th, returned from repaint by 10th August, returned to service by 18th August)
- 809 - July 2008 to dark green route 5 livery (departed Reading on 25th, at North West Bus & Coach on 27th, returned to service on 5th August)
- 810 - July 2008 to dark green route 5 livery (returned to service on 5th August)
- 811 - July 2008 to maroon route 20/21 livery (returned from paint shop on 26th, in service by 5th August)
- 812 - to maroon route 20/21 livery (departed on 21 July 2008, in service by 11th August)
- 813 - July 2008 to maroon route 20/21 livery (probable departure for repaint on 14th, returned from repaint on 25th, in service by 2nd August)
- 814 - July 2008 to maroon route 20/21 livery (back from paint shop and part vinyled by 13th, in full livery by 15th August)
- 815 - May 2008 to maroon route 20/21 livery (back in service by 8th)
- 816 - April 2008 to maroon route 20/21 livery (back in service by 30th)
- 817 - April 2008 to maroon route 20/21 livery (back in service on 19th)
810 is seen below prior to the application of route branding on 8th August 2008:
817 is seen below on 19th April 2008, its first day in service following repaint into route 20/21 livery:
