12/02/2008
Reading Borough Council Press Release
A bus route is to be extended in response to concerns that were raised about
the lack of service between Purley and the Tilehurst Triangle shops.
Reading Borough Council has teamed up with neighbours West Berkshire to jointly
sponsor the extension of Community Link bus route 28, following a consultation
carried out by Reading Buses.
From Monday February 25, when the new routes 15 and 16 start, route 28 will
offer a selection of daytime journey options from Purley to Tilehurst Triangle,
Asda, central Reading and right through to the Royal Berks Hospital. An extra
improvement is that the new 28 will also serve stops at the north end of Long
Lane which haven't benefited from a bus service in recent years.
There is also an extra earlier bus from Dee Park and New Lane Hill to Tilehurst
Triangle, with the first bus arriving at the Town Centre 20 minutes earlier
than it currently does. Buses from Purley Knowsley Road will be at 9.00am,
10.40am, 12.20pm, 2.00pm (and will leave Tilehurst Triangle 10 minutes later).
That gives shoppers at least an hour and a quarter at The Triangle, or an hour
at Asda.
The departure times from Tilehurst Triangle back to Purley will be at 10.34am,
12.14pm, 1.54pm and 3.34pm
And in a further improvement, a change to the route 87 school bus to Hugh
Faringdon School will now see it leave Purley Knowsley Road at 7.46am, giving a
direct link from Purley for the first time. In the afternoon the return bus
connects into a route 28 bus at Tilehurst Triangle to get pupils back home.
Reading's Lead Councillor for Transport, Tom Crisp, said: 'When the two
councils became aware of the concerns of residents we got together and agreed a
service that does the job and is also affordable to the councils. Reading Buses
have helped identify bus resources that have allowed an earlier first bus and
an extra morning bus. We look forward to welcoming local Tilehurst and Purley
residents onto all the new services.'
Keith Chopping, West Berkshire Executive Councillor for Transport said, 'West
Berkshire is pleased to have been able to give support to the extension of
route 28. We would like to thank residents for informing us of their needs and
are happy that they will now be able to access shops and essential services via
the new route.'
And Councillor Tony Jones, Chair of Reading Buses, added: "I am pleased
that we have been able to extend the 28 route in west reading and Purley. I
hope that local people will give these services their full support so that they
can become a permanent part of the bus network in their own right."
ENDS