Thanks BobM.

I'm feeling old. It's mostly the older ones shown in these photos that I remember travelling on, including the trolleybus. Not the pre-war AEC the right in the 5th photo though! 

 
Thanks: trolleybuses withdrawn from Teddington, May 1962, my sight of them in Reading may have been 1968.

 
The trolleybuses were withdrawn in Reading in November 1968.

 
I'm recalling the parents on the road through Reading, heading for Bath, and me being surprised to see the sort of public transport we'd lost back in Teddington around 1962 soon after they moved there. Trolleybuses. The M4 Maidenhead to Swindon opened in 1971 so it would have been just prior to that.

 
Today (4th October 2026) Reading Buses is marking the founding of the first motorised public transport in the town in 1901.

Many buses from throughout the years have been put on display in Broad Street.   For some it is a return to familiar territory as the road used to be the main hub for town buses until it was pedestrianised in the late 1980s and early 1990s.   Before the advent of radio in the cabs an inspector used to be stationed in the road at 11pm to ensure all the last buses to the suburbs had arrived and passengers changed onto other buses.  He would then blow his whistle and all the buses departed in a cloud of diesel fumes.




(I've driven this one in the past!)


(and this one!)










(I used to catch this one to school.   Note the two queues to board.   To the right was a Videmat machine which used to take a photo of the coins you dropped in the machine for your fare.   Many children delighted in paying for their fare in halfpennies with the aim of getting the longest ticket!)



Several buses were running on former routes around the town.  I saw the first one leave and there wasn't a seat to be had.  Sadly I had to get back to work.