Reading Transport Route 17

www.buszone.co.uk

Tilehurst (Bear Inn) - Norcot - Central Reading - Cemetery Junction - Wokingham Road (Three Tuns)

This page is dedicated to Reading Buses' flagship service. Route 17 is the company's most frequent and busy service operating every 7-8 minutes during the day, every 10-20 minutes in the evenings, 40 minutes into the night and every 15 minutes on Sundays.

The number 17 started to be used in the days when Reading Transport ran Trolleybuses - before this the route was simply known as the "main line". As such Reading Transport has always operated a route from Oxford Road to Wokingham Road from when the company first started operations with horse-drawn tram cars in 1901.

The original tramway service only covered part of the modern day route, from Brock Barracks (on Oxford Road) to Cemetery Junction. After electrification the line was later extended along Wokingham Road to the junction of St Peter's Road, where the tracks ran onto the land between Wokingham Road and St Peter's Road. With Trolleybus operation the line was extended further, from Brock Barracks to The Bear Inn in Tilehurst via Norcot, and from Cemetery Junction to The Three Tuns on Wokingham Road.

A few off peak extensions were made to the service during the 1990s in the evenings and on Sundays. The first was an extension from Wokingham Road to the Showcase Cinema in Winnersh on weekday evenings, lasting until sometime in 2000. The second was an extension from the Bear Inn to Calcot Savacentre on certain Sunday journeys, which continues to this day. A final, and very short lived, extension also came on Sundays where certain journeys were inter-worked with service 30 from Turnhams Farm to Tescos. The bus would double back from the Bear Inn towards Tilehurst and continue to Turnhams Farm.

On 25th October 2004 the service was given a major re-launch with the arrival of a fleet of 17 Scania OmniDekkas, 13 branded specifically for use on the route as part of a Quality Partnership with Reading Borough Council. The council improved stop facilities with special kerbs designed for low floor buses, new bus stop flags and real-time information displays. For Reading Buses the vehicles introduced a new company livery of beige with a coloured front, the colour depending on the route for which the bus is intended. The vehicles for route 17 are purple, and the spares grey for use on any route. A number of the purple examples also have unqiue rear branding.

The buses used on the 17 have always been double deck, with only the occasional single decker having ever made an appearance. Some have been known to appear on Sundays however, particularly in connection with the journeys that inter-worked with service 30 for a short time. The route has seen horse-drawn trams, electric trams and trolleybuses operate along it, plus a Reading Mainline Routemaster did a couple of journeys once! Currently though it is solely the domain of Scania OmniDekkas.

Following are some pictures of buses operating on the route, starting from Great Knollys Street depot, going through town and heading for Tilehurst, and then heading back to Wokingham Road.

MCW Metrobus 180 preparing to leaving the Great Knollys Street depot for Tilehurst in May 2000. The Metrobus was a regular performer on the route for many years.

Leyland Titan 75 on Minster Street in September 2000.

MCW Metrobus 152 on West Street in November 1996, buses only travelled in this direction along this road for a few years in the middle of the pedestrianisation process of Broad Street. Currently they only travel in the opposite direction along this road, and use other roads around the town in a 'loop'.

Preserved AEC Trolleybus 113 on Broad Street, the traditional route through the town for the 17. It is seen here in October 1998 for the thirtieth anniversary of the end of trolleybus operation on the route, and is seen facing as if it were to head off to Tilehurst.

Optare Spectra 701, for many years the company's flagship bus, outside the Broad Street Mall in February 2000.

MCW Metrobus Mk II 468 on Oxford Road by Reading West Station in July 2000.

Reading Mainline Routemaster No. 26 seen at the Tilehurst Bear Inn terminus in February 2000. The operation of a Routemaster on the route was a one-off and only occurred because of a driver shortage. After this many more Mainline crews did duties on the 17, but a standard Reading Buses double decker was always used. Photograph by Tim Wale.

Here we see Leyland Olympian 17 on the 17(!) in July 2000 heading back towards the town on Oxford Road, just after the Battle Hospital.

Scania OmniDekka 807 coming out from the loop around the Town Hall on 22nd January 2005.

Leaving the town for Wokingham Road is Optare Spectra 705 turning at Jackson's Corner in June 2000.

MCW Metrobus Mk II 456 waiting at Jackson's Corner in September 2000.

MCW Metrobus 186 approaching the Wokingham Road terminus in April 2000.

At the right is Leyland Olympian 16 at the setting down stop for terminus, and at the left is Leyland Titan 73 waiting to turn back onto Wokingham Road after turning around in August 2001. To turn around, buses on the route must complete a u-turn in the road, and to make this easier this side road is used so it can be done in a single swing. This practise dates back to Trolleybus times when wiring dictated where the vehicles on the route could turn around.

MCW Metrobus 178 waiting at the Wokingham Road terminus in August 1997.

This is former Dennis Loline 76 in July 2001, on the British Trolleybus Society's annual tour of Reading by preserved bus. This was it's first outing for a number of years, and is seen here at Wokingham Road (Three Tuns), blinded up for the 17 as it would have been in the 1960s and 1970s when it was owned by the company.

Scania OmniDekka 808 arriving in town from The Bear Inn, using a temporary stop in West Street on 5th March 2005. The normal stop opposite the Broad Street Mall was closed following a fire in adjacent buildings on 11th February 2005.