to serve London again when it took over Green Line Coaches route 702 from Bracknell to the Green Line Coach Station at Victoria via Windsor and Slough from First Berkshire & The Thames Valley. In January 2018 Reading Buses took over 2 routes (2/5), and won Slough Borough Council tenders for an evening service (4) and a Sunday service (6) from First Berkshire & The Thames Valley. In September 2018, Reading Buses purchased Newbury & District from Weavaway. The companies have worked together in the past, most noticeably on the Jet Black 1 service which operates between Reading and Newbury. In March 2019, Courtney Buses was purchased with 57 buses. In November 2019, routes 2 (which had already been withdrawn as a result of too much competition from Courtney in May 2018, but added back into the company after the purchase in March 2019) and 5 in Slough and Windsor were transferred to the Courtney Buses division, with 2 other routes, which Courtney had taken over from First Berkshire & The Thames Valley (10/15) also grouped in a similar manner. However, First won the tenders for the evening service 4 and Sunday service 6 back. Route branding Since 2004, Reading Buses and Reading Borough Council have made a significant investment in upgrading the quality of Reading's main urban bus routes. In autumn of that year, Reading Buses introduced its first branded Premier Route in the form of the number 17, running between the Three Tuns on Wokingham Road and the Bear Inn at Tilehurst via the town centre and Oxford Road, and the linear descendant of the old main line. This was intended as the first in a series of such routes, each providing a weekday daytime frequency of between 3 and 8 buses per hour. Each premier route, or group of routes, would be allocated a distinctive colour, to be used on the buses on that route, and also on maps and other publicity. Since then the premier route concept has been rolled out on most of Reading's urban routes. In April 2009, a similar concept was introduced to some of Reading Buses' longer distance rural routes. These were rebranded as Vitality Routes, using specially branded green and silver or red and silver buses. In 2014, these too were changed to a colour brand, becoming 'Lime Routes'. Most longer distance and interurban services now have animal related branding, with