Could Crossrail mean TfL buses expand out to Reading?

[ess]

Previously West Drayton was the furthest West on GWR for London zone tickets while Slough was furthest west for London Buses. Could we see TfL bus stops all the way to Reading in future?

 

[peterblue]

Doubt it

 

[achmelvic]

Very unlikely.

The unregulated structure for buses outside of London means it's a very different environment to the regulated system within London.

As it is the running of TfL rather than DfT controlled rail services to areas that aren't under the democratic control of the Mayor of London/London Assembly is already slightly dodgy in political terms

Extending TfL control of buses outside of London would be near impossible without some political changes including AFAIK a government act to bring back bus regulation for the parts of Non-London England.

 

[Goldfish62]

No. The current cross boundary services are under considerable strain as it is, due to local authorities unable or unwilling to fund the sections outside London. They are only kept going due to political pressure and TfL's statutory remit to provide services to and from London, which in broad planning terms means the first significant traffic objection. Towards Reading that is Slough.

 

[jfisher21]

Unlikely, there are no tfl buses at rickmansworth, Amersham or chesham.

 

[jayah]

Previously West Drayton was the furthest West on GWR for London zone tickets while Slough was furthest west for London Buses. Could we see TfL bus stops all the way to Reading in future?

Even in London buses are massively subsidised. Why would the London Mayor want to take on responsibility for that?

 

[jimm]

Previously West Drayton was the furthest West on GWR for London zone tickets while Slough was furthest west for London Buses. Could we see TfL bus stops all the way to Reading in future?

On the contrary, Reading Buses (still council-owned) operates services into London - Greenline route 702 runs to Victoria from Bracknell, via Windsor and Slough - a few early buses start from Reading and late evening buses finish there.

 

[Busaholic]

Apart from all the reasons listed above

1) ALL TfL bus routes are flat fare, current fare £1.60
2) Reading Transport are one of the most innovative bus companies in the country, and with their expansion in recent years have taken over First's Green Line route 702 to central London, as well as local services in the Slough and Windsor area, with many to Heathrow Airport too. They would have a very goo case for complaining to the competition authority people in the exceedingly unlikely event of TfL muscling in, but it ain't gonna happen anyway.

 

[causton]

Er, no.

 

[Mojo]

On the contrary, Reading Buses (still council-owned) operates services into London - Greenline route 702 runs to Victoria from Bracknell, via Windsor and Slough - a few early buses start from Reading and late evening buses finish there.

This is on a commercial basis, TfL buses are heavily subsidised with artificially low fares.

 

[matt_world2004]

If oyster was to be accepted on the Elizabeth line. There would have been an issue with ticket acceptance on the reading services for local bus services during disruption. But since it's not then it's a moot point.

However it would be good for the customer if local operators could integrate their contactless payment systems with TfL's meaning you got capped the plus bus fare for rail and bus journies within Berkshire and the Thames valley.