First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
Bus operator in the United Kingdom
First Beeline Buses Limited, trading as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
01History
In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berks Bucks Bus Company took over the Bracknell, High Wycombe, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading and Wokingham operations of Alder Valley as part of the preparation for privatisation of the National Bus Company, trading as "Beeline" once the name was changed in October 1986. In late 1987 The Berks Bucks Bus Company was sold to Q Drive.
In 1990 the High Wycombe operations were sold to the Oxford Bus Company, and in 1992 the Reading and Newbury operations were sold to Reading Buses. In 1993 Beeline purchased the Slough operations of Luton & District Transport, until 1986 the Slough depot of London Country Bus Services and later part of the London Country North West division.
In March 1996 Beeline was sold to CentreWest who in turn was sold to FirstGroup in March 1997. Initially trading as First Beeline, in 2001 it was rebranded as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley.
Following the loss of nine Bracknell Forest Council supported services to Courtney Buses on 13 July 2015 and the sale of route 90 Bracknell to Reading to Reading Buses on 26 July 2015, the Bracknell garage closed on 28 August 2015.
In April 2023, the company was rebranded to First Beeline.
In December 2024, following the return to a national identity by FirstGroup, First Beeline returned to trading as "First Berkshire & The Thames Valley".
02Services
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley currently operates bus services in and around Slough and to surrounding areas including Heathrow Airport, Maidenhead and High Wycombe. The company also operates the RailAir coach services connecting Heathrow Airport with surrounding major National Rail stations.
The company were the primary operator of services in and around Maidenhead until 2004 when most local services were withdrawn. These services are now operated by Thames Valley Buses.
The company also formerly operated the Green Line branded routes 702 and 703 between London, Heathrow Airport, Slough, Windsor, Legoland and Bracknell. Operation of these services transferred to Reading Buses in December 2017.
Bus Services
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley currently operate the following bus services:
| Route | Start | End |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Slough | Uxbridge |
| 6 | Wexham Park Hospital | Burnham |
| 7 | Britwell | Heathrow Terminal 5 |
| 7X | Britwell | Heathrow Central bus station |
| 8 | Slough | Heathrow Terminal 5 |
| A4 | Cippenham | Heathrow Central bus station |
| M40 | High Wycombe | Uxbridge |
| X74 | High Wycombe | Uxbridge |
RailAir Coach Services
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley currently operate the following RailAir branded coach services:
| Route | Start | End |
|---|---|---|
| RA1 | Reading | Heathrow Terminal 3 |
| RA2 | Guildford | Heathrow Terminal 3 |
| RA3 | Watford | Heathrow Terminal 3 |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “First Berkshire & The Thames Valley”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- First bus beeline logo.svg by Unknown author, Fair use
- Au Morandarte Flickr First Beeline 44561 on Route X9, High Wycombe Eden Bus Station (11027549133).jpg by Au Morandarte from Chiswick/Romford, London, England, CC BY-SA 2.0
- First Berkshire & The Thames Valley 60754.JPG by Arriva436, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Slough - First 63192 (SN14EBF) - Au Morandarte Flickr 14308616632.jpg by Au Morandarte from London, Middlesex, England, CC BY-SA 2.0
- RailAir coach at Reading Station.jpg by David Maj / DavidTDC3377, CC BY-SA 4.0
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