Eastleigh: Free shoppers, new So'ton express and double A.

All bus companies are running a Sunday service on the many bank holidays that are fast approaching.

Xelabus's experimental free shoppers' buses in Eastleigh were an apparent success back in December. So much so, that they are running again. Full details here.

Staying with Xelabus, they launch route X12 (City Centre-Eastleigh) on Monday 23rd May. It will however provide just two return trips a day, but a much quicker journey than on Bluestar 2 (City Centre-Fair Oak). I can't help wondering if people who wanted to get between Southampton and Eastleigh in a hurry wouldn't be better off on the train. Expect the X12 to disappear within 6 months.

Good news from Velvet: a doubling in frequency on part of route A (Eastleigh-Boorley Green/Oaklands) from Monday 6th June. It will run every half hour Mon-Sat daytimes between Eastleigh and Hedge End Centre with one bus an hour continuing as now to Botley and Boorley Green and the other doing a circuit of Oaklands. In an era of so many cuts, this is certainly a welcome boost.

Bluestar S1 withdrawn

Bluestar S1 (Shirley-Lordshill) will cease running after the last bus on Saturday 9th April. It's subsidised by the City Council, so it will be them rather than Bluestar pulling the plug. Most of the route, through Lordswood, is already covered by First 21 (RSH Hospital-Hillyfields/Lordshill North), although only with one bus an hour and with inevitably higher fares.

FirstDay temporary price cut

First have cut the price of their FirstDay Southampton ticket to £2.90 until 26th March inclusive. It usually costs £4, so what is usually the most expensive city ticket is for a couple of weeks the cheapest.

A full list of all day tickets available in the region, complete with prices, is in the red panel on the right, below the transport links.

Marwell Zoo link restored

Velvet have announced the launch of route M (Eastleigh-Marwell Zoo). It will run three buses a day in each direction at weekends and on bank holidays starting from Good Friday 22nd April and running until the first weekend in September. Here's the timetable.

Bluestar conquers New Forest / Nightbus network changes

Bluestar have announced more changes to their services as from 27th February, in addition to those mentioned in the post below:
W&D 56/56A (City Centre-Lymington) are withdrawn and replaced by Bluestar 6, which will always run to the old 56A route, giving a greatly improved service to Rushington and Foxhills. This leaves W&D with only the X7 to/from Salisbury still running into Southampton.
8 (City Centre-Hythe): New timetable.
10/11 (City Centre-Cadnam): New timetable.
12 (City Centre-Calmore): New timetable.
18 (Millbrook-Thornhill): New timetable with an increased Mon-Sat daytime frequency of 7/8 minutes. That's 8 buses an hour, up from the current 6.
N3 (Leisure World-Hedge End) replaces the current N6 and is rerouted to serve Bitterne Park and Oaklands.
N9 (London Road-Waterside): Route & timetable change.
N12 (London Road-West Totton): Route & timetable change.
N16 (London Road-Netley): Route & timetable change.
N18 (London Road-Sholing): Route & timetable change. Extended to Sholing.
N19 (London Road-Lordshill): Route & timetable change.

The new timetables are available here.

Velvet S2 (City Centre-Millbrook Tesco/Shirley) is rerouted to serve the new Adelaide Health Centre near Millbrook Tesco, also from 27th February.

Oh, and First have jacked their fares up yet again.

More First cuts / Night bus changes / Woolston & Coxford diversions

More details on the forthcoming changes on First routes:
From 23rd January:
26 (Hamble-Fareham) will no longer serve Netley or Butlocks Heath on journeys towards Hamble, however they will still be served on journeys from Hamble.
80 (City Centre-Fareham) has some early evening service cuts and timetable changes on Saturdays.
From 30th January:
3 (City Centre-Townhill Park) and 11A/11C/12A/12C (City Centre-Sholing) have some minor changes to early morning journeys. These are in addition to the changes detailed in the post below. The new timetables are available on First's website.

Bluestar 1 (City Centre-Winchester) and 2 (City Centre-Fair Oak) have timetable changes on 28th February. Night buses on the N1 will divert to serve Badger Farm in Winchester.

On 4th March, Bluestar 4 (City Centre-Romsey) gets a new timetable. On the same day, most of Bluestar's night network is revised with London Road becoming the start of most routes, instead of Leisure World. N6 will be diverted to additionally serve Bitterne Park and Oaklands. More details to follow.

Itchen Bridge will be closed on several evenings over the next few weeks, meaning diversions to all buses via Woolston. Details here.

There are diversions in Coxford to First 8 (Lordshill-Townhill Park) due to roadworks on Coxford Drove for the next couple of weeks.

First evening cuts, Sholing bucks trend / Dorset Sprinter dead

We start with confirmation that 31st December 2010 will the last day of operation on Dorset Sprinter X5 (City Centre-Ringwood). The way the government is going round cutting all they can, I fear this won't be the first example of a major town being cut off from Southampton's bus network.

First have two waves of timetable changes in January, starting on the 23rd with changes to the 80 (City Centre-Fareham), of which details are still to be released. The second wave, on 30th January 2011, affects the following routes:
1 (City Centre-Weston): Mon-Sat evening service cut to hourly after 2100. Last bus from town will be 30 mins earlier than now at 2317.
3 (City Centre-Townhill Park): Sunday evening services cut, with the last bus from town now at 2040 (previously 2240).
4 (City Centre-Totton): Mon-Sat peak and evening services cut, with last bus from town now at 1740 weekdays and 1735 Saturdays.
7 (City Centre-Bassett Green): Saturday last bus from town now an hour earlier at 2210. Sunday evening services withdrawn, last bus now at 1805 (was 2310). Not a big disaster as Bluestar 2 and Unilink U1 & U6 serve most of this route.
11A/12C (City Centre-Sholing): More evening buses via Bitterne, last one leaving town at 2245 every day (was 1945).
17A (City Centre-Lordshill): Mon-Sat evening service cut to hourly after 2100, with the last bus leaving town at 2301 (was 2331).

Don't forget the green panel on the right is your at-a-glance comprehensive guide to all Christmas and New Year bus services across all operators in the region. Merry Christmas!

Snow chaos

It's madness out there. The weather means that bus schedules are almost being rewritten every hour at the moment, so before travelling check with the operator's website or Facebook page, just to be sure that your bus will be running. Links are in the red panel on the right, below the green service changes panel.