A BUS company is putting its faith in its customers by letting them take away their umbrellas.
Users of the Reading Buses Orange 13 and 14 routes in Woodley will be able to borrow a brolly if the weather is wet thanks to the new scheme.
The company will be placing some ‘honesty umbrellas’ on the brightly-coloured buses on wet days, with the intention of letting bus users take one and bring it back later.
“This is just another small addition to our growing list of little things to help make people’s journeys better,” said Jake Osman, Reading Buses Marketing and Communications Manager. “They can take an umbrella and we shall trust them to return it when they don’t need it.
“Umbrellas will be on the buses and hopefully will be returned by customers when they don’t need them. That way, the next time it rains another customer can use the brolly.
And with this week’s forecast looking rather damp and dismal, the service is bound to be popular.
Mr Osman said: “We have seen that rain is forecast so the space on the orange route buses will be stocked with umbrellas.”
The Orange bus routes were launched last September and feature state-of-the-art buses, complete with a sofa and, on some buses, iPads. Like all Reading Buses there are charging points and wifi for phones.
The Orange buses also have glass ceilings and operate between Reading town centre and a circular route around Woodley, covering the shopping precinct and Bulmershe Leisure Centre.