Friday 29 August 2014

New Xelabus route from Monday... or is it?

Xelabus have registered a new route, the X5, to run from Monday. A look at their website for more details gives you just this message:


No timetable or even details of the route other than that it serves "Chandlers Ford Business Park".

Luckily, Traveline has more information. So if the route is launching on Monday, we should assume that it will look like this:


It links Southampton Airport Parkway railway station with Chandlers Ford railway station via part of Chestnut Avenue and some business parks. It'll provide some useful new links for people connecting at Parkway with the X4 to Hedge End, Unilink U1 into Southampton or even with the trains.

Here is a list of all stops that will be served:



...and here is the timetable:



Hopefully it will indeed launch on Monday and Xelabus will remember to put details of it on their website.

Here's a summary of all changes happening in the next couple of days. It looks like Wheelers WA is not now going to launch, due to the Velvet revival, but one early morning journey on the W1 will start from Hedge End:

31st August:
Stagecoach 69, Unilink U1, U2, U6, U9: Timetable changes.

1st September:
Wheelers W1, More X1/X2, Bluestar 5: Route & timetable change.
Xelabus X5: New route launches between Airport Parkway Station and Chandlers Ford.

2nd September:
More 112: Summer route & timetable ends, normal service resumes.

30 comments:

  1. When you look at the British Bus operations up and down the Country,apart from rich London,what a complete mess it's all in-First lurches from one disaster to another,I have never viewed so many First sites without massive amounts of complaints about it's operations in the area concerned,although it's own sites informs everyone how exceptionel it is in bus operation,particularly in customer services-Meanwhile looking at National figures outside of London passenger numbers continue to fall not helped by politicians and their polocies which help the decline.-Locally we have a good operator in Brijan,with us a long time now,but unfortunately the timetable information supplied by Southampton City Council within Southampton is abysmal-We have Wheeler's where time table information supplied by the Council again is abysmal,in still at present showing in many stops the W3 which was withdrawn ages ago-Bluestar and Uni-Link who fortunately keep on top of their timetable operations in stops, who realise the council is not very effecent in attending to stop timetables-then there is First who maintain there timetables in stops very well,but unfortunately have a bad habbit of keep changeing peoples travelling habbits in rerouteing-Velvet with it's new owner over the past few weeks have put all errors that existed in timetable cases right-In fact the new owners as far as I'm concerned have done a good job,and what anyone may think of them,they are definetely in the right direction-Might I add where sevices were not run due to operational issues,this has improved 100%-Xelabus which has received much criticism,including Me I might add,from commentators seems much more settled-However it's website does not improve,which is a great pity-They seem to have an objection to any criticism made to them which is a great pity,because most commentators just want up to date information on the website,which they don't seem to want to supply-As an example E8 which is now X8 has never been shown although they operate it-For the last month X5 has shown new timetable but no information-We have to go to Timeline for the timetable-Lots of improvements needed particularly from Southampton City Council in it's stop information timetables and information shown on stop flags-Recently the have replaced stop flags on the Bursledon Road between Bitterne Police Station and Bursledon/Butts Road and they can't even get that right-If you don't believe Me next time you are along this stretch observe the numbers on the flags=PAC

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  2. I believe the putting up of timetables in Soton is generally delegated to the city council who tender out the service - which I am led to believe is currently held by First. Obviously they are impartial and having found the wrong Bluestar timetables at the wrong stops in the past is all in my imagination!

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  3. Shame they said the service was starting 1st August, it might start Monday but that's the 1st September

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  4. It says the bus timetable is available from 1st August, not the service starts then.

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  5. Yes indeed thats what it showed-The times are now shown, displayed on their website,but the traveline version-Still no X8 or Sunday X7 as yet-PAC

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  6. You are right. Xelabus have acquired 4 Omni's for use on this new service.
    I was under the impression that it was a privately contracted service, but it could be that it is being registered as well to make it viable.

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  7. I notice today on the Velvet website nice clear information regarding their new fare structure as from 1st September 2014-On football days when Southampton are playing at home, I note if you have a football ticket for the match, on showing to the driver, a real bargain ticket of just £1 to travel on the A-Would also imagine the half fare travel offer to over 60's before 0900, would also be popular-PAC

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  8. New Hampshire County Council updated timetable from 1st September 2014 for Eastleigh and Hedge End now out-There is certainly much conflicting information in this issue,such as to School/College service numbers and also the maps all need reviseing-However nice to have the times of operators all together in one book

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  9. PAC - You say that the Velvet website has improved, but there is still a long way to go to get back to the high standards achieved by Phil Stockley.

    For example, the very informal Meet the Team is still there as a header, reminding us what a friendly operator this was, with pics of as many of the staff who wanted their photo shown. The jokey asides added a real human touch and presented the workforce as a happy family. Not surprisingly, the page needed a refresh, after the ownership changed.

    But sadly, one is invited to hover over............ Nobody's portrait any more. If they aren't going to continue this feature (which would be a great pity), it would be kinder to delete any mention of the page from the Menu. Other pages are equally thin.

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    1. I did not state the website had improved only that the new fare information was clear that they have now put on it-In fact most of the site now lacks any lustre-No one I notice tweets anymore,they rarely answer questions on facebook anymore and overall the site has become very sad indeed-The only improvement I mentioned was in timetable information placed in bus stops-As to the staff faces on the site perhaps it should now be removed as it's remained empty for weeks now and now no family feel about it-Although we see reports of various things related to the new management, which no one so far has verified,and Southampton Bus Update has asked for verification quite rightly so before being shown on this site,in talking to the staff now still there,they all seem quite happy with them-Sadly the Phil Stockley days have gone-PAC

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  10. @xelabus now on twitter & aim to reply within 5 mins to every tweet within office hrs. This'll be fun!

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    1. And if you click on the link on their homepage it just opens up another home page.

      You wouldn't think this lot were marketing specialists!

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    2. Yes,the only way in the end I could get into it was via the Southampton Bus Update link.Note also still showing on their main so called site, full 67 service, which now Mondays to Saturdays is being operated by Stagecoach.Very poor indeed.

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    3. Mention it on Twitter to them! How long before they pull the plug on that I wonder!

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  11. None of the slides on their slider link to the subjects in question, it seems.

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  12. Based on my unscientific analysis - watching the X5 drive past the office - they seem to have stolen Wheelers record for ferrying the most fresh air around the Chandlers Ford area.

    Shame it doesn't go via Eastleigh either to collect people from that station - the Grange Park area of Hedge End cant easily access the X4 but are very close to the station - and it would also double up as a means of getting to/from the centre at lunchtime.

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    1. Early days,but sounds like another winner-Someone funds it however,but it seems as pointless as the one operated within Whieley funded by the local businesses

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  13. Everyone's an expert of course - the X5 is a business specific service aimed at Chandlers Ford businesses between Parkway and Chandlers Ford - the service has been free this week to bed in and make sure it works - many have used it during the am and pm peaks - so let's be a bit less negative, tell everyone it is available (£1 single journey - unless going from C/Ford station and Electron Way to Parkway)

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  14. Anon 1704- A new service, on a line of route that has never been served before will take some time to become known and used.

    In fact, it can take a public transport service 1-2 years (sometimes longer) to reach its full potential usage. No instant gratification I'm afraid!

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  15. One has to remember that everyone has been making their own way to their places of work up to this point. So,raising awareness is vital,as we are all creatures of habit,and we know what we trust works.

    Have all the businesses along the route been supplied with service info? If it is fully supported,X-bus will have no incentive to grow custom,and just pocket the money as usual,as they do with their shopper services.It's a contract,so why bother trying to develop it?

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  16. If anyone has the knowledge to interpret accounts here are Xelabus's as given by Company Check
    http://companycheck.co.uk/company/07338043/XELABUS-LIMITED/financial-accounts

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  17. It's good to Xela actually answering Tweets & posting updates. Something positive!

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    1. Yes a very noiticeable improvement-However no improvement in their so called upto date service information on the timetable site-Seems in this department the lights are on,the doorbell is ringing,but still no one at home

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  18. Since last week all the XelaBus timetables on Traveline seem to have been updated to reflect what happens in reality

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    1. It's a great pity they can't update their own site

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    2. I note that looking at their Twitter page they seem at least in the mornings to have more than their share of problems in operating school or college services. It's a wonder anyone reaches there destination to even have one lesson a day

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  19. Cor Blimey!,wonders will never cease,Xelabus have now on their website the full timetable for every day for service X7. However service X8 still does not exist nor does the Sunday 67,not that this matters as it only runs for a few more weeks.

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  20. Wow! Has anyone seen the new Xelabus web site!

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    1. Yes,you would not think it was the same bus company

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  21. Xelabus X5 is what I usually used when goin to the airport, but bringing luggages with me is a real pain. That is why I tried to use the car parking Southampton airport and these guys gave me the best service i've ever experienced. No more transferring and walking far when I have a flight because the parking is just near the airport.

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