Tillingbourne
www.buszone.co.uk
Tillingbourne went into administrative receivership on 19th March 2001 and where possible other operators stepped in to cover their services. This page contains details about the small number of services they used to operate in the Reading area, which connected Reading with towns such as Aldershot, Arborfield and Yately.
Routes in the Reading area formerly operated:
- 12: Reading - Aldershot via Basingstoke Road, Spencers Wood, Riseley, Hartley, Wintney and Fleet
- 140/1/2: Reading - Yately via Royal Berkshire Hospital, Shinfield Road, Shinfield and Arborfield
- 144: Reading - Arborfield via Royal Berkshire Hospital, Shinfield Road and Shinfield. Some journeys continued to Wokingham.
Here we see an Optare MetroRider Mk 4 and an Optare Vecta (behind) at Reading Station.
Brand new Mercedes Benz minibuses were also used. They had Plaxton Beaver 2 bodywork, this one is seen here in May 1999.
An earlier Mercedes-Benz minibus, number 436 is seen here with its subsequent owner Glyn Williams Travel in Cardiff on 2nd August 2002. The Tillingbourne fleetname can still just about be seen on the blue stripe behind the doors even though it is a year and a half after the company was closed. It still retains it's Tillingbourne fleet number.
Another purchased by Glyn Williams was TIL 1193, an Optare MetroRider Mk 2, seen in Cardiff Central Bus Station on 29th July 2002.
Upon closure, the Optare Vectas from the fleet were purchased by Islwyn Borough Transport, the country's smallest remaining council owned bus company. Interestingly they also operate a service into Cardiff Central Bus Station, the location where we see TIL 5406 on 2nd August 2002. This operator has repainted the bus into their own livery which is not greatly different in style to the Tillingbourne one.
In 1998 Tillingbourne introduced three Volvo Citybus double deckers with East Lancs bodywork to provide extra capacity for it's Reading area services. This one is seen in Reading during May 1999.
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