Alder Valley

Fleet

While A&D was a British Electric Traction company with a varied fleet including mostly Dennis Lolines and AEC Reliances, Thames Valley had a typical Tilling Group fleet comprising almost entirely Bristol vehicles. Some cross-border swapping of vehicles occurred between the two divisions after the merger. Through NBC days, Alder Valley adopted the Leyland National and Bristol VRT as its standard single and double deck buses. In the early/mid-1970s there was a severe shortage of vehicles, resulting in the hiring-in of a varied fleet which included a Trans World Airlines double decker noted on services from Aldershot, including the service 12 to Reading in 1974; a number of elderly City of Oxford AEC Reliances in maroon and green livery, which operated Aldershot local services; and at least two ageing Sheffield United Tours coaches which operated daily on the Farnham to London service. Vehicle shortages (together with poor staff morale and retention) led to poor customer service at this time, with many service cancellations.

Operation

As well as local services, Alder Valley also ran frequent express coach services from Farnham and Reading into London, and seasonal services to the south coast. With changes in legislation in the early 1980s, the London services were mostly switched to the M3 and M4 motorways and re-branded as Londonlink. These services enjoyed a healthy boom period for a decade or so, with greatly expanded commuter services. However, towards the end of the decade, partly due to increased motorway traffic slowing journeys down, passenger loadings declined sharply, thus the Farnham branch was withdrawn, and the Reading service was passed to the North division.

Deregulation and privatisation

Alder Valley North

In the lead-up to deregulation in 1986, Alder Valley North was rebranded as The Bee Line with a yellow and grey livery adorned with bees. It was sold to Q Drive in December 1987. The company was shrinking. It retreated first from High Wycombe, where the operations were sold in October 1990 to the Oxford Bus Company who ran them as Wycombe Bus, selling them in 2000 to Arriva Shires & Essex. In 1992 The Bee Line sold its Reading and Newbury operations to Reading Transport. In 1993 the company expanded when the former London Country North West depot at Slough was purchased from Luton & District, although this led to the closure of Maidenhead depot. In March 1996, the remaining operations were sold to CentreWest, which was then sold to FirstBus and rebranded as First Berkshire.

Alder Valley South

Alder Valley South, meanwhile, was sold in December 1987 to the Frontsource Group. It dropped the South from its name and adopted a two-tone green and yellow livery. It was sold in December 1988 to Q Drive, bringing both parts of Alder Valley back under common ownership. Q Drive sold the Guildford and Woking operations in November 1990 to the Drawlane Group which eventually became part of Arriva Guildford & West Surrey. On 26 October 1992, the rest of the company was sold to Stagecoach as Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey. The once impressive Londonlink network also went into terminal decline. The remnant of the network are today's Green Line services 701 and 702 from Bracknell to London operated by Reading Buses.