Optare Solo -

Reading has currently 24 Optare Solos. Six (102-107) were initially used on route 1, but a few months later the route was made less frequent so that it operated in time with former Reading Mainline Line A. They then appeared on other routes, especially route 4 for a time before Mainline Line A was withdrawn, and they were again needed for service 1 and the 1A. All of the Solos are branded "Solo Rider", as opposed to "LowRider" as applied to the Excels.

Here we see 106 on Broad Street in the first fortnight of operation.

Route 1 was previously operated by Mk2 Optare MetroRiders (615-620) branded with "FastLine" logos to complete with Reading Mainline. But for a while the "FastLine" image had been disappearing and a few months before RTL bought out Reading Mainline the special vinyls were removed from the buses, and the brand was discontinued. Also the route's limited stop nature was changed so that all stops along the route were served.

The first Solo, 101 was purchased for a Town Centre "Hoppa" service numbered 205, which had been operated with a mixture of minibuses and the occasional double decker before 101 arrived. The service seemed rather under-used, and this new high profile, low-floor bus, with special branding made the service more visible and attractive to people, the bus had a slightly different internal specification to the other Solos which was specifically designed for the service. Occasionally 101 would appear on other routes before operating it's Hoppa duties (and once or twice whilst it should have been operating its Hoppa duties!). Even with the improved image of the Hoppa service however patronage was still low, and the route contract was withdrawn by the council from 30th July 2001. 101 consequently had its special branding removed and SoloRider logos applied, although for a short time it operated town routes both with full Hoppa - 'I'm free branding', and later without any lettering at all. Then in November 2002 it received route branding along with its sister 102 for new inner circle routes 14 and 15.

Below is 101 on the Hoppa service in Hoppa livery in January 1999, and without vinyls a week after the Hoppa route was withdrawn in August 2001.

Below is 102, and the back of 101 with Inner Circle service 14/15 branding on 17th December 2002:

Services 14 and 15 were withdrawn at the end of service on 22nd October 2005. It is assumed that 101 and 102 will be debranded and used to replace the last two MetroRiders at Reading - 627 and 629.

The fleet number 101 was allocated the company's previous flagship, the first MCW Metropolitan double decker, this type of bus becoming very dominant in the fleet before the Metrobus replaced many of them. Metropolitan 101 was named "Boris" during it's time in the fleet, and later the ex-BeeLine short lived Ford Transit 101 was nick-named "Mini-Boris" and so Solo 101 has been called by some "Borisette!"

107 was moved to Newbury in November 2000 following serve reductions in Reading that made it available, and bus withdrawals in Newbury creating a need for buses there. It carries similar SoloRider branding to the Reading Solos, but in Newbury colours.

Following reductions to Newbury tendered services 6/9 in December 2007, and a short-term requirement for additional vehicles on Vodafone workings pending the arrival of 51/52, 107 eventually returned to Reading in mid April 2008 to operate new route 40 between Reading and Kennet Island. It went away for repaint into a white based livery branded for the route, returning in late May and entering service on 3rd June. It is seen below on 7th June 2008:

Solos 108-11 are allocated to Newbury. 108 carries Newbury SoloRider branding, but is unique in having a green stripe above it's windows. It was bought with help from West Berkshire Council to operate routes N4/N5 (now numbered 4/5). 108 arrived during the summer of 1999, and can be seen below in October of that year at Newbury Bus Station.

109-15 all arrived in January 2000. 109-11 were for contract services for Vodafone, and replaced 3 Optare MetroRider Mk 4s that were hired from Optare until the Solos arrived (However in January 2000 the MetroRiders were purchased for normal operations in Newbury). They carry special burgundy Newbury Buses logos and have Vodafone lettering in red on the bottom of the side windows at the rear. Below is 111 in September 2000 and the burgundy Newbury Buses logo.

111 was replaced in April 2003 by a Transbus Enviro 300, and moved onto town work. 110 followed in March 2004 when Vodafone route CPC came to an end following the closure of their Pear Tree House (Castle Park) site.

112-15 were allocated from new to Reading Buses. They arrived in January 2000 to enable the company to double the frequency of route 1, introducing the 1A from February to replace Reading Mainline line A, along with the Routemasters that operated it. The 1 and A routes were slightly different, hence suffix letters were used in Reading for the first time since the 1980s. The vehicles also strayed onto other routes from time to time, as well as operating contracted route 42. Routes 1 and 1A were withdrawn in March 2002 so the Solos now appear on all minibus routes. Below is 115 in January 2000 in the Great Knollys street depot.

116-21 were all new to Newbury. 116-7 carried the same livery as 109-11 for Vodafone contracts and arrived in April 2000 to operate new contracts that started the same month. 118 also carried burgundy Newbury Buses logos but was acquired to operate Newbury service 146 under contract to West Berkshire Council. 119 carried standard green Newbury Buses logos, but with Vodafone lettering at the rear for use on Vodafone contracts. It arrived in late June 2000, and hung around the Reading depot for a few weeks before entering service. It is seen below at Newbury Bus Station in September 2000.

116/7/9 transferred to the Newbury town fleet in April 2003 when larger Transbus Enviro 300s took over from them on Vodafone work. 119 was withdrawn in March 2004 when Vodafone route CPC came to an end following the closure of their Pear Tree House (Castle Park) site, 110 replacing it in the town fleet because 119 was a leased vehicle. It was then passed to A D, Witherbridge (dealer).

120-1 arrived in June 2001 and waited some time in the Reading depot before entering service in Newbury in August 2001. They had standard green Newbury logos with Vodafone lettering, and special fold out wheelchair ramps. They were purchased to operate two new Vodafone services, HUG and TH3 which for a short time until 1st October 2001 were also available to the fare paying public. Below is 121 at Newbury Bus Station preparing to depart on service HUG in August 2001, showing the interesting way HUG is shown on the digital numeral displays, and that whilst these services were open to the public the usual white Vodafone blinds were not used. Dot matrix displays are fitted on the side and rear and both show the route number/letters.

The pair moved to ordinary Newbury town services from 23rd October 2006 following replacement by Scania OmniCitys 6-12. 121 was then involved with a couple of serious accidents, leading it to being renumbered 126 following return from repairs in March 2008. It is seen below in Market Street on 20th March 2008:

122-4 were delivered for the Newbury fleet during the beginning of April 2002 to enable tendered Didcot services 6 and 9 to be fully low floor operated. They were Reading Transport's first Solos to be equipped with Bright-Tech "Light-Tech" high visibility LED displays, similar to the ones used on the low floor Spectras. Below 124 is seen in the Great Knollys Street depot on 17th April 2002 before transfer to Newbury:

Following reductions to Newbury tendered services 6/9 in December 2007, and a short-term requirement for additional vehicles on Vodafone workings pending the arrival of 51/52, 122 transferred to Reading in mid May 2008 to operate route 142 between Reading, Pangbourne and Checkendon which commenced on 2nd June 2008. It entered service on the route on 10th June following repaint into Goldline livery. Below it is seen in Cheapside on 14th June 2008:

125 arrived in June 2002, also allocated to Newbury it wears a special livery for a free service to New Greenham Park. It is seen below on 22nd July 2002:

In October 2004 a program was initiated to replace the Bright-Tech Power Blind / calculator destination displays that were originally fitted to the Solos (apart from those dedicated to Vodafone work). They have been replaced with Hanover LED units, which have the capacity to scroll information along them. The following is a summary of the conversions:

101 - Power Blinds since new, still present

102 - Power Blinds since new, still present

103 - Power Blinds since new, still present

104 - Power Blinds since new, still present

105 - Hanover LED by 24th June 2008

106 - Hanover LED by 19th November 2004

107 - Hanover LED during October 2004

108 - Hanover LED during October 2004

109 - Hanover LED during October 2004

110 - Hanover LED during October 2004

111 - Hanover LED during October 2004

112 - Hanover LED by 27th November 2004

113 - Hanover LED by 20th November 2004

114 - Hanover LED by 23rd November 2004

115 - Hanover LED by 1st December 2004

116 - Hanover LED during October 2004

117 - Hanover LED during October 2004

118 - Hanover LED during October 2004

119 - Power Blinds since new and until withdrawal

120 - Hanover LED during October 2004

121 - Hanover LED during October (?) 2004

122 - Bright-Tech LED since new

123 - Bright-Tech LED since new

124 - Bright-Tech LED since new

125 - Bright-Tech LED since new

During the second half of 2006 a new Newbury Buses livery was launched. Dates back into service following repaints were as follows:

109 - 25th September 2006

120 - by 13th May 2007

123 - 27th October 2006

124 - by 14th March 2007

Another revised livery was introduced during 2007 of British racing green and silver. All apart from 110 were also given an interior refurbishment at the time of repaint. Dates back into service following repaints into this livery were as follows:

110 - 19th December 2007

117 - approx 30th January 2008

121 - by 8th October 2007

From time to time vehicles have been loaned from Reading to Newbury to help out when vehicles are off the road:

101 went from 31st January 2006 to 1st February 2006 to cover for 116

101 went from unknown to 18th February 2008, or possibly just the one day

104 went from 18th July 2005 to 1st August 2005 to cover for 116

112 went for a period in early November 2005

Last updated: 24-06-08

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