“Reading buses claim to have 90+% reviews, but this bursts my lungs into extraordinary laughter. Only the 17, 33 etc, are reliable. In fact, these buses are really quite reliable. Howver, the buses have not shown up at ALL for bus routes such as the 16. Embarrassing company. The 16 bus has been showing "due" for 40 minutes now. Sort it out. Stop concentrating on two services at most. Pathetic .”
“Absolute joke of a service. I wrote a review a few months ago complaining about the buses being 10-15 minutes late - but now it's even worse.
They just don't turn up on time, if at all. In the last 2-3 months almost every single bus coming out of Reading towards Bracknell has been at least 30 minutes late with no explanation.
Are the drivers simply not leaving on time? What could possibly cause so much delay, especially during non-rush hour times? I simply can't believe traffic is this big an issue all day, every day.
Just the other day the X4 (which comes hourly now) out of Reading was a shocking 40 minutes late. Bearing in mind it comes every 60 mins - or so they say - how is that acceptable at all? This was at around 1pm too.
You have at times 30 people waiting at a bus stop because the previous bus(es) are all piled up somewhere following each other like ants.
I'm now relying on a friend, or Ubers, to give me a lift to work every morning because the buses would make me 30-60 minutes late.
Stupidly paid more than £500 for a yearly bus pass for this shocking service - never again.
All in all, don't bother checking the timetables (especially towards Bracknell) - you'll be left disappointed standing in whatever weather waiting up to 40 minutes.
Would give 0/5 if I could.”
“Jokers, they predominantly hiring old people with glasses on the face , they rejected me and that was their loss,and on the very first day in interview they giving theory test knowing that people have no clue about busses it's clearly mockery!!!”
“Horrible little company with shtty customer service, still selling overpriced tickets to trick people into buying those over the £2 tickets, and refusing to take responsibility”
“Changed the time of the 25 from half hourly to hourly now if your lucky they turn up but are always late, the app is a joke the live times never work properly as you can be tracking a bus which will suddenly disappear”
“Zero consideration for paying elderly or disabled passengers. Would certainly spit in your face if they could. Buses regularly just don't turn up so don't bother planning to use them for reliability as they're useless and won't even tell you, they'll just let several elderly and disabled people have to stand out in the cold for more than half an hour at a time bevause god forbid they do a half decent job. Quite frankly their company isn't even half arsing it, they are willfully not doing their jobs. An absolutely disgraceful company”
“buses are 10-30 mins everyday, without fail, fares are rising and the service is getting worse. some of the drivers are really rude aswell, tried calling to complain no answer. also card machines on buses don’t work properly as they constantly decline between card and apple pay so if you haven’t got both on you you probably won’t get on as drivers refuse service if the card machines aren’t working, as he’s a “private driver” offered cash after we get to the stop as there was a cash machine outside but still wouldn’t have it, made me late for work and when i’m paying day in day out for a service i’m not getting its a bit of a joke.”
“Appalling service! The jetblack service which used to run every 30 min (so they say) has been cut from 6:40pm onwards into a hourly service this year (2022) AND THEY JUST CAN’T COPE TO BE ON TIME! The 7:30 bus is non existent, it consistently turns up 15-20 min late on a daily basis with no logic explanation. I have been taking this bus everyday for the past 8 months and can confirm NOT EVEN ONCE it arrived before 7:45. When it should be arriving at my stop at 8.35 being the second stop from their depot in Reading. No excuse whatsoever!
THEY ALSO FALSELY ADVERTISE WI-FI ON BOARD which is a blatant lie! Not once in 6 years of everyday use I saw a Wi-Fi network available on board . It can be quite distressing when you don’t have a connection and can’t use the mobile travel card or ticket!
I’m going to speak to MP Laura Farris and the West Berkshire Council why is this absolutely ghastly service from Reading continues to be subsidised by us tax payers when it just keeps getting worse and fares are astronomical!? The customer service on the phone and email is rude and unprofessional, you can not communicate effectively with anyone in this company. They are always clueless and never apologetic.
They fail to inform the public in Newbury from route/ schedule changes on a regular basis like we are second class passengers. They only care to provide a good service in Reading, with local routes, nothing else.
If you dare to complaint you get shouted at by staff.
We are in 2022, transport connections between cities should improve not be reduced and stop lying about your Wi-Fi on board! Shame on you Reading buses”
“Nr 16 10 minutes late on Sunday terrible service's for the amount of money they charge really disappointing and they have the guts to brag they're one of the best bus's service in the country”
“Terrible service. Bus drivers shout at you and are rude. Refused me to get on the bus when it was because their card machine was paying up and then started telling me it people like me why his hasn't had a pay rise in ten years.
The fare is not cheap and the service is shockingly bad.”
“Absolutely disgusting at how much the prices have gone up, and people wonder why people drink and drive. As if things aren't difficult enough for people that are struggling. I'm sure you must make plenty of extra cash when you don't give out change and some people like me get on the bus without the correct money and end up paying more then what the fair is”
“Hi
I'm really sorry to say that but I must write it.
Absolutely rude behaviour of the driver of the bus9 .grumpy impatient answers ,implying that I'm not intelligent and cannot read.all I asked is a daily ticket.
I think if people like me need to be travelling a lot on the buses and paying for tickets a lot as we do that is not nice experience.
There are a lot of nice drivers looking for work that could replace such rude and frustrated once already employed........”
“The prices have recently changed and I wasn’t aware of it so I was 20p and short and the bus driver started yelling at me saying I should’ve known cause it’s been there for so long when it’s only been in place for a couple weeks. I understand I was short of money but I didn’t know and he was unnecessarily rude to me and could of approached the situation in a much better way then yelling at me.”
