Reading buys Bristol VRT double-deckers
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• Ten Bristol VRT long-wheelbase rearengined double-deckers have been ordered by Reading Corporation Transport, which, in recent years, has concentrated on standeetype single-deckers, many of them of Bristol manufacture. The double-deckers, designed for one-man operation, will have low height (13ft 7in.) bodies by Northern Counties, with front entrance, central exit and centrally mounted staircases, and will be built to an overall length of 33ft.
Due for delivery by February 1971, the VRTs are being purchased for service on the busiest routes and will take Reading a further step towards full o-m-o. Already 70 per cent of the undertaking's buses are one-man operated. Mr. R. C. Jenkins, general manager of Reading Corporation Transport, told me that double-deckers had been ordered because this type of bus was now approved for o-m-o.
When the complete switch to one-man operation has been completed, the ratio of singleto double-deck buses will be 60:40. The new Bristols will have Gardner 6LX engines and fully automatic transmission.