Full details of Bluestar 7 here. It starts on 6th September, which is a Sunday - Bluestar 7 will serve Sholing on Sundays, unlike First 9. There is no evening service yet, last bus from town will be at 1916 Mon-Sat and 1711 on Sundays, but it's a start. As this is a commercial service, people in Sholing will need to use it or lose it. The 7 also brings Bluestar back to Woolston after the 3 was diverted away from the area in June.
Rumours abound that Bluestar 16, which along with the 18 will be revised from 28th September, is going to restore Townhill Park's link with Bitterne, which is being cut by First with the withdrawal of the eastern half of the 12 from 6th September. Watch this space.
Xelabus have changes to many routes from Monday 7th September, including the takeover of the former Brijan routes. See a full summary here.
Fantastic news!Well done Bluestar!would urge all who can to give it your full support,or lose this link again.Great that there`s a Sunday service too!
ReplyDeleteI must say I'm very impressed how Xelabus have kept present Brijan passengers informed over the past few weeks as to what will be happening from the 7th September 2015.There are postings at many bus stops as to the changes I notice,plus an on board bus leaflet as well.They have also kept us upto speed on this site also at regular intervals.Thank you Xelabus
ReplyDeleteBluestar should be renamed "Shiningstar",as it has listened to requests from city residents and acted on it!Well done Bluestar!
ReplyDeleteDon't get too excited about Bluestar being 'saviours'. Yes, they can say they've listened to people, but they wouldn't be doing it if they didn't think it was good business sense.
DeleteSimilarly, it's good business to p!ss all over First with their PR, which is exactly what they've done.
Shame First didn`t see business sense in keeping the Sholing-Woolston-City route open still!!
DeleteHaving read the release on Bluestar's website, it couldn't be clearer that they are having a swipe directly at First in their choice of wording. I particularly enjoyed the slogan "make us your FIRST choice". There is a distinct difference however in how Bluestar have retorted to First's impending attack. Bluestar have attacked First, but also done so in a way that demonstrates genuine interest in public feeling. In addition, they have done so without sacrificing other areas of their network and alienating existing customers. Whereas First have self-mutilated several areas and key links of their network to pool their resources in a solitary attack to steal passengers along one specific corridor of the city. Bluestar's attack serves a useful purpose in filling a gap in the market, whereas First's attack just stinks of desperation and amateurism.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of amateurism at First, I know someone who used to work in the customer service department at their depot and they have said that the management across the board are clueless. The managers apparently were only interested in hitting unreasonable targets, and often slagged off customers who wrote or phoned in. The customer services department at Southampton also deal with First services in Bristol and the South West, and comprises of only 10 or so people. Very professional. They also told me that First Hampshire only make around 1% profit. Could explain their desperation.
The First supporters have gone very quiet all of a sudden,perhaps Bluestar`s surprise introduction of the no.7,has shown them that First really hasn`t a clue,especially when another large operator has to come in and pick up routes they have run to the ground!
ReplyDeleteFirst lost the plot when they decided to compete with Bluestar head to head,on the Thornhill section of BS18,at the same time as axing a through service from Bitterne to Shirley,not their finest moment surely?
ReplyDeleteTotally agree!First please pack up and leave Southampton now!Take your no.2 buses,which clog up Shirley rd with you ,you have done so much damage to a really good Southampton network,which you inherited,that southampton would surely be much better off without you!
DeleteIndeed an interesting choice of words on the Bluestar website.Although passenger numbers on certain routes have reduced over the years on certain routes due to increased car ownership,there is no doubt that First for some reason have run certain routes into the ground.Bluestar must have experienced the same decline in certain areas,but seem to have maintained what they have rather well.The only route which has seen any major reduction in frequency over the last few years seems to be the 3 from every 30 minutes to hourly and the 6 which was due to HCC funding cuts from every 30 minutes to hourly.I have not as yet noticed that they have discarded any part of their network, apart from HCC tendered services which the Council chose to award to other operators.
ReplyDeleteMore details announced on the bluestar/go south coast enthusiast website new buses are coming for bluestar 18 before xmas expected to be high spec Volvo B7RLE or Enviro200's. Worth noting this order for new buses was made long before First announced CityRed 10. The rerouting of the 16 also gives them more buses between Bitterne and Southampton to combat this new 10. The boys at Eastleigh have certainly been busy!
ReplyDeleteLink?
DeletePlease Bluestar may appear more stable than First, but they do keep trying to prune their network.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the route map comparison for Bluestar compared to before GoAhead and the network inherited from Stagecoach would show equally disappointing results
Here's solent blue line's network in 2003:
Deletehttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/margaret.linnell/sites/blueline/map.htm
Shows there has a been significant reduction and removal in the Chandler's Ford area, while services West of Fair Oak and Botley are now non-existant. However this is balanced by a growth to the East (largely due to taking over W&D routes) and more importantly in the city centre itself where both uni-link and bluestar have taken wins from First.
Interestingly the route 7 of the day ran from Southampton through Bitterne and the Rose Bowl to Bishops Waltham and Petersfield. Makes Southampton>Woolston>Sholing look a bit tame in comparison...
Sorry, Anon at 02.39, but I may be being a little thick. Isn't the take-over of W&D routes to the WEST of Southampton rather than to the east, and the loss of Bishops Walstham and Petersfield route to the East rather than the west?
DeleteBluestar have doubled the frequency of buses between Southampton and Winchester/Fair oak,after taking over from Solent Blue Line and look to increase services,not decrease,as has been the case with First!
DeleteBluestar is Solent Blue Line it was merely a brand name used by Solent Blue Line for its core long-distance network serving Southampton, Go-Ahead then adopted the Bluestar name for all the work. The enhancement to the Winchester & Fair Oak was done before the Go-Ahead takeover with both going up from half-hourly to every 15-mins (the Winchester leg was reduced back to every 20-mins after the take-over).
DeleteThere have been major cutbacks to the Eastleigh local services, most had HCC funding and after a brave attempt to develop them with Red Rocket branding & increased frequencies (devised before the takeover but launched after Go-Ahead had completed the purchase) didn't produce anything like the necessary returns these routes were given up. The Eastleigh local network is largely old or young passengers who don't want to deal with the busier Southampton so revenue is weak & is the sort of network which is probably better served by smaller independents like Xelabus who can give it the personalised care it needs to work.
The Bishops Waltham area services have been run by Brijan for years but a franchise deal with SBL meant they ran in SBL livery and as part of their network until that deal finished and they stayed with their operator.
Hedge End is by its layout a difficult settlement to serve effectively, a huge mass of housing with the main roads going round the edge, but I have always felt that Bluestar never quite got the hang of it (the first simple loop version of the Bluestar 3 was interesting but probably keeping the route as a development of the old 26/27 with a standard route around the main part of Hedge End and then split at the end is probably the best solution (this is a bit of hindsight as when they launched it I though the Bluestar 3 was a good idea) and should have been better marketed.
The passenger loadings on many of the present Bluestar 3 journeys are pitiful. I.m surprised the last journey Mon to Sat from Southampton is still running as there is hardly most nights a customer on it.As correctly stated Hedge End is difficult to serve because of the layout of the housing.Although the Grange Park area has a lot of housing it does not seem to generate much in the way of bus users.The present loop done by First 8 is not the most attractive to residents in the area with quite a long way journey round if you want to go to Southampton.Still for the moment at least they still have a service,however I can see changes in the future in this area
DeleteGrange Park has the 'advantage' of the station so you can get to Eastleigh much quicker than you can via bus.
DeleteHedge End to Southampton Central is 32 mins £5 return off peak compared to 42 mins £4 (might be more now) return for the 8.
I believe the 8 is going to be removed form Grange Park soon as it was funded by the developers and that funding is exhausted/due to run out soon.
It will be interesting to see what Xelabus do in Grange Park as a few of the old Brijan routes go through it.
Yes,that's why I mentioned changes in the future as the developers funding is or nearly run out.I'm sure that in some form Xelabus will do something in the area,but as to what remains to be seen.I'm also sure that in the future changes will be made to the routes Xelabus are taking over from Brijan, although for the moment they more or less remain the same.
DeleteAnon at 16.04 is entirely right, I apologise for mixing up my Easts and my Wests. I must have been looking at the map upside down :-)
DeleteWhen was the 48D and 48C withdrawn?
DeleteWith regard's to Reece's question, i think the 48C/48D services were withdrawn about 15 years ago, these route's originated in the Pete Shelley era of Solent Blue Line when they won the county council tender in about 1995 for the services 26/26A/48A and 48C and in a bit of joined up thinking which benefitted the passenger and which is sadly lacking these days decided to extend the what was 26 Fareham to Botley service commercially via Hedge End into Southampton and also subcontract certain journeys on services 26 and 48C to Peoples Provincial for operational flexability, it meant they didn't have dead run's into Fareham at the start and finish of each day and to keep Blueline's PVR down.
DeleteService 48D was a later route developement which ran North Stoneham to Wickham via nowhere that yielded any great number of passengers, it didn't last long!
The death knell for the 48A/C/D group of route was when the rural bus grant aided 59 service again subcontracted to Brijan Tours between Eastleigh and Bishops Waltham was introduced in 1999 i think, the council was not going to pay for two lots of bus services that were basically serving the same communities.
I'd like to see a comparison from First's network map when they took over in 1998 compared to the new network map next month.
ReplyDeleteThe Bluestar 7 I hope will be successful, but I think it would have been better running via Bitterne
Go-Ahead never inherited the network from Stagecoach.It was inherited from Southern Vectis based on The Isle of Wight, the parent company of Musterphantom Limited, which traded as Solent Blue Line.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 12.24. Musterphantom was set up to compete with what was then Southampton Citybus, in 1987, by two disgruntled managers. Stagecoach, as owners of this part of what had been Hants & Dorset, decided it wasn't bringing in enough money, and sold it to Musterphantom, thus expanding the newcomer massively. Indirectly, then, when Go Ahead bought Southern Vectis and its subsidiary, they did inherit from Stagecoach.
ReplyDeleteYes. It should be noted also that before it got hived off Mr Souter did a good job of asset stripping of what was then the southern half of Hampshire Bus
ReplyDeleteStagecoach themselves were surprised by the amount they got offered for the old Southampton depot & Bus Station, they did a closed envelope auction (apparently common in Scotland but almost unheard of in England at the time) and when they looked at the bids they effectively sold the sites for more than they paid for the whole company. They achieved something similar (though not as dramatic) at Cumberland with the sale of a bus station or two around the same time but it wasn't a widespread thing across the Stagecoach empire. Unlike many of their competitors Stagecoach have always been willing to admit failure and dispose of sections of operations that simply haven't worked, selling a going concern for someone else to have a go at improving it rather than running an area into the ground, destroying any value that may have existed and then finally walking away when it finally collapses (see Arriva in Surrey & Wales & First in Bracknell, Hereford & Devon as just some examples).
DeleteThe sale of the Southampton area operations was largely due to staff disagreements. The Union at Southampton were one of the more militant branches and refused to do some coach work Stagecoach had lined up and went on strike. The other Hampshire Bus depots were happy to cover the work and in a flash of the streak of ruthlessness that has got Stagecoach to where it is Mr Souter sold the Southampton ops to Southern Vectis as he was unwilling to be dictated to by the Union.
Thank you for that, Dwarfer. I had not previously heard of the Union's involvement in the withdrawal by Stagecoach, only that it wasn't making enough money.
DeleteHe did a good job of asset stripping Cumberland and Ribble as well. Not sure about Southdown!
ReplyDeleteWhen bus companies at the time were being sold off under deregulation Hampshire Bus,Wilts and Dorset and Provincial all went for management byouts.Unfortunetly Mr Souter was given Hampshire Bus but both Wilts and Dorset and Provincial were lucky enough to be successful in management byouts.Why Hampshire Bus failed It was felt rightly or wrongly at the time this was due to the fact that certain politicians of the day were unhappy about most being sold off to management byouts as opposed to an outsider, and because of certain politicians comments the bid went through at the wrong time.
ReplyDeleteI always take a rather simplistic view about why people travel by bus and the effects of service withdrawal.
ReplyDeleteThat is people mainly travel by bus out of necessity, it is not the most pleasant way to travel. If the service is withdrawn the people are forced to make alternative arrangements for their travel or cancel the reason for the journey, which includes job losses.
Should the operator decide to reinstate the service, the custom will not come straight back as even a short interruption to service will wipe-out their customer base.
This is a concept the major operators seem reluctant to embrace.
Hampshire Bus failed to secure a management led buy out because at the time a certain Mr Dawson Williams led the employee's to believe a buyout was feasible, their was even a working party of managers sent to Luton & District to find out how their buyout was achieved, Mr Williams was stated at the time as telling the union that insufficient funding could not be secured through the banks......then Mr Souter turned up....the rest they say is history
ReplyDeleteYes Dawson Williams was not the company at the time finest hour.Spent more time looking after His own interests rather than the employees.If I'm correct ended up on a sticky wicket.
DeleteAm I right in thinking Mr S had a lot of financial backing from an uncle in Canada, so he didn't need to use UK banks?
DeleteMore than likely.We don't hear anything nowadays about His Sister Ann Gloag who seems to have ridden off into the sunset
DeleteGood Afternoon
ReplyDeleteAs a result of Brijan buses taken into stock being low quality and poor overall condition for continued operation; Xelabus has purchased four MPD Darts and 2 Enviro 200 and these will initially be operated in white as purchased from a dealer for the new X9, X10, X15 and X17 routes. They will be painted into fleet livery during the Autumn.
From 7th September all ex Brijan services will be operated with DDA compliant buses.
In addition Xelabus are working with Eastleigh BC and Eastleigh Disability Forum to install braille at the Eastleigh Bus Station for part sighted customers. In addition a survey of all borough bus stops will be carried out to survey bus stop access for disabled persons and for EBC to list and put into their planned works for bus stop infrastructure.
Customer Services
Xelabus Limited
Great news, Phil and Gareth. Keep up the good work!
DeleteIt would seem if the report is correct on another site that B*16 will be rerouted to operate via Northam and Bitterne fron 6th September 2015.There is no information as to this fact as yet on their website
ReplyDeleteI see the Echo is reporting that the Members of Parliament for Southampton Itchen and Test have both written to Worst about the forthcoming changes. Fat lot of good that will do!
ReplyDeleteNice of them both to recognise that anything is happening.Perhaps the voters have complained to them and they have woken up
DeleteBluestar has announced to staff that the 16 will be re-routed via Northam and Bitterne and follow the withdrawn 12 route on a 15 min headway. They should have gone Woolston not Northam - their new General Manager should have spotted that, being ex First !
ReplyDeleteQuite agree it should have been Woolston and not Northam.Still should get more passengers on it than the present 16 route
ReplyDeleteA 'Go South Coast' fitter was applying flags to the stops at Wright's Hill at about 10.00 this morning.
ReplyDeleteHe`s eager!There`s a month to go yet!
DeleteThat's a dept that is very proactive. They put up the flags for the 112 Beach Bus about 6-8 weeks before the service was due to start, only to have to take them down and replace them when it was re-numbered 99!
DeleteNot So'ton, but round my way GASC are not so proactive with revised timetables. A route changed path as well as times in May. As yet old times and old route is still posted.
DeleteHope wherever this is it's been reported to GASC.In Southampton we are lucy as GASC,First and Xelabus are pretty hot with regard to bus stop publicity.
DeleteSo blue star are now abandoning people at Cobden Bridge and local area. Great. I moved my custom to them recently and now they just throw it back in your face. Should have stayed with FirstBus in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThat's todays bus world,one minute it's there the next minute it's gone.The 7 can do with some extra passengers in the poor loadings at times that I note.
DeleteOr you could just walk down Bullar Road or Cobbett Road to Bitterne Road and catch a bus every few minutes. I used to do that and it takes 10 minutes max for a faster way into town.
DeleteHardly by the time you have walked that distance
DeleteBluestar could have encouraged greater use of BS16,if they actually had more stops along Cobden Ave,instead of a huge gap between the bottom of Cobden Ave and the triangle.
ReplyDeleteI think the issue was they wanted to put extra stops in but the residents objected and the council wouldn't allow it.
DeleteAs the bus stops were there orriginally this fact should have been pointed out to residents.This is always a problem when stops are removed and although no bus serves them they should be left incase the route is reinstated.I note all the stops have been removed along Chessel Avenue where this route is no longer used, instead of being left with vinyls showing stop not in use on the flags.If some operator in the future would wish to use this route it will be very difficult to put most of them back due to residents complaining that they don't want a bus stop outside of their property
DeleteI quite agree with you on this point. I did point this fact out to them,but fell on deaf ears.The stop that use to be very busy was the one at the junction of Cobden Avenue and Midanbury Lane.Absolutely ridiculous not reinstating it when the 16 was introduced.Having no stops between Neva Road and Cobden Avenue Tesco is just pure crazy.However won't have to worry about it now as the 16 is to be rerouted.
ReplyDeleteBlueStar have now confirmed the re-routing publicly (well, kind of - in a publicly viewable reply to me on Twitter): https://twitter.com/BluestarHQ/status/631760928518852608
ReplyDeleteIt has been reported within the last 30 minutes on the Brijan Enthusiast site that Brijan Tours has ceased trading.Will be well mised
ReplyDeleteYes, they have ceased trading.
DeleteA shame really because the company now running their services have taken to this blog to make derogatory comments on Brian's vehicle maintenance and quality a week ago.
They are not publicising the fact they have taken over the services though, on their Twitter feed, on their website,anywhere online but here.... even a timetable would be nice but they appear to be incapable of publishing it online.
and I bet 99% of the passengers on 'Brijan routes' even know this blog exists.
It says in the Southern Daily Echo ,that Xelabus are taking over the routes with immediate effect!Try reading the local newspaper!!
DeleteGood Morning
DeleteAs Managing Director of Xelabus I do again from time to time take a look at this site for comments and we do have our own Customer Team who display messages on here as well as inform the press of developments. However I feel I need to put a statement on here to confirm what has happened for all the enthusiasts of Brijan.
Over the passed few months our company was approached by Brijan directors about taking over their bus routes, staff and vehicles as it had been decided by that company that they wanted to concentrate on coaching. Island Fortitude is the parent company and owned Brijan tours following purchase from Brian Botley the original owner. At that meeting we had said that we had Chalcroft depot from the Velvet purchase and had no need for it. At that time Brijan had to vacate Bottings Ind Estate at Botley for reasons we were not privy too and we arranged very very quickly a change of lease for Chalcroft for Brijan to move in literally overnight otherwise they would not have had a home and would not have been able to operate as a bus company.
Following that we continued with negotiations on buses, staff and routes and planned to take the "school bus " services from when this last term finished and that meant we would take all their double deckers and a few other scrapped vehicles. Because of registration restrictions it takes 8 weeks to licence services and it was agreed that Brijan would de-register the 7,8,15, and 17 along with their Barton Peveril route 607 and Wyvern 505.
The date set for us to take over all the services was then to be 7th September within the 8 week registration period.
This is all in place.
Then we were approached about 10 days ago about taking over the bus routes with immediate effect and we then had to arrange within 24 hours to notify local authorities and traffic commissioners for change of operation of the current routes to our depot at Barton Park. The staff were notified and 9 out of 12 offered transferred under same conditions.
We then acquired the remaining Brijan bus fleet very quickly and had to inspect them for our records of safety and it was apparent that with funding shortages at Brijan that maintenance was kept to a minimum. We decided to retain buses that were acceptable to our standards and have now purchased four MPD single deck buses which are fully DDA compliant as well as two 56 plate Enviro 200s.
These buses will between them take over the 7,8,15 and 17 routes as soon as possible to have them prepared and then from 7th September the new Village Green network of X9, X10, X15 and X17 will be Enviro 200 operated.
I wish to add that publicity has been readily available on Brijan bus stops, on their buses and displayed as green vinyls on the outside. We have had press coverage and leaflets at Eastleigh Bus Station. Next week we start a major campaign of bus stop and timetable renewals and a cleaning programme of all flags.
A new Village Green leaflet with all routes in plus our new comprehensive timetable booklet with all our routes in will be available from next Thursday. Our web site is being updated too.
Finally we are aiming tro run a "genuine" Brijan bus on the 5th September on the 7 and 8 for enthusiasts to take a ride on and we have asked Brian Botley to be part of the day. We are also looking at producing a small booklet on the 25 year history of Brijan.
And I would add that I have personally known Brian Botley from days at Southampton City Transport when he was a crew driver and I also knew his mother as a conductress and a lovely family they are.
I pay tribute to Brian here for his work over the past 25 years and we intend at Xelabus, a family company too, to carry on his good work in serving the communities.
PHILIP BLAIR
Managing Director
Xelabus Limited
15 August 2015
From part of the post to which Anonymous15 August 2015 at 09:12 refers
Delete>>As a result of Brijan buses taken into stock being low quality and poor overall condition for continued operation
From 7th September all ex Brijan services will be operated with DDA compliant buses. <<
I wonder if emotion does not come in here with use of the word 'derogatory'. Of whom or what does that apply to? One could say 'of the company', or 'of the management, but then which; the Botleys or the new regime? What is clear is that the company under whichever regime has been struggling. I that the Botleys would not have treated their maintenance duties casually, but short of funds it might well not have been top-notch, and it was old vehicles they were dealing. BTW Mr B and Mrs B are 62 and 72 respectively (Co House Webcheck beta).
The Botleys are gone four months. How the new owners looked after their assets, one cannot know, but four months is time enough for changes to have taken place for better of worse.
My ultimate point is that the Xelabus management, once having acquired the assets, would then be able to see them, as they really were, and properly evaluate them; a situation which is akin to buying a house. It's once you're in that things get noticed.
Tactless: may be, but derogatory, I don't believe so!
I would like to say a big well done to Phil & Gareth at Xela Bus for taking over the Brijan bus routes if it had not been for them i think those routes would have died & many elderly & disabled people would of been stranded, on top of that at very short notice they took over the routes a month early & have invested a considerable amount of money into newer buses. All i keep hearing is people moaning about Xela taking on other companies routes when those companies are in trouble well people should think more about the jobs that have been saved by them taking on these routes come on people support the company don't keep moaning about them. The people who keep saying Xela killed Brijan wake up, you people should understand that Brijan have been operating on borrowed time for several years & if it wasn't for Brian Botley putting everything he owned on the line Brijan would not of survived as long as it did. A personal message to Phil & Gareth please ignore anyone that moans & complains about you taking on these routes as there are many more people out there that are very grateful to you for taking on the routes & the drivers. Remember guys you got the same abuse when you stepped in to save the Velvet routes & drivers jobs in January & from what i can see you have done a far better job of keeping those routes running than the people who took over Velvet in July 2014.
ReplyDeleteTraveline are displaying the new timetables for Bluestar 16,from Sept 27 and the route remains the same!
ReplyDeleteFor an unbiased blog I assume the next blog post from the owner will be along the lines of "Bluestar shaft Bitterne Triangle and Cobden Bridge" !
ReplyDeleteBluestar haven`t announced the late Sept changes yet,so they may surprise you.
DeleteHow do you work that out?
DeleteIf they were axing their routes 5 or 6 for instance you would have a point, but the 16 being rerouted is not a long established bluestar only connection. Instead they are rerouting to backfill the failure of another operator.
I really don't get these attacks on "the owner" of the site, especially when there is near universal condemation of First's actions. Maybe you want this site to close so First don't get scrutinised?
Indeeed. The First bashing on here is childish and pathetic. First have every right to change their services; I don't agree with all that they have done, but equally I think Bluestar have miised a trick with not re-routing the 16 via Woolston as well as Bitterne, although as it carries no-one at the moment it will still be an improvement.
DeleteBut the only people who matter are the people who are running the two companies who have all the farebox and running cost information. Hopefully the teenage First haters will soon be back at school and the real enthusiasts amongst us can go back to having sensible discussions. PLEASE.
Bluestar have now put the new Bluestar 16 timetable up on their new look website!
DeleteThe most popular bus service in Southampton has to be the U1!It fills a double decker bus at very frequent intervals!Wonder why First haven`t set up competition with this route,rather than targeting BS18 .
ReplyDeleteProbably because a Unilink bus pass is included in the price of accomodation in the Univeristy Halls of Residence. This has been true from the launch of the service!
DeleteThe U1 may be very busy but in a large part due to student residents in Southampton Halls having a unlink pass as part of their fees. Little room for any competition from first on anyone else
ReplyDeleteThose Bluestar groupies crowing about their dominance of the Uni and Swaythling traffic would do well to remember that the Unilink contract is up for renewal at some point; that GSC dominance could then pass to another operator, as it has done before. No one can compete on these routes as others have said.
Delete