The Good and The Not-So-Good of First Berkshire

This was the First Berkshire post pulled a few weeks ago. The 41 readers who read it the first time may note there have been some changes to the original wording.

First Berkshire are an interesting company. On the outskirts of London, First Berkshire is the former Beeline operation, operated under management from First London at Paddington. The fleet is a mixture of premier interurban services, and run down local services.

Let us start with an area First Berkshire appear to be very strong in - the GreenLine contract. First operate route 702 from London to Slough, Windsor Legoland and Bracknell, using a variety of Volvo B9TL double deckers and coaches. All of the buses are immaculately turned out. Three brand new Volvo B9TLs also arrived last year. Pictured to the left are two of the double deckers used on the service. Firstly, 37986 (BJ11ECY) in service on the 702 in Windsor. Secondly, we have one of the 2008 delivery of Volvo B9TLs, 37276 (LK58EDL) pictured heading for London as it leaves Slough.

Furthermore, First Berkshire operate the Reading to Heathrow rail air link. The fleet operate a variety of coaches on the route - the eldest being 9 year old coaches and the youngest just a year old. There is also a fleet of Hybrid coaches on order, due to replace the existing stock over the next year. For these two areas of First Berkshire, the future looks bright. One wonders if these high profile routes are earning more of the money for First Berkshire, and therefore almost subsidising the other local routes.

Now for the 7 series. Slough's most high profile set of routes, connecting Heathrow with the towns around Slough. Routes 71, 75, 76 and 77 are operated by a large fleet of these Mercedes-Benz Citaros, which have been acquired between 2003 and 2008. The only problem with them is the appearance. When you start to look at them in detail, you notice glass panels with branding not replaced, and panels without branding replaced. It will be interesting to see the long term future for this route with First. This branding is now nearly 6 years old. A new brand that is slightly more panel-friendly wouldn't go amiss, and possibly would breathe new life into the route.

The 190 between Reading and Bracknell is in the hands of these former London Dennis Tridents. While the appearance of these buses is excellent (not to sure with the red on yellow First logos left over from London though...), Bracknell depot in terms of routes has been run down over the past few years. 

With all of the tendered work moving to Thames Travel, Bracknell depot now only operate town routes 155, 171 and 172, along with the 190 to Reading, 191 to Windsor and the 194 to Camberley. Bracknell depot does also operate buses for Greenline, and is the nearest First depot to the Reading Rail-Air routes. All Bracknell town routes are operated by Scanias or Dennis Tridents.

Finally, we come to the rather run down Slough town services. Dart SLFs new in 2000 and cascaded buses from London form the majority of the fleet (along with a fleet of dedicated Solos). The Marshall bodied Dart SLFs show all the signs of a hard life - certainly the ones I saw still have their original seat cushions. Moreover, the ALX200 bodied Darts new in 2000 now are looking a little bit tired. For example, we have 42344 (X244AMO) below. Some of the interiors look a little bit worn, and panels have not been repainted when they have been replaced. The X---AMO batch of buses would look great in the new livery, and with new style branding for the 58 from Britwell to Uxbridge, would show investment and pride in the fleet. 

Certainly First Berkshire do things very well. The Greenline routes and RailAir services are very well presented. All the buses I saw, regardless of panel condition, had spotless exteriors and looked fantastic. In addition, the fleet have received cascaded Tridents and Citaros from London recently, indicating a desire to improve services. However, the condition of many of the buses lets the side down. A number of panels are due replacement - once a long term problem at FHD's Portswood depot but no longer. Furthermore, the brand on the Mercedes-Benz Citaros seems to be a little worn, with branding not being replaced when altered. Finally, as we write there are no buses in the new fleet livery.

 The common consensus with First at the moment is that any fleets not showing investment could be up for sale... it will be interesting to see if the former Beeline fleet is operated by First in a year's time.