Another ride on the 730/731 to Heathrow

Thursday 21st December 2023

Newbury & District (part of the Reading Buses suite of bus operations) has recently introduced three new Volvo B8R Plaxton Panther 3 coaches on the fledgling flightline branded route between Basingstoke, Frimley, Camberley, Bagshot and Heathrow Airport, so I made a return visit last Saturday to see how the route was doing and take a ride on the new coaches.

Readers may recall route 730/731 was introduced with funding from Heathrow Airport in August to provide new links between the airport and this prosperous area either side of the Surrey and Hampshire border. Aimed at staff working at Heathrow as well as airline passengers the route uses the M3/M25 when not calling at the main stops it serves along the way and terminates at Heathrow Terminal 5 where there are free to use onward connections to the other terminals.

The route was initially operated by former Weavaway/Reading Buses double decks but the dealer stock Volvo coaches have now bedded in after some initial teething issues, so four months on from launch, it was timely to take another ride.

The coaches are in a smart Best Impressions designed livery using what is now becoming the branding of choice for high profile bus routes serving Heathrow: the resurrected flightline name.

The seats are comfortable and the leg room just about adequate for the relatively short duration of the journey. There are usb sockets and seat back trays.

The seat immediately behind the front entrance steps also has a fold out tray but I’d be very wary about using the coffee cup hole or lipped ring as it didn’t look big enough and I’d be fearful the cup would go flying off with any vehicle movement.

There’s a mid ship wheelchair space with retractable lift…

… and space to store luggage at the base of the body which our driver happily leapt out of the cab to use on three occasions.

There’s a toilet half way along the coach on the offside.

The clock was eight minutes fast but that’s the only minor thing I can report, as the coaches certainly give a presence for the route and the journey was a very smooth one to enjoy too.

I caught the 10:45 from Basingstoke and the coach was already parked up on the bus stop when I arrived an hour beforehand, having been the 09:10 arrival into Basingstoke from Heathrow. At 10:40 the driver appeared in the driving seat – he must have been taking a break on board the coach – and myself and the four other waiting passengers boarded.

One travelled to Frimley, two to Bagshot and one to Heathrow. We left at 10:48 and were soon on the M3 (at 11:00) …

… coming off ten minutes later with an arrival into Frimley at 11:13, where we made a seamless transition from being a 731 to a 730 and gained a new passenger travelling to Heathrow replacing the one who alighted.

It’s odd that the next timing point is Knoll Road in Camberley …

…rather than by the railway station where we were due to depart at 11:27 – we arrived at 11:25, took four on board and left at 11:28. One of the four went to Bagshot and the other three were Heathrow bound.

We dropped the three alighters off in Bagshot spot on time at 11:37 and made our way back to the M3 joining it at 11:42, reaching the M25 junction at 11:48 and then for the first time met slow moving traffic, but luckily could soon take the slip road for the Terminal 5 exit …

… where we arrived exactly on time at midday and the five passengers on board alighted helped by the driver unloading suitcases from the luggage compartment which he’d stowed at the boarding stops.

It was an enjoyable and impressively efficient smooth journey. The six passengers paying fares (three of the nine travelling were concessions) were either charged £2 if travelling as far as Frimley or £4 if continuing on to Bagshot or Heathrow, or those boarding in Camberley all paid just £2. That’s because the route split in Frimley means the £2 maximum fare, which now applies to the route, also has to be paid twice.

As I mentioned last time the very prominent route split arrangement used on this route/these routes is a very annoying bureaucratic anachronism which in these post Brexit “take back control” times really does need sorting out.

It’s unnecessarily confusing for passengers, especially when the departure times listed at the bus stop in Basingstoke emphasise Frimley as the prominent destination with Heathrow only in smaller print…

… with the opposite the case at Heathrow Terminal 5.

Come on DfT sort this out and allow bus companies to register routes such as this as one rather than split into two (to avoid coming under more draconian EU style driving hours regulations and tachograph use). The whole thing is a nonsense.

It looks as though the three new coaches are now providing a reliable and consistent service which will no doubt help raise the profile of the route. Although I did spot one of Newbury & District’s three plain liveried Volvos which are used as a back up out on one of the three vehicle workings on Saturday.

Numbers travelling are obviously still small but it takes longer than four months to build a new airport service, especially in the off season, but all the time Heathrow Airport are putting money in to support the route, it’s good for public transport.

After alighting in Heathrow Terminal 5 I thought I’d catch a free to use Piccadilly or Elizabeth line/Heathrow Express train the one stop to Terminals 2/3.

My goodness, what a palaver that was. I got to the Piccadilly line platform where there should be a 10 minute frequency only to find a huge crowd waiting and no information about the time of the next train on display. A member of staff told me it would be about 15-20 minutes. I decided to go to the Elizabeth line/Heathrow Express platform – which is a long route march up lifts and down again taking about five minutes – only to see the next train wasn’t for 20 minutes. I took the route march back to the Piccadilly line and eventually boarded a packed train which sat in the platform for 10 minutes before leaving. It took just over half an hour to make the one stop journey and wasn’t an impressive experience for arriving passengers from abroad.

I later saw TfL’s website advising “major delays between Heathrow Airport and Acton Town due to a shortage of serviceable trains”.

It would be very helpful if times of the next departures were displayed before passengers have to commit to one platform or the other. Alternatively I should have taken the bus. But it’s not clear for tourists which bus to take either.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with a bonus Christmas Eve Blog Special this Su. Yes, it’ll be a Blog weekend bonanza featuring my Review of the Year, Quiz of the Year and the BusAndTrainUser Awards for 2023 with more to come on Boxing Day too.

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