A few big changes this weekend:
As of last night, Velvet N3 became the N8 and the route changed to serve Northam and Bitterne instead of St Denys and Bitterne Park. The N6 also got a new timetable. Both services have a new route through the city centre, starting from Leisure World. Look on Traveline for an exact map.
Tomorrow (Sunday), First 7 gets a new timetable, upping its frequency to 8 an hour weekday daytimes in order to counter the attack from Bluestar 16.
The big one tomorrow is the launch of First 11 and the return of Sunday buses to Marchwood. The route is the same as for the journeys on Bluestar 8 that run via Hythe Hospital. Bluestar will retaliate in the next few weeks and the rumour is that evening services will return. But that doesn't change the fact that until First decided to give it a go, Bluestar were not seriously interested in Marchwood and were perfectly happy to see the village isolated in the evenings and on Sundays while taking taxpayer handouts from Hampshire County Council for the Mon-Sat daytime service.
On Monday, First's Bitterne Hoppa B1/B2/B3 services are revamped with amended routes and new timetables.
not to do with this but xelabus is taking over the c1 c2 from velvet in the next month or so , velvet will kept sundays and evenings .
ReplyDeleteYou have got to be joking !!!!. Xelabus run the C1 C2. That will last all of an afternoon and then Xelabus will vanish into thin air. !!!
DeleteLike the something something bird did. !!!
I believe there's a misunderstanding here. Xelabus are running a X5 service every 30 mins between Eastleigh and Velmore. I believe Velvet run the daytime C commercially, so their new registration will be a counter against Xelabus.
DeleteI think it very unlikely that Xelabus will be going anywhere fast. They seem to be in very capable hands, and making steady progress.
DeleteXelabus and capable hands are not phrases most of us use!
DeleteOld clapped out buses and changing routes every five minutes. The buses may look nice in green but its what's underneath the veneer that counts.
Presuming the reasons Bluestar have given over recent years as to why Marchwood can not justify an acceptable service were accurate, then the new services must surely be unsustainable.
ReplyDeleteRegrettably I suspect the revised 8 is a preditary move and once they have seen off First Bus from the Waterside the service will return to its current poor level.
I can only agree with you. We have seen this before in Eastleigh area, yes?
Deletewatch this space the first 3 answers to the c1 c2 coming over from velvet to xelabus . xelabus will be de registrating the x5 and re naming the c1 c2 service x7 . watch this space .............
ReplyDeleteI think you'll need to provide evidence to say this, as I can't see any proof, nor do I believe it to be true, as there is no registration for any X7 service, nor can I see why Velvet would transfer the route to Xelabus.
DeleteIt looks as though the rumours about
DeleteVelvet pulling out of the C1/C2 are
true.
According to the Velvet drivers
they are dropping the whole route
ending 24th November. Xelabus
will then take over. The drivers
are not sure how much of the
route Xelabus will run, but they
think at present it looks like
Eastleigh to Fryern.
Information being spread around is that
Deletea public meeting is to be held on Monday
22nd October at the Hilt, in Hiltingbury to
discuss the demise of the C1/C2 route.
Time 4.30 pm. Apparently called by
Eastleigh Borough Council or so I am told.
from belvet face book page;
DeleteVelvet
about an hour ago via Mobile
We are sorry to inform all our route C customers that we will no longer operate this route during Monday to Saturday daytimes from 25th November. Until autumn 2011 the daytime service received around £150,000 per annum subsidy from the local authorities but this was lost as a result of budget cuts forced upon the Councils. For the last year we have attempted to operate this service without any subsidy, but for a number of reasons this hasn't worked out. As a small family company if our revenue doesn't cover our costs we would simply go out of business and that can't be good for anyone, and this has led us to this difficult decision. We will still operate the evening and Sunday service, we are led to believe that another operator is planning to run a replacement service between Eastleigh and Fryern, and the local authorities will decide what arrangements to make for Hiltingbury. We will post any updates here, and in the meantime thank our customers for their support over the last five years.
Yet again, despite claiming not to have any "bias", the author of this blog appears to be having a swipe at Bluestar.... If the taxpayer is paying a subsidy for daytime operations to Marchwood, but nothing for an evening service, would you run a bus there at a loss, after dark? We all know that the First 11 will not work (for one, Bluestar will make sure of that!), and that 18 months from now, Marchwood will be right back where it was. For the life of me, I cannot understand why bus operators dont attack each others flagship routes, rather than ones that generate tiny incomes, like the waterside routes?
ReplyDeleteBluestar have long refused to give Marchwood an evening or Sunday service although this could have been cheaply done by diverting the route 9.
DeleteFirst registered the route commercially when it was up for tender which seems a pretty reasonable move for a route which Bluestar wanted tender money for.
Now Bluestar is happy to double the service, extend it to Calshot and run evenings and Sundays without any subsidy !
Which company would you say was the bully ?
Yes Marchwood will no doubt suffer again eventually but only because of Bully Bluestar trying to run a monopoly in the area. They may find First give stronger opposition than the tiny Velvet were able to in Eastleigh !
What is it about Eastleigh? Many have tried,and many have failed to make money running services in the town.It will all end up with punch up outside Sainsbury's at this rate!
ReplyDeletePity the poor passengers trying to rely on a bus service worthy of the name.
funny how bluestar have denied time and time again,that serving marchwood on sundays is unviable.no sooner do first start offering it,bluestar miraculously finds it viable.amazing!!
ReplyDelete