Tuesday 24 May 2011

Diversions: Portswood, Sports Centre & Dibden Purlieu

First have released the new timetables for those routes affecting by the upcoming changes on 12th June.

Wilts & Dorset 34 (Eastleigh/Romsey-Salisbury) has a new timetable from 3rd July.

There are quite a few diversions around the region:
Portswood: Bluestar 2, Unilink U6 and First 7 are all diverted towards town due to the southbound closure of part of Portswood Road. They are diverting from the Talking Heads via Thomas Lewis Way and St Denys Road, rejoining the usual route outside Superdrug. Northbound journeys are not affected. This is expected to last until 29th August.
Sports Centre: The top bit of Hill Lane and bottom bit of Lordswood Road are closed until 4th July, meaning diversions to First 4, 7A and 21.
Dibden Purlieu: W&D 112 is diverted due to a part time closure of Beaulieu Road until 28th May.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

First changes, supermarket links & fare rises

First have announced several changes, some to their commercial services and some cuts to those services subsidised by Southampton City Council. They all take effect on Sunday 12th June. Here's a summary:
3 (City Centre-Townhill Park): Timetable change to improve reliability, especially during rush hours.
5 (City Centre-Lordshill North): Sunday service withdrawn.
7A (City Centre-Millbrook Tesco): Withdrawn. Section of route between City Centre and Bassett Green will still run as service 7. Passengers needing to travel between Portswood/Swaythling and the General Hospital can still use Unilink U6. Passengers for Millbrook and Shirley will have to go via the City Centre.
8 (Lordshill-Townhill Park): Timetable change to connect better with fast trains to London from Central Station. Evening buses to Lordshill are withdrawn. Chartwell Green will no longer be served on Sundays.
9/9A/9B (City Centre-Hightown): Route change in City Centre. Outbound buses will run via Bargate Street, Portland Terrace, Civic Centre Road and New Road to Six Dials and then as before.
10/10A (Lordshill-Thornhill): Extra buses on Saturday mornings and Sunday daytimes.
11A/11C/12A/12C (City Centre-Sholing): Reorganised so that all buses via Bitterne will be numbered 11 and all buses via Woolston will be numbered 12. Higher frequency via Bitterne, lower frequency via Woolston. New route in City Centre.
17/17A/17B (City Centre-Lordshill): Weekday daytime combined frequency increased to every 7-8 minutes, in line with the competing Bluestar 18 (Millbrook-Hightown).
21 (RSH Hospital-Lordshill North): Hillyfields will no longer be served, the nearest alternative being the 17B from Adanac Park. New timetable.

You may not be aware that Xelabus run free buses in several parts of our region. They usually only run a couple of times a week but provide free links to various branches of Asda and Tesco. Check their website to see if one serves your area.

Talking of Asda, Bluestar 18 (Millbrook-Hightown) now stops on Portland Terrace in the City Centre next to the Asda entrance, on journeys towards Hightown.

Velvet's fares go up on Sunday 15th May, but they've helpfully published the new fares for all of their routes.

The Solent Travelcard also gets more expensive on Sunday 15th May, rising to £7 a day or £27 a week for travel on all bus operators across South Hampshire. To compensate, it has joined Facebook.