Editing Reading Buses (section)

===Trolleybus era===
{{main|Trolleybuses in Reading}}
[[File:Reading Trolleybus in Liverpool Road.jpg|thumb|right|[[Trolleybuses in Reading|Trolleybus]] in [[Newtown, Reading|Newtown]] in 1965]]
The first trolleybus wiring erected was a training loop on Erleigh Road, which opened in early 1936. This loop was never used in public service, and was subsequently dismantled. Public service commenced on 18 July 1936,<ref name=bzrtb/> on a route replacing the tram route from Caversham Road to Whitley Street. In May 1939, the remaining tram routes from Oxford Road to Wokingham Road and London Road were converted to trolleybus operation, with a short extension from Wokingham Road to the Three Tuns, and a much longer extension from the Oxford Road through the centre of [[Tilehurst]] to the Bear Inn. The extended ''main line'', from the Three Tuns to the Bear, still exists today as bus route 17, the town's busiest and most frequent route, and the first to be designated a premier route.<ref name=bzrtb>{{cite web | url = http://www.buszone.co.uk/RTLtrolley.html | title = Reading Corporation Transport – Trolleybuses | publisher = Bus Zone | access-date = 28 February 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080827182026/http://www.buszone.co.uk/RTLtrolley.html | archive-date = 27 August 2008 | url-status = live}}</ref>

During [[World War II]] a trolleybus branch was constructed from the Oxford Road to Kentwood Hill, enabling trolleybuses to replace motor buses with a consequential saving in precious oil-based fuel. In 1949 the Whitley Street line was extended to [[Whitley Wood]] and Northumberland Avenue, and a short branch was built to Reading General station. Subsequent short extensions took the system to its full extent, with the Kentwood route running to Armour Hill and the Northumberland Avenue line running to the junction with Whitley Wood Road.<ref name="bzrtb"/>

By 1965, most UK trolleybus systems had closed, and the manufacturers of the overhead equipment gave notice that they would cease production. At the same time the trolleybuses were criticised in the local press because they cost more to operate than motor buses and were inflexible, even though the trolleybuses were profitable (Reading's motor buses made a loss), faster and less polluting. Reading Corporation decided to abandon the trolleybus system, and the routes were phased out between January 1967 and November 1968.<ref name="bzrtb"/>

The UK's first [[contraflow lane|contra-flow bus lane]] was instigated along Kings Road, when that road was made one-way in the early 1960s. The trolleybuses continued to operate two-way, as it was considered uneconomic to erect wiring on the new inbound route, London Road. The concept of the contra-flow bus lane was proved successful, and adopted in other places for motor buses.