All change in the Royal Borough

Tuesday 22nd April 2025

New tenders for subsidised bus services issued by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead earlier this month have meant changes to many routes and their operators with Go-Ahead’s (Oxford Bus) owned Carousel expanding its reach as far as Staines and (Reading Buses’ owned) Thames Valley taking on the infamous Windsor Great Park service 1 as well as losing some of its Maidenhead routes to the expansionist Carousel.

I had a ride around on Thursday last week as well as over the weekend to see how things were settling in.

The Borough has posted a very detailed and comprehensive list of what’s changed in bus shelters at major points, for example in Maidenhead…

… and Windsor…

… together with an updated coloured route map showing the new route patterns, which can also be found online on the Council’s website.

It’s also good to see both bus companies have produced printed timetables and booklets for the Maidenhead and Slough and Windsor areas which are available to pick up on board buses.

Each booklet includes a network map which is very helpful but I can’t help thinking how much better it would be to have one comprehensive timetable including routes run by both operators and the Council’s comprehensive bus map, which ironically was produced by Carousel for the Council, yet in its own booklet there’s a map showing just it’s own routes.

It’s disappointing the Council hasn’t taken the lead in this, especially as the routes are tendered.

But at least printed information is available.

The new regime on route 1, Windsor to Ascot, (recently featured in my Quirky Bus Routes countdown), includes a subtle renumbering from 01 to plain 1 as well as a Monday to Friday extension beyond Windsor to Dedworth (partly replacing local Windsor route W1) and on Saturday a new 1A variant with all journeys operating via Old Windsor and taking a different route through Windsor Great Park via Royal Lodge – handy for Prince Andrew. There’s one morning and afternoon school day journey routed this way too.

Saturday journeys will also double run via Savill Gardens once the access road is open (see above map extract).

The bus for my Saturday afternoon journey arrived into Windsor on its previous journey around 10 minutes late at 12:49 and dropped off an impressive number of passengers but good that the bus reappeared on time for the next Ascot bound journey leaving Windsor at 13:00.

This picked up eleven passengers including a family of four. Two alighted on the section of route through Old Windsor, which is also covered by First Bus’s route 8, but no one else boarded or alighted as we all enjoyed another extended tour through the Park which is always a delight to do.

This time we entered through the manned gate into the Park on Bishopsgate Road before continuing via Cumberland Lodge and Royal Lodge to the Village where the normal route as used by weekday route 1 journeys is then followed.

It’s certainly a highly recommended route.

Quirky and unique.

All bar one of the remaining nine passengers alighted in Sunningdale and Sunninghill with just one, who was trying the route out from an interest perspective, continuing to Ascot.

The route is tightly timed but thankfully there’s a generous layover allowance at both Ascot and Windsor between journeys, although this will be eaten into by ten minutes once Savill Gardens opens.

Meanwhile over in Maidenhead, there’s a new cross town route back on the map with the extension of Carousel’s route 37 from High Wycombe to Maidenhead now continuing via the former route of Thames Valley operated 16 via Fifield and Dedworth to Windsor. But, it doesn’t end there, as once the Carousel bus arrives in Windsor, it turns from a 37 into a 10/10A and continues on to Staines making for a two hour 23 minute marathon from High Wycombe to Staines.

I gave this new 37/10 combo a try out last Thursday morning, catching the 11:20 from High Wycombe. It was a busy bus with 25 on board, including many with shopping returning home, and was already six minutes late leaving the town through the High Street, where I boarded.

We soon hit the usual slow moving traffic on the A40 London Road heading out of town but then calamity struck as the driver forgot there was a diversion on due to the closure of Kingsmead Road meaning we should have stayed on London Road.

Things got more trickier when the driver realised his mistake and attempted what became a nine-point turn on a sharp incline at the junction by the road closure with the bus rear grounding on the sheer slope of the road.

Luckily, after a few minutes he managed and we retraced our route back to London Road but by Bourne End we were ten minutes late having picked up another six passengers, but decanted 28, leaving just three of us on board who were joined by four more at the station.

The bus continues via Cookham and Furze Platt down to Maidenhead with eight more passengers joining us on this section of route which includes some delightful scenery alongside the River Thames…

… but also some very challenging driving conditions for bus drivers…

… with narrow roads choked with traffic both in Cookham…

… and residential streets in Furze Platt.

Despite all that the bus arrived in Maidenhead at 12:30, just five minutes behind schedule indicating there must be a generous time allowance for that section and, not surprisingly, everyone alighted in Maidenhead and a new contingent of passengers boarded for the next section of route via Fifield and Dedworth to Windsor.

As mentioned above, that section replaces Thames Valley’s 16 although this route continues at an hourly frequency but now takes a much more direct trajectory via Windsor Road and Dedworth to Windsor.

I caught the 13:00 from Maidenhead and having picked up at the Market Street and Library bus stops we left the town with eight on board. All these alighted on common sections of the previous route (now 37) such as Bray and Dedworth with four more boarding at the latter. I’m sure passengers will come to appreciate the additional frequency now provided between Maidenhead and Windsor (with the 16 and 37 both hourly) and the 16’s quicker end-to-end journey time.

One thing that struck me was the congestion at Maidenhead’s Frascati Way ‘terminal point’…

… as well as at the Market Street bus stop that arises when two or three buses depart at a similar time.

It’s a shame there’s not a better central point for buses in the town.

After a short break in Windsor I’d planned to catch the next arriving 37 as it turned into a 10 for a ride across to Staines.

Having seen the challenges impacting route 37 earlier it didn’t surprise me to see the bus due to leave Windsor at 14:10 was running late on its way from Maidenhead but I hadn’t expected the lateness to get more and more such it didn’t arrive into Windsor until 14:35 – giving a 25 minute late departure for the route 10.

It was a new driver with a mentor on board which partly explains the lateness – one of the perils of increasing resources as Carousel has had to do with its significant overnight expansion, not only in this area but also in Buckinghamshire where it’s also gained significant tendered work from other operators.

Route 10 (which has replaced Bear Buses’ route 305) is a lovely wander through Datchet (pictured above), Sunnymeads and Wraysbury (with alternate journeys as a 10A via Horton) to Staines and well worth taking a ride.

Sadly only three passengers came along with one more joining in Wraysbury, where two alighted, but hopefully more will come to use the route now it’s been given a higher profile and, as things settle down, the all important reliability will be maintained. Thankfully there’s a generous layover of 17 minutes in Staines bus station before the long haul back to Windsor, Maidenhead and High Wycombe begins.

Recreating through routes such as High Wycombe to Windsor opens up convenient journey opportunities across the Royal Borough such as Cookham to Windsor or Dedworth to Bourne End and High Wycombe so it will be interesting to see whether new passenger journeys are generated.

Back in Maidenhead, Carousel has taken over routes routes 3, 8 (now renumbered 4) and 9 from Thames Valley, all with some detailed changes to times/rouyes. Other new arrangements include alternate journeys on Thames Valley’s route 7 from Cox Green linked to route 16 to provide cross town journeys from say, Cox Green to Dedworth and Windsor. Carousel are also now running a new 7A which has increased the frequency to four buses an hour to/from Cox Green – but again, it’s a shame there’s not a combined timetable for this coordinated route.

Instead you need both books…

… and both maps…

… to work out what’s happening.

There’s also a new Carousel operated route 52 (with four off-peak journeys to Holyport) joining Thames Valley’s long established hourly route 53 and the latter also operates new routes 227/A (to Twyford) and 228 (to Henley) replacing routes 234/5 and 238/9.

A return visit to take a look at these changes as well as Thames Valley’s upcoming new Flightline 704 (restoring the Maidenhead-Heathrow direct link First Bus abandoned) is on the agenda for some time in the next few weeks,

Roger French

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