An initiative to attract more people onto the bus in the run-up to Christmas was an underlying success, it has been revealed.
Reading Buses have reported back on the numbers of people who travelled over the two special days.
On the first Saturday of the initiative, funded by West Berkshire Council, Reading Buses carried more than 1,500 people and the following Saturday was even better with the company carrying over 2,000.
In addition, the level of patronage was more than 10% better than in 2019 in West Berkshire compared to the rest of the network.
“This clearly shows that the initiative was a great incentive to get people travelling more sustainably for Christmas, especially at a time when customer numbers were generally lower than normal due to the effect of Covid-19,” Jake Osman, Reading Buses Marketing and Communications Manager, said today.
In the first activity of its kind on the Reading Buses network, West Berkshire Council switched from their usual Christmas incentive of free car parking to free bus journeys.
“This was designed to ease congestion and promote more environmentally and sustainable ways to travel,” said Jake.
“The journeys were free on Reading Buses as well as Newbury & District as long as they started within the West Berkshire boundary.
“For example, a return trip from Thatcham to Newbury was absolutely free, whereas journeys from Tilehurst into Reading were free with customers having to pay for the return journey.
“We hope that West Berkshire Council will give serious consideration to repeating the initiative in the run-up to Christmas 2022.”
Cllr Richard Somner, Executive Member for Planning, Transport and Countryside at West Berkshire Council, said: “We are glad to see this initiative partnered with Reading Buses was a great success for residents.
“We hope this has encouraged residents to continue to use public transport, especially as COVID restrictions have now been lifted.
“The more people increase their use of public transport to visit our beautiful district, the better the result for our environment and resources. It’s a great way to reduce our own carbon footprint with a small change.”