Closure causes 10,000 journey losses

Some 10,000 bus passenger journeys a week are not being made due to the closure of the main section of Oxford Road in Reading, according to Reading Buses. The company has been using its spare vehicles and drivers to try to fill the gaps in service caused by the sewer work.

Reading Buses Marketing Manager, Jake Osman, said, ‘There is no sensible alternative to the closure for many of our passengers. In some cases they are having to put up with longer walks to their bus stops. Elsewhere on the bus network bus users are experiencing delays of up to 30 to 40 minutes – or longer in some cases. This is due to Reading traffic trying to find alternative routes. Unfortunately, the situation is likely to substantially damage customer confidence in the Oxford Road area as can be seen in the stark numbers of passenger journeys affected each week that Oxford Road is closed. And the closure is not only affecting the services that usually run along that road – quite a lot of Reading itself appears in some way to be affected by these works.’