No buses on New Year's Day

No buses will be running on New Year's Day with just one exception: that free Citylink bus that hardly any locals use between Central Station and the Red Funnel ferry terminal.

By the way, Happy New Year!

Buses on New Year's Eve

Here's how the region's buses will be running this New Year's Eve:

Bluestar will be running a full Saturday service except for routes 5, 6, 8, T1 and T2, which will run a weekday service. There is no early finish and night buses will be running.

First X2 will not be running. A weekday service will run on First routes 26, B1/B2/B3, H1/H2  and S1. All other routes will run to a reduced timetable with an early finish at about 2030. Times for the 4/4A/X4 are here and all other routes are here.

Unilink will be running a Saturday service with an early finish at about 2100, with the last buses running at the same time as on Christmas Eve. Route U9 will run a weekday service. Night bus U1N will be running.

Velvet will be running a full Friday service complete with night buses.

Xelabus and Brijan Tours will run a normal Monday service.

Stagecoach will be running a Saturday service on all routes except the 36, which won't be running at all, and the 46, which will have a weekday service.

More will run a Saturday service on all routes except the X1 and X2, which will have a weekday service.

Salisbury Reds will be running a Saturday service.

This weekend's buses / First fares go up on Sunday

Here's how our region's buses will be running on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th December:

Saturday will see all operators except First running a normal Saturday service. First will have a Saturday service on routes 4/4A/X4, 26 and S1. The X2 will not be running. All other First routes will be running to a reduced timetable.

On Sunday, all operators will be running a normal Sunday service.

Don't forget that First are putting many of their fares up as of Sunday. More details here.

Thursday 27th and Friday 28th December buses

Here's now buses will be running on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th December 2012:

Bluestar will run a Saturday service on most routes, except 5, 6, 8, T1 & T2, which will run a weekday service.

First X2 will not be running. There will be a weekday service on routes B1/B2/B3, H1/H2 and S1. A Saturday service will run on routes 4/4A/X4 and 26. All other routes will run to a reduced timetable.

Unilink will be running a Saturday service, except for route U9, which will have a weekday service.

Velvet, Xelabus, Brijan Tours and Salisbury Reds will be running a normal weekday service.

More will be running a Saturday service, except for routes X1 and X2, which will have a weekday service.

Stagecoach will be running a Saturday service, except for routes 36 and 46, which will run a weekday service. Route 36 will only run on Thursday.

Bluestar, Velvet and Unilink will be running night buses on Friday night as normal.

Xelabus X4 has a revised route and timetable from Thursday:

Boxing Day bus services

If you really can't wait to get to the shops, there will be more buses running in Southampton tomorrow than there have been on Boxing Day for several years. Here's a summary:

Bluestar have a special service on routes 1, 2, 4, 9, 12, 16 and 18. Timetables here and below. There will be no service on any other route.

Velvet will be running a Sunday service on route A between Hedge End and Southampton only. No service on any other route.

First will be running on Boxing Day for the first time, with a limited service on parts of routes 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 only. The timetables can be found here at the bottom of the pdf or to make it easier, we've attached them below. No service on all other routes.

Brijan Tours, More, Salisbury Reds, Stagecoach, Unilink and Xelabus will not be running any services.

No buses on Christmas Day

No buses will be running at all in our region on Christmas Day. There will be some services on Boxing Day however - more than in previous years. Full details can be found in the green panel on the right.

Christmas Eve bus services

Tomorrow is the first day of altered service levels on our region's buses. We'll be posting every day with full details of the following day's services, so you'll have all of the information at your fingertips. If you need to know how buses will be running further ahead, just look at the green panel on the right, where it is all summarised.

So, let's start off with what will be running tomorrow, Christmas Eve:

There's a full normal Monday service on Bluestar, Brijan Tours, More, Salisbury Reds, Stagecoach, Velvet and Xelabus. The full timetables can be found at Traveline or on the operators' websites (links in the red panel below right). Xelabus X3 will run for the last time - it will be replaced by an extended X4 as of Thursday.

First X2 will not be running.
There's a normal weekday service on routes 26, B1/B2/B3, H1/H2 and S1.
All other First routes will be running a reduced service with an early finish at about 2030. Click here for the full special timetables (or here for routes 4/4A/X4).

Unilink are running a Saturday service with an early finish at about 2100. Times of the last buses on routes U1 and U6 are as follows:

Bluestar doesn't want your comments

Bluestar have changed the settings of their Facebook page so that visitors cannot make a new post - they can now merely comment on posts that Bluestar have made.

The page hasn't been handled very well by Bluestar until now as most of the posts were complaints that presumably went unread (by Bluestar that is, other passengers certainly did read them) and unresponded to. Bluestar had a choice to either staff the Facebook page properly or to censor it - and they chose censorship.

There are some interesting opinions on this in the comments section over on Omnibuses, but what do you think?

I can't help thinking that roles are being reversed: First still allow visitors to post and they respond to them - they're really getting their act together considering what their reputation was like a year ago. Bluestar on the other hand...

First fares to rise / Stagecoach tweets / Bluestar tinkers

First are putting some fares up as of 30th December. Details here and here.

Stagecoach's Winchester depot are now using Twitter to provide updates on any disruption to their services.

Bluestar have just a few minor changes in store for 20th January on routes 1, 2, 11, 16 and 18.