Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. But they will take a day off for Christmas.
Reading Buses says it will be running services throughout the festive period, give or take any new covid restrictions, except for December 25.
However, the company will be operating a reduced service between Christmas Eve and the New Year bank holiday on January 3.
Timetables in operation will be either Saturday, Sunday or public holiday ones.
All the details have been published on the company’s website so people can plan ahead.
“We have now finalised all our Christmas timetables for each route and have detailed information on our website www.reading-buses.co.uk,” said Reading Buses Marketing and Communications Manager Jake Osman.
“As Christmas gets ever closer, we know that our customers will want to check what their services will be doing over the festive period.
“This is, of course, a time to visit family and friends and enjoy the delights of shopping and socialising and a time when travelling by bus will avoid parking and congestion problems – even allowing for a little over-indulging. ”
On Christmas Eve most buses will be on normal service with an early finish around 7pm to 8pm. The exceptions are emerald 5 and 6, purple 17, claret 21 and yellow 26 which have extra buses until around 11pm.
“There will be no buses on Christmas Day when all our employees will be having a well earned rest,” Mr Osman announced.
On Boxing Day, there will be special service on the busiest routes from 9am until around 6pm to help families and bargain hunters get about.
On Monday, December 27 most services will run to Sunday timetables; on Tuesday December 28 most services will be on their public holiday timetables; on Wednesday December 29, Thursday, December 30, and Friday, December 31, most services will run to their Saturday timetables.
On Saturday, January 1, most services will be on their public holiday timetables; on Sunday, January 2, buses will be using their Sunday timetables; on Monday, January 3, a public holiday in lieu of New Year’s Day, buses will run to their public holiday timetables.
Mr Osman added: “There are some exceptions to the general service levels though – such as Mereoak park & ride and greenwave 50 which will be on normal service on 29, 30 and 31 December.
“So it’s best that customers check their services online, via the app or pick up a leaflet on our buses shortly.”
