Salisbury Reds have revealed their plans to get you to Stonehenge for the summer solstice, should you want to go. You can find their special timetable for the night of Thursday 20th June here.
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
W1 route details / Summer solstice special
You may have noticed in the panel on the right that a new service, Wheelers W1, starts running between Southampton and Romsey from 1st July. We now have more details of its route. Councillor Asa Thorpe (Labour, Millbrook) is Southampton City Council's cabinet member for environment and transport and has revealed on his blog that within the city, the W1 will replace Bluestar P1, which is being withdrawn. The W1 will therefore run via Westwood Road and Highfield Lane before proceeding to Chilworth and then on to Romsey. It's not yet clear whether it will run via Glen Eyre, but that area is already served by Unilink U2. More on the W1 as we get it.
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Did e-mail Wheelers last week ,enquiring about the W1,but no-one bothered to e-mail back.charming!!
ReplyDeleteDelighted to hear the route. I did fear it was going to be a Romsey to Southampton express route, which would have been a confrontation with Bluestar (and all the fun that would go with it, no doubt), but this looks like a bigger waste of time than I thought it would be....
ReplyDeleteI was hoping it would be a Romsey-Southampton express route, but it seems that no-one can afford to or is willing to truly innovate in Southampton.
ReplyDeleteThere already is an express route between Southampton and Romsey though. It's provided by the train. Three per hour in the daytimes.
ReplyDeleteGood point! I think most of us "bus nuts" often forget the train service!
DeleteIts also worth remembering ,that on bank holidays,the trains between Southampton and Romsey are generally on a weekday service,NOTa Sunday service ,like Bluestar!!!!
DeleteFast trains are twice an hour!!!The other is just as slow as the bus!
ReplyDeleteQuite true, the effective train service is every half hour, but Southampton Central isn't that central, and half of Romsey is not that close to the station there, so add on at least ten minutes to the train travel time at either end, and suddenly a direct bus service doesn't seem as superfluous after all.
ReplyDeleteDo we know the frequency yet and whether it will run during the peaks given the P1 is off peak only. Does seem an odd move to extend an essentially local service that the P1 provides with a longer distance route to Romsey, not sure the Romsey to Highfield market really deserves a direct bus!
ReplyDeleteI think thats an easy one to answer! Romsey to Highfield will do nothing at all. It just seems to me that the new operator already feels that the route wont pay its way, so is hoping to susidise it by accepting concession passes. Based on the Bluestar experience, it wont pay for the diesel, let alone the drivers wages, wear and tear, maint, insurance etc. Bet this route wont even last until Christmas. It reminds me of the First attempt to update the old Hants and Dorset 35 service (with the X2). I travel on the 4 route regularly, and very few passengers make the entire trip. Some from Shirley, some from Lordshill, and many from Baddesley. The W1 serves none of these..... Doomed!
DeleteOperators of local bus services must accept concession passes by law so Wheelers had no choice on that one once they had decided to register the route. I wonder if Southampton CC are paying them to run via Westwood and Highfield Roads?
DeleteIn the Portswood/Highfield area, St Denys and Swaythling stations have a fairly direct train service to Romsey via Chandlers Ford. In terms of Southampton-Romsey bus services, Hants and Dorset route 60 would look a better bet. This could be achieved by extending some Bluestar 12 services from Calmore roundabout to Romsey (about a 15-minute journey), linking the towns of Totton and Romsey. This could reduce bus travel times between Romsey and Totton/Hythe/Lyndhurst etc by 30-60 minutes through reducing the need to travel via Southampton. If one bus an hour were extended from Calmore to Romsey, and looped through Woodley, it would give the northern side of Romsey a direct West Quay service.
DeleteAs with all Stagecoach buses remember
ReplyDeleteto signal clearly if you wish the bus to
stop for you. That is particularly important
if more than one service uses the bus stop
you are standing at.
The W1 runs from Romsey - Woodley - North Baddesley - Chilworth - The Avenue - Highfield - Portswood - Westwood Road - Southampton and runs hourly Monday to Saturday
ReplyDelete