Thursday 27 August 2009

All buses free in Southampton city this weekend / Bluestar strike next Thursday

Travel will be free on ALL buses within the City of Southampton on Saturday and Sunday from start of service until 6pm, regardless of operator. It's paid for by Southampton City Council and is in aid of the 9 cruise liners festival. You will still need to tell the driver where you're going and be issued with a free ticket. This is so that the bus companies can tell the council how many have travelled on each bus. Bluestar/Unilink and First have published lists of where on their routes you will be able to travel for free. Velvet's only route in the city is the A, which will be free from Haskins Garden Centre on Mansbridge Road to the Airport. No mention from the minor operators Wilts & Dorset, Stagecoach and Brijan Tours, so best to check with them before travelling to make sure they're free. Links to their websites are in the panel on the right, below the current diversions.

London Road in the city centre will be closed from 1500 on Sunday and all day on Bank Holiday Monday. Bluestar 1 & 2 and Unilink U1 & U2 will divert via Brunswick Place and Dorset Street. First 7 will also be affected, but they haven't bothered to advise where that will be diverting.

Bluestar have advised of possible strike action by the RMT on Thursday 3rd September. They say they will be drafting extra drivers in from elsewhere to try and run a full service. Unilink will not be affected.

A reminder that Unilink U1 will have a new timetable as of 27th September.

Looks like some night buses will be transferring to Unilink from 2nd October. A U1N service is planned to run on Friday and Saturday nights between Leisure World and the Airport.

Brijan Tours will have new timetables on the 7 (Southampton-Bishops Waltham) and 17 (Bishops Waltham-Petersfield) from 4th October. More details when they are released.

No comments:

Post a Comment