Sunday 11 June 2017

Warsash, Stonehenge & Southbourne

First W2, the Saturday-only shopper service between Warsash and Whiteley got a new timetable yesterday together with a route change to serve more of Warsash. See the new timetable here. The route around Locks Heath differs depending on which direction the bus is travelling in. To make sense of it all, here's the full list of stops served:



Salisbury Reds have revealed their plans to get people to and from Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice. Full details here.


Over in Bournemouth, with More M2's recent extension to Southbourne Crossroads, Yellow P3 is clearly feeling the pressure. It will be suppemented from 23rd July by a new route, the P4 which will run every 20 mins weekday daytimes between Southbourne Crossroads and Westbourne. See the timetable here.



22 comments:

  1. Yellow buses are supposedly 'collecting' Open Toppers from elsewhere within RATP. I can't help wondering with the start date given whether the P4 is to be open top in an attempt to attract visitors to use Yellows rather than More during the school holidays.

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    1. I think you're possibly right. The planned open top route for the summer has probably gone by the wayside due to the need to compete with the M2 extension. Maybe we'll see open tops on the C1 also (to compete with Morebus Breezer 70).

      Plenty of operators of open top routes in Bournemouth this year with Bear Cross buses 11 and Southbourne buses 12 joining Discover Dorset's sightseeing tour and Morebus Breezer services.

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    2. Southbourne Buses have an open topper too? I thought they only have discs for on vehicle at Fordingbridge?

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    3. Their website refers to their "classic open top bus" being used for both S12 and a Bournemouth town tour over the Summer.

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  2. Yellows have broken their new route naming convention already then, with Priory 4 going nowhere near Christchurch Priory (or even Christchurch). Through Southbourne, Pokesdown and Boscombe people are letting the P2/P3 go by and are waiting for the faster Morebus M2. The January route recast which diverted these buses the longer route to Bournemouth via Central Station is not working for Yellows here.

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  3. Today's cancellations on today's Vehicle Operater Licensing website is interesting.

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    1. I take it you mean registration number PH1146678/1 ? Customer services will be along shortly to take us all to court you know...

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  4. dreadful company please to see they have given up already

    PH1146678/1 Cancelled
    SIMON ALAN GARD
    Route: Ringwood, Meeting House Lane to Ringwood, Meeting House Lane via Poulner, Hightown
    Service number: S1 (S2)
    Service type: Normal Stopping
    Effective date: 04 Aug 2017

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    1. It might of course be just for the summer so they can run the S12

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    2. As many of you are aware we have made the difficult decision to withdraw services s1/s2 from the 04/08/17. A full statement giving the reasons will be released in the next few days. We thank you for your custom.
      Mr S Gard
      Proprietor
      Southbourne Buses

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    3. https://www.facebook.com/southbournebuses/posts/2010309255874110?match=c2ltb24gZ2FyZA%3D%3D
      (quote)Important information s1/s2 Ringwood Town Services. We regret to inform you that services s1/s2 will be withdrawn from the 4th August 2017. We would like to thank the many customers who have supported the services over the past few months. We tried to bring an improved coverage of bus services to Ringwood with the introduction of buses to Lidl, Kingsfield , Southampton Road and Wells Garage, but feel patronage too low to ensure the long term viability of the services.
      As many of you are aware this has not been without its difficulties.
      The people who were trying to persuade customers to boycott our services in favour of a rival operator, but were happy to use our services at times when no other operators service was available. This made some of the off peak journeys unviable to operate.
      Also to the rival operators employee (yes we know who you are) who decided to notify the DVSA that we were operating before our local service registration came into effect , the DVSA did come out to investigate and found all our registration documentation to be correct and compliant. We believe this was the same person who posted onto a local bus blog fake allegations of non compliance with the concessionary fares scheme, again another visit to us and no wrongdoing found.
      Then a rival operator changed the timetable so we amended ours this didn't cause much change in loadings other than at the terminus where the rival operator changed stands (no application to amend a bus service submitted) to stand a at the top end of the terminus. Making it easier to exit and sometimes causing the bus to be in front of us losing a few customers here and there. Then last week the rival operator was seen picking up outside of the local service registration which we promptly reported and hopefully will be dealt with by the relevant authorities.
      We have met some great people over the past few months and I thank you for using our buses. Also to our staff and agency workers who have helped bring the services to you.
      Simon Gard
      Proprietor
      Southbourne Buses (/quote)

      and he has tried to get the other co for an infringement.
      https://www.facebook.com/southbournebuses/photos/a.1832046860367018.1073741827.1820643994840638/2007497412821961/?type=3
      (quote)13/06/2017 bus HF64BRZ 0854 hrs Meeting House Lane Ringwood. This bus has picked up a passenger illegally in Meeting
      House Lane Ringwood. The registered service is scheduled to start in Southampton Road at 0902 and this stop is not served
      on that journey. Hopefully this will be on the CCTV nearby and can be shown to the DVSA.
      The actions of the lady driving undermine genuine operators efforts to run a bus service.(/quote)
      I, and I have no connection with the industry, especially GSC can see that driver misbehaved, but couldn't it be just an error on her part, and reported to More, which I feel would not tarnish itself with illegality?

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    4. Now confirmed by the proprietor on his Facebook page and why he has had enough.

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    5. How does anyone assume the passenger was picked up illegally? How did the passenger pay on boarding, or not at all. Anyone can be picked up anywhere as long as its not for reward. The passenger could pay at the beginning of the journey.

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  5. Excelsior? Couldn't that be to do with GSC having all their component companies registered as one

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  6. Notices and Proceddings NP2592 is of interest.

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    1. Sorry to be thick, could you explain the /(any) connection of this thread and NP2592. Not being sarcastic or anything - just couldn't see anything when I looked.

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    2. may be?
      TM Public Inquiry (Case ID: 4309, Public Inquiry ID: 83528) for Mr SIMON ALAN GARD to be
      held at Jubilee House (Bristol), BS5 0GB, Croydon Street, Bristol,
      on 30 May 2017 commencing at 10:30
      Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009

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  7. The original poster is illudeing to Mr Gard being requested to attend a Transport Manager Public Inquiry under Article 6 of Reg 1071/2009.

    To be fair I do not know what came out of it, so I will not offer speculation to that end. I also don't really think it is of relevance to the discussion on the blog!

    Anon
    (Not connected with Gard, Go Ahead, First Group, Stagecoach or Ringwood (except the Brewery.... nice beer))

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  8. Yellow Buses have now announced details of changes from 22 July, and completely given up on their naming convention for lines. https://www.bybus.co.uk/app/uploads/2017/06/YB_Whats-changing_from-22nd-July-2017.pdf

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  9. At least they've gone back to regular timings each hour on the R1/2/3 rather than the bizarre "every 8/9 minutes". Although they've gone and ruined it with the C1 - not quite every half hour, they depart from Bourne Avenue at 24 and 49 minutes past the hour and from Alum Chine at 45 and 10 minutes. I presume this is to try and compete against Morebus 70 which runs Alum Chine to Bournemouth at 10 past, but it just serves to confuse people

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  10. What they haven't said is that although the Villageline (which is mentioned by name!) is being simplified, it is in fact being reduced in frequency once again. V1 and V2 will each run every 20 minutes, with V3/V4 withdrawn.

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    1. That said, I don't think it will affect people that much. Daytime frequency from Kinson increases from every 15 minutes to 10. From Cunningham Crescent it's effectively an increase in frequency since the six buses are currently timetabled to leave at 00, 00, 15, 30, 30, 45

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