Jubilee diversions / New timetables on 18, E1 & E2

It's Jubilee weekend and that means 4 days off for most of us. There are a few changes to be aware of too:

On Sunday afternoon, an Orange Order parade will take place in central Southampton. The parade itself will last from 1330 to 1530, but delays to buses might last a bit longer than that.

Also on Sunday, Botley's roads will be closed for most of the day for a Jubilee party. from 9am to 6pm Bluestar 3 will therefore be terminating at Maypole Roundabout and will not serve Botley itself.

There are some timetable changes from Sunday. Bluestar 18 gets a new 15-minute Sunday daytime frequency. The pdf timetable on Bluestar's website is still the old one, so here's the new one, courtesy of Traveline:

 

On Monday, it's Fair Oak's turn to be closed by a Jubilee street party. It will only affect the Square between 1130 and 1630. Bluestar 2 will divert via Eastleigh Road. Velvet M will also have to divert, presumably via the same route.

Don't forget that Monday and Tuesday are bank holidays. That means it's Sunday service on all bus routes in our region.

From Wednesday, Bluestar E1 and E2 get a new timetable. Again, don't rely on the pdf timetables on Bluestar's website - they are old ones which are no longer up to date. Use these: E1, E2.

From Monday 11th June, Velvet have timetable changes on routes A, C1, C2 and E8. They also take over the running of most journeys on route 46 from Stagecoach. Please note though that the planned extension of some journeys on Velvet A to Portsmouth has been scrapped for now. More on those next week.

Key partner discounts / Late exam buses on U6

Bluestar have unveiled a range of discounts that are available to users of The Key, their pre-pay smartcard.

Unilink U6 has some temporary extra late buses to/from the Oceanography Centre until 1st June to make it easier for students to travel to/from exams taking place there.

Waltham Chase diversions tomorrow

There's a last minute diversion tomorrow due to the closure for one day of Forest Road in Waltham Chase. All buses between Waltham Chase and Swanmore will have to divert. Stagecoach 69 will skip Swanmore and run direct between Waltham Chase and Bishops Waltham via Coppice Hill. Brijan Tours 8 and 17 are also affected, but they haven't said how they'll be diverting, so contact them before travelling.

18 up on Sundays / Velvet 46 timetable out

Bluestar have revealed that the change they're making to the 18 from 3rd July is an improvement in the Sunday daytime frequency from 3 to 4 buses an hour. We'll let you know as soon as they release the timetable.

Talking of new timetables, Velvet have released theirs for when they take over most of Stagecoach 46 on 11th June. See it here. Most journeys are amended by only a couple of minutes either way. The main thing to be aware of is that Stagecoach will still be running a couple of journeys on college days and they won't be accepting Velvet tickets, but Velvet (who are running the service under contract to Hampshire County Council) will be accepting Stagecoach returns. For a short while, Velvet will also be accepting some other Stagecoach tickets, but it's best to contact them before travelling to make sure which are valid.

First's complete revamp of their Southampton network has been attracting attention from bus industry watchers nationwide. You might be interested in Isle of Wight-based FatBusBloke's articles on the development of services to Millbrook, over at his Public Transport Experience blog.

New First beds in & other stories

While First have been busy revamping their entire network, a few other things have been going on, so let's catch up...

Bluestar have delayed the fares increase for users of The Key smartcards until the end of May.

Velvet's delayed fares increase has now taken place. It came into effect on Monday.

Velvet E8 gets a new timetable from Monday 11th June. The main change is the introduction of a limited Sunday service, meaning Boyatt Wood will no longer be completely stranded on the Sabbath. Timetable here.

Stagecoach 46 is changing from Monday 11th June. Stagecoach themselves will only run these two journeys and only on Peter Symonds college days. All other journeys on the 46 will transfer to Velvet, who have yet to release their timetable.

Wilts & Dorset X7 is running on Sundays again as of this coming Sunday 6th May. Timetable here. This means that a Sunday (or bank holiday) out at Paulton's Park is now possible for those of us without a car.

Bluestar have registered a timetable change to the 18 as of Sunday 3rd June. Details to follow, but this could well be a response to First's huge improvement in the number of buses running to Millbrook.

Talking of First, there's a new FirstDay ticket available covering only inner parts of Southampton, but curiously stretching out to Millbrook and Thornhill (where Bluestar 18 runs). It's £3.20 and is valid in the shaded area of this map. A FirstDay for the whole city is still £4. Interesting that Swaythling and Bassett Green miss out on the new cheaper ticket. With their evening First service having been axed, I think it's realistic to predict that First might not still be serving those areas in a year's time.

First have had a few teething problems with their new network. Many posters to their Facebook page report incorrect bus stop flags and some drivers struggling to remember the new routes. Also not encouraging is the fact that on this page of their website, you can still download a timetable booklet of their old network, which no longer runs (Ignore that bit - I was using Google Chrome with an uncleared cache!) It has to be said though, that for all the changes, most areas are left with a more frequent service and a longer list of places to get to without having to change bus. Millbrook and Hedge End in particular have benefited from the revamp. Let's see how Bluestar retaliate, because surely they must.

All change on First this Sunday

As if you needed reminding, the biggest change to Southampton's bus routes for several decades happens this weekend, when First revamp their entire network. Only routes 4 (the new Gosport one, not the old Totton one), 4A, X4, B1, B2 and B3 will remain unchanged.

There's an info day at West Quay tomorrow.

The city centre map has been released, showing exactly where the new routes will stop. See it here. See also the new full First network map and the new timetables.

We've reviewed the new network, route-by-route, in previous posts, but here's a handy quick guide explaining what will happen on each of the old routes. Click the links for full analysis of the changes on each route:

1/1A City Centre-Weston
Will be replaced by New 1. Biggest change: Jurds Lake Way is losing its service.

3 City Centre-Townhill Park
Will be replaced by New 7. Biggest change: More buses on weekday evenings and Saturday daytimes.

4 City Centre-General Hospital-Totton College
Will be replaced partly by New 8A but mainly by New 10. Biggest change: Weekday daytime frequency to Totton cut to hourly.

5 City Centre-Aldermoor
Will be replaced by New 5, New 8A and New 10. Biggest change: Route changes along the Hill Lane and Bellemoor corridor.

7 City Centre-Bassett Green
Will be replaced by New 5. Biggest change: All evening buses cut.

8 Lordshill-City Centre-Townhill Park
Will be replaced partly by New 1 and partly by New 2. Biggest change: Sunday daytime frequency to Townhill Park is doubled.

8A City Centre-Hedge End
Will be replaced by New 2A and New 8/8A. Biggest change: More frequent buses serving more of Hedge End than before.

9 City Centre-Hightown
Will be replaced by New 2A, New 8/8A and New 9. Biggest change: Buses from Harefield & Hightown will run via Peartree and Woolston instead of Northam.

10 Lordshill-City Centre-Thornhill
Will be replaced partly by New 2A but mainly by New 3. Biggest change: North East Road in Sholing will no longer be served.

11 City Centre-Sholing
Will be replaced by New 9. Biggest change: Weekday daytime frequency cut from 5 to 4 buses an hour.

12 City Centre-Sholing
Will be replaced by New 5. Biggest change: Mon-Sat daytime frequency cut from 3 to 2 buses an hour.

16 City Centre-Hamble
Will be replaced by New 6. Biggest change: Earlier first and later last buses.

17/17A City Centre-Lordshill
Will be replaced mainly by New 2/2A/X2 and partly by New 1. Biggest change: New faster route X2 between town and Millbrook.

21 RSH Hospital-City Centre-Lordshill North
Will be replaced mainly by New S1 and partly by New 8A. Biggest change: Route change to serve Kingsway.

72/80/80A City Centre-Locks Heath-Gosport/Fareham
Have already been replaced by New 4/4A/X4. Biggest change: More buses to Locks Heath and through buses to Portsmouth.

Feel the 4s!

This is the week of Southampton having not one, not two, but three route 4s!
Bluestar 4 to Romsey
First old 4 to Totton College via General Hospital
First new 4 to Gosport

This will end on Sunday, when all of First's routes in Southampton (apart from the new 4/4A/X4 and the Bitterne Hoppa B1/B2/B3) will be changing. See previous posts for full details.

First have been busy publicising the changes, but it is somewhat worrying that in the 'Timetable books' part of their website, you can still download out-of-date booklets for Southampton (OK, not too out-of-date this week, but they include the 72 and 80, which were withdrawn last weekend) and for Fareham, whose network was almost completely revised at the weekend.  Hopefully it won't lead to too many people being confused. They are having a stand outside M&S at West Quay on Thursday from 1000 to 1600 to answer any questions people have. Plus they're doing quite a good job of answering questions on their Facebook page.

Diversions: Portswood, Marchwood & Lymington

Three sets of diversions either happening now or coming soon:

Portswood affecting Bluestar 2, Unilink U1 & U6 and First 3 & 7.
Marchwood affecting Bluestar 8.
Lymington affecting W&D 112.

A quick reminder that this is the last week of operation of First 72 and 80. From Sunday, they are replaced by new routes 4, 4A and X4. Timetable here. Be careful though, because this means that for one week only (22nd-28th April inclusive) there are two different route 4s operated by First in Southampton. The new one going to Gosport and the old one running to General Hospital and Totton College.

The rest of First's routes in Southampton (including the old 4) will be revamped as of the following Sunday, 29th April.