Reading’s White Knight to the rescue
Reading Buses is launching its new White Knight 20 bus service between the University and Reading.
The new service will run up to every ten minutes during university semesters and will call at the University and Christchurch Green stops before running non-stop to town avoiding the often-congested Kendrick Road.
The new service complements enhancements to the claret 21 and leopard 3 services that began on 2 September, designed to give students, staff and visitors to the University a huge amount of choice and frequency. White Knight 20 replaces the previous 21a.
“The new service becomes the main University bus route for staff and students” – Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer
Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are extremely pleased to be introducing this new service to the University. We have developed the idea of a faster, non-stop term-time route between town and the campus with representatives of the University.
“The new service becomes the main University bus route for staff and students – it will be faster and runs at all the busy times, whilst claret 21 covers all the bases running 24/7 including London Road campus, Kendrick Student Village, and Lower Earley.”
The new service will also run on Friday and Saturday evenings, and there are extra evening services during the rest of the week for the first few weeks of the new semester. Said Robert; “We know that the first few weeks are when students are busy socialising and making new friends, so we are keeping the buses running until late every day until 25 October. After this date, the late service will only apply on Fridays and Saturdays. We hope the students use this service and enjoy their time socialising!”
Tap on, tap off tickets will be available on board, with fares capped at the day ticket price.
This new service is the first part of developments for the University as Reading Buses has earmarked some of their electric buses to replace the current claret 21 vehicles in 2025.