Petition Urges Return of No. 2 Bus Route

A petition with 254 signatures asking for the No. 2 bus to be reinstated to Pigeons Farm has been submitted to West Berkshire Council.

Signatures say the revised route removes bus access from Monks Lane, reduces accessibility for Wash Common residents and may hit people who rely on public transport for work, education, healthcare, shopping and other essentials.

The changes were introduced on August 2 after a review of reliability and punctuality. The council says about 20 per cent of journeys were operating late, with around one in five services failing the Department for Transport punctuality standard.

The revised network was designed to improve timetable resilience and performance. Analysis shows 11,747 passenger boardings between May 2026 and mid-July 2026; Monks Lane-related stops accounted for 578 boardings (about 4.9 per cent). Excluding Newbury College, the remaining Monks Lane stops totalled 164 boardings (about 1.4 per cent).

The petition will be put to the Highways Improvement Group next Tuesday (October 6). The council says initial feedback points to improved reliability and that further performance information covering September 2026 is expected in early October 2026.

Officers will continue to consider alternative options, including Community Connect demand responsive services, community transport schemes and developer-funded public transport improvements linked to planned South Newbury developments.

The introduction of additional evening and Sunday services earlier in September has, the council says, increased opportunities for Wash Common residents to connect with Newbury town centre and the wider bus network. Residents may also reach Monks Lane, Tesco and the retail park via the council's on-demand Community Connect service covering the South Newbury zone and Northwest Downlands.

"The petition highlights genuine concerns regarding the impact of the Route 2 service changes on residents of Wash Common," concludes the council.

"However, the route changes were introduced to address longstanding reliability and punctuality issues, and the revised network has only been operational since August 2."

Officers consider it would be premature to reverse the changes before a full assessment of operational and patronage data can be completed.

Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter