New Year's Day bus services

Here's what bus services will be running on New Year's Day:

New Year's Day 1st January:
Bluestar: Special timetable on routes 1, 2, 4, 9, 12, 16 and 18 only.
First: Special timetable on routes X4, 2, 3, 7 and 11 only.
All other operators: No service.


Here are the special Bluestar timetables:

Here are the special First timetables:

Full details of festive bus services here.

New Year's Eve bus services

Here's how our region's buses will be running on New Year's Eve:

New Year's Eve 31st December:
Bluestar, Brijan Tours, Salisbury Reds, Velvet, Wheelers, Xelabus: Full normal Wednesday service.
First: Saturday service with an early finish, except for routes B1, B2, B3, H1 and H2, which will have a weekday service.
More: Full Saturday service.
Stagecoach: Full Saturday service, except for route 36, which will not run and route 46, which will have a weekday service.
Unilink: Vacation Saturday service with early finish. U1N night bus will run.


Early finish last bus times on First:

The last X4 leaves Southampton at 1850 for Fareham and the last X5 to Fareham is at 1930.

Early finish last bus times on Unilink:

Don't forget that the U1N will be running.

Full details of festive bus services here.

Routes being withdrawn this weekend

The following routes are being withdrawn this coming weekend. Here are details of what will replace them:

• Xelabus C3/C4

These routes around Chandlers Ford and Hiltingbury will run for the last time on Saturday. From Monday, they are replaced by new route X6 and an amended route X7, still operated by Xelabus. North Millers Dale and South Millers Dale will gain a more direct link to Eastleigh, without having to travel via Hiltingbury. See the new X6/X7 timetable here. This is the route that will be taken by Mon-Sat daytime buses:

The X6 will travel towards Hiltingbury via the Millers Dales and towards Eastleigh via Fryern Hill. The X7 will run the other way round. Thurs-Sat Evening and Sunday daytime journeys on the X7 will run via Fryern Hill in both directions to Chandlers Ford only.

• Bluestar E1/E2

The bus link between Eastleigh and Winchester will transfer from Bluestar to Wheelers from Monday. New timetable here. The short journeys between Eastleigh and Boyatt Wood are withdrawn and replaced by an extended Bluestar 5 - timetable here. This is the route the 5 will take in Boyatt Wood:

Buses will run clockwise around the terminus loop in Boyatt Wood.

• Bluestar T1/T2

These local routes in Totton will run for the last time on Friday with no replacement. This is due to Hampshire County Council cuts.

• Bluestar T3/T4

These circular routes between Totton and Cadnam will be run by Bluestar for the last time on Saturday. They then transfer to Wheelers, who will run them just three instead of six days a week: Tuedays, Thursdays and Saturdays. New timetable here. Hampshire County Council cuts again.

• First H1/H2

These local routes in Totton, Dibden Purlieu and Applemore will be run by First for the last time on Friday. They then switch to Wheelers are are cut from five to three days a week: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. New timetable here. Blame the county council.

• First 26

This route between Hedge End and Fareham will run for the last time on Saturday with no replacement. Getting between the two after Saturday will mean a change of buses at Bursledon (Brijan 15 & First X4/X5), Bishops Waltham (Brijan 8 &Stagecoach 69) or Woolston (Bluestar 3 or First 8 & First X4/X5). County council cuts.

• More 118

The market day (Wednesday) once a week link between Lymington and Ringwood runs for the last time on New Year's Eve with no replacement.

• Salisbury Reds 34

This link between Romsey and Salisbury runs for the last time on Saturday and will be replaced from Monday by newly diverted journeys on Salisbury Reds X7, numbered X7R. New timetable here.


More to follow on what else is changing this weekend. See a summary here.

Amended bus services for Monday and Tuesday

This is how our region's bus services will be running on Monday and Tuesday:

Monday 29th & Tuesday 30th December:
Bluestar, Brijan Tours, Salisbury Reds, Velvet, Wheelers, Xelabus: Normal weekday service.
First: Saturday service, except for routes B1, B2, B3, H1 and H2, which will have a weekday service.
More: Saturday service.
Stagecoach: Saturday service, except for routes 36 and 46 ,which will run a weekday service.
Unilink: Vacation Saturday service with no night buses.

Full details of festive bus service amendments here.

Normal service this weekend

Our region's bus services will be running as normal this weekend. Standard Saturday and Sunday timetables will apply.

There are a few changes for the week ahead though. Full details here.

Boxing Day bus services

There are no buses running on Christmas Day, but happy Christmas anyway!

On Boxing Day, only a few routes will be running. Here are the details:

Boxing Day 26th December:
Bluestar: Special timetable on routes 1, 2, 4, 9, 12, 16 and 18 only.
First: Special timetable on routes X4, 2, 3, 7 and 11 only.
All other operators: No service.

Here are the special Bluestar timetables:

Here are the special First timetables:

Full details of festive bus services can be found here.

Christmas Eve bus services

A normal service is running on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Here's how our region's buses are running on Wednesday, Christmas Eve:

Bluestar, Brijan Tours, More, Salisbury Reds, Velvet, Wheelers, Xelabus: Full normal Wednesday service.
First: Saturday service with an early finish, except for routes B1, B2, B3, H1 and H2, which will have a weekday service.
Stagecoach, Unilink: Normal weekday service with early finish.

Last bus times on First:

The last X4 will leave Southampton at 1850 and the last X5 leaves at 1930.

On Stagecoach, the last route 66 journeys will be 2030 Winchester to Romsey and the 2105 Romsey to Winchester.

Last bus times on Unilink:

Full details of services throughout the festive season here.

Wheelers W1 temporary timetable tomorrow

Don't forget that Wheelers W1 switches to a temporary timetable as of tomorrow. See it here. The normal timetable resumes on Monday 5th January.

Many bus services will be running to amended timetables over Christmas and the New Year. See the full details here. We'll be posting summaries every day of exactly what will be running to what timetable right across the region.

January timetables released

The new timetables for Brijan Tours' routes from 4th January have been released. See them via these links: 7, 8, 15, 17.

On the same day, there are new timetables on More X1, X2 and 119 and Stagecoach 46.

5th January sees new timetables on Bluestar 5, 6 & 11, plus on Xelabus X1, X2, X3, X4 and X7 with the X6 launching. Wheelers also take over routes E1/E2, H1/H2 and T3/T4.

From 12th January, there are new timetables on Velvet S1 and S2, with the A becoming part of the S1.

Most of these are due to cuts being imposed by Hampshire County Council.

More changes on the way

There are a lot of changes on the way. As well as the ones that have already been mentioned, Wheelers W1 will be switching to a holiday timetable from Monday 22nd December, with no buses running via Chilworth Science Park over Christmas and New Year. See the new timetable here. The current timetable resumes on 4th January.

Talking of Wheelers, they take on several new Hampshire County Council contracts in the new year. They are slowly getting round to posting timetables for the routes they are taking over. Here's the one for the T3 and T4, complete with a misspelling of Cadnam (my yellow highlighting):

Velvet A disappears on 12th January, to be replaced by an extended S1, probably at the S1's lower frequency. Hedge Enders might be forgiven for feeling rather remote.

First have new timetables on routes 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 13 from 18th January. Miraculously route 5 survives unchanged. The new timetables can be seen on First's website.

Ringwood gets more remote again from 31st January, when Gardbus 139 is withdrawn.

Xela X5 new timetable tomorrow / Salisbury cuts on the way

Xelabus X5 gets a new timetable tomorrow, but look what's still on Xelabus's website (the yellow highlight is mine):

The new timetable is on Traveline and you can see it now here.

As many of you have already noticed, Salisbury Reds have released the new timetable for the X7, which will start from 4th January 2015. Some journeys are cut and some are diverted via Romsey to replace the axed route 34. The cuts to this main route between Southampton and Salisbury really are quite significant, so if you use it, it's worth comparing the current and new timetables and making sure you're prepared for the changes.

Cuts latest: Boyatt Wood boost / Solent Go launches city multi-operator ticket

More details have emerged about the cuts being imposed by Hampshire County Council. They will take effect from Sunday 4th January 2015. Initial details in this previous post. These are the details that are new:

Bluestar have already released new timetables for the 5 and 6. The 5 is extended to Boyatt Wood, replacing the E1 and E2, a shrivelled up version of which is moving to another, yet to be revealed, operator. Boyatt Wood's half-hour frequency will now last for most of the day, which is a frequency increase.

More have released the new timetables for the X1, X2 and 119. There will no longer be any buses between Lymington and Bournemouth on Sundays.

Xelabus have given details of the changes to their services, but the timetables are not out yet. The C3, C4 and X7 are merged into a new X6/X7 service. The X4 will no longer serve Fleming Park in the evenings. The X1, X2 anxd X3 get new timetables too. The X5 has some early changes on 24th November.

In other news, you've no doubt spotted that the multi-operator Solent Travelcard has become Solent Go, but the regional ticket price has remained the same. From Sunday, a Southampton City Solent Go will be available for £5. Valid within the city boundary plus to West End, it will allow you to travel on the buses of any operator without having to pay for the full regional Solent Go ticket.

Hampshire County Council cuts: details of routes affected

Hampshire County Council are yet again slashing their budget for subsidised bus services and have revealed the next wave of services to be cut as part of the Tories' war on the bus passenger.

The full dossier of shame can be viewed in disgust here. Here are the cuts to come in our part of the world:

• Xelabus C3/C4: HCC wanted to cut these to just three days a week, but Xelabus has offered to keep running them six days a week on a revised route for a reduced subsidy.

• Bluestar E1/E2: These routes will be retendered at a lower cost, so they could move to another operator and/or the fares will rise.

• First H1/H2: These Hythe local services will be cut back to three days a week. They might also switch to another operator.

• Bluestar T1/T2: These Totton local services will be axed.

• Bluestar T3/T4: These routes between Totton and Cadnam will be cut back to three days a week, ending the era of daily weekday public transport for Cadnam, Bartley and Winsor. Tatchbury Mount Hospital will also have no public transport for four days a week.

• More X1/X2: Some journeys between Lymington and Bournemouth will be cut.

• Salisbury Reds X7: Some journeys will be cut, due to funding cuts from both Hampshire and Wiltshire councils.

• Bluestar 5: Some journeys will be cut between Eastleigh and Romsey.

• Bluestar 6: Some journeys between Southampton and Lymington will be cut. The Sunday service will probably disappear completely, leaving Lyndhurst cut off. Why on earth they don't consider a shuttle service between Brockenhurst and Ashurst railway stations via Lyndhurst, timed to connect with trains, is beyond me. 

• First 6: The half of Sunday journeys between Hamble and Southampton that are subsidised will be axed, leaving an hourly commercial frequency.

• Brijan 7 & 8: The Saturday frequency will be halved to one bus every 2 hours, making it more difficult for tourists to visit Bishops Waltham.

• Bluestar 8/9: The peak-hour extensions beyond Fawley to Calshot will be cut.

• First 8: Likely to be cut back from Hedge End and Botley in 2015 as developer funding for the extension beyond West End expires and HCC will not allocate any money to keeping this part of the route going.

• Bluestar 11: The peak-hour extensions to Cadnam will be withdrawn.

• Brijan 15: To be cut back to off-peak only, three days a week. It currently runs six days a week with peak-hour journeys. To get between Hamble & Hedge End on the days when the 15 will no longer run will now mean a change of buses between First 6 and Bluestar 3 in Woolston.

• Brijan 17: The Saturday service will be cut, leaving this route running on Wednesdays only. Good news for car dealers in the Meon Valley.

• First 26: This route between Hedge End and Fareham will be axed, ending all public transport to Curbridge and Burridge.

• Salisbury Reds 34, 35 & 39: These could face cuts, depending on what Salisbury Reds decide to do with the commercial part of the X7. HCC have deferred a final decision.

• Stagecoach 46: Cut back to run between Winchester and North Baddesley only, with some journeys cut. Many areas will lose their direct link with Southampton General Hospital. From North Baddesley, passengers for the General will need to change to Bluestar 4 to Lordshill and then change again to First 3 or 12 or Velvet S1.

• More 118: This Wednesday-only service from Lymington to Ringwood is being axed.

• More 119: The Saturday service between Lymington and New Milton will be cut. The off-peak weekday service will still run.

We'll let you the date from which these cuts take effect as soon as it has been announced.

Freebies on route 66 / Bluestar Xmas times

Stagecoach's new timetable and route on the 66 between Romsey and Winchester started today. To celebrate the introduction of evening and Sunday journeys to the route, Stagecoach are giving free evening (after 7pm) and Sunday (all day) travel on route 66 from 2nd to 30th November inclusive.

Someone at Stagecoach has forgotten how many days there are in November.

In addition, local journeys within Romsey are free at all times from 2nd to 8th November inclusive. Quite what counts as "within Romsey" is not specified, so you'll need to ask Stagecoach about that one. See the new timetable here. They have also released a new, much clearer map of the route the new 66 takes in Romsey:

Most journeys will run via either the blue or red route. The orange route is served by a couple of peak hour buses per day on weekdays only.

Bluestar and Unilink have already released their Christmas and New Year bus times, which includes the usual skeleton service on major Bluestar routes (1, 2, 4, 9, 12, 16, 18) on Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Full details here. As more operators reveal their plans, we'll compile them all into one helpful list and of course we'll have the usual daily postings throughout the festive period with comprehensive details of the timetables in operation at all local bus companies each day. Watch this space.

In other news, Hampshire County Council are expected to confirm details of more bus subsidy cuts tomorrow. Evening and Sunday services will be worst hit, but we also hear that First 26 between Hedge End and Fareham is to be cut completely. More as those details are released.

13 cut back from Central Station / Romsey revamp

From this, in First's timetable booklet...

First 13 is being cut back from Monday 27th October, so that it will no longer serve Central Station. Merry Oak and Harefield will therefore lose their direct link to Central Station, but can still use the 13 to catch the train from Woolston, or change at Woolston to the three, which still runs through to Central Station. Details here and new timetable here.

...to this, courtesy of Traveline.

From the same day, Stagecoach is revamping its routes in Romsey. The 32 and 33 will disappear and be replaced with an enhanced 66 running all the way to Winchester every half hour Mon-Sat daytimes. The Cupernham parts of the 32 and 33 routes will be covered by alternate journeys on the new 66. The new timetable is buried on Stagecoach's website, but can be found on Traveline. The 36 is not affected.

The 66's new route in Romsey, according to Traveline. So that's clear, then. It's a bit easier to understand on Stagecoach's website.

As many commenters on this blog have already remarked, Xelabus have a new website and it is a huge improvement on what they had before. It is now far simpler and easier to use and features route maps.

Don't forget that Gardbus 139, until now a Sunday-only service, now also runs on Saturdays.

Freight train forced to halt by bus on level crossing

A freight train was forced to stop by a First bus that was stationary on a yellow box at a level crossing on Canute Road near Ocean Village.

The drama was caught on camera by a teenager from Hythe, who passed the footage to the Echo. See the full story and video here.

First are now investigating why their driver stopped on the yellow box, which is highly dangerous and a violation of the Highway Code.

Wheelers W2 is no more

Wheelers W2 ran for the last time today. It has run since 18th November 2013.

The most direct route between the city centre and the General Hospital is now once again First three.

Stagecoach 46 still connects the General with Valley Park and Hiltingbury.

Valley Park and Hiltingbury no longer have a direct link to Southampton. The nearest direct route is Bluestar 1 through Chandlers Ford.

First roadshow / Xelabus X4 rerouted / Gardbus 139 to run on Saturdays

First have held a few public 'Meet The Manager' sessions recently and another is to follow this coming Saturday 13th September at the Bargate between 0900 and 1600. Full details here.

Xelabus X4 was due to be rerouted from 17th September but it looks like that has been brought forward to today. The change is in Hedge End: Wildern Lane is no longer served with all X4 buses in both directions running via Turnpike Way and Upper Northam Road. No mention of this on Xelabus's website, but the new route and timetable are on Traveline. To confuse things even more, First A on Sundays is sticking to its existing route via Wildern Lane. Here's a helpful map of how Xelabus X4 now runs in Hedge End:

I've edited this map, the original of which is from www.travelinesw.com

Thanks to PAC for leaving a comment to draw my attention to that one and also to the fact that Gardbus 139 will start running on Saturdays from 11th October. It currently runs on Sundays only and provides the only bus link between Southampton and Ringwood, plus an alternative to Salisbury Reds X7 for visitors to Paulton's Park. Here's the new timetable, which applies from Sunday 5th October:

www.travelinesw.com again

Guilty but free - thanks to purple 'Get out of jail free' card

Adam Smith, also known as Paul Jones, would be in jail today were it not for the fact that he owns Velvet buses.

Adam Smith/Paul Jones's picture taken from Buses Excetera's website

As the Daily Echo reports, he first denied but later pleaded guilty to handling counterfeit banknotes.

A 16-month jail sentence was suspended for 2 years because people's jobs at Velvet depended on him and because Velvet owes £140,000 in tax, which it would be unlikely to be able to pay back had Smith/Jones been jailed. He will have to do 150 hours community service and pay £700 of genuine money in costs and surcharges.

Smith/Jones claimed that Velvet was in good hands, but admitted that he had been "stupid".

Velvet ceased trading on 16th July under the ownership of its founder, Phil Stockley, and would have entered receivership had Smith/Jones not bought it just days later, enabling its buses to resume operation.

New Xelabus route from Monday... or is it?

Xelabus have registered a new route, the X5, to run from Monday. A look at their website for more details gives you just this message:

No timetable or even details of the route other than that it serves "Chandlers Ford Business Park".

Luckily, Traveline has more information. So if the route is launching on Monday, we should assume that it will look like this:

It links Southampton Airport Parkway railway station with Chandlers Ford railway station via part of Chestnut Avenue and some business parks. It'll provide some useful new links for people connecting at Parkway with the X4 to Hedge End, Unilink U1 into Southampton or even with the trains.

Here is a list of all stops that will be served:

...and here is the timetable:

Hopefully it will indeed launch on Monday and Xelabus will remember to put details of it on their website.

Here's a summary of all changes happening in the next couple of days. It looks like Wheelers WA is not now going to launch, due to the Velvet revival, but one early morning journey on the W1 will start from Hedge End:

31st August:

Stagecoach 69, Unilink U1, U2, U6, U9: Timetable changes.

1st September:
Wheelers W1, More X1/X2, Bluestar 5: Route & timetable change.
Xelabus X5: New route launches between Airport Parkway Station and Chandlers Ford.

2nd September:
More 112: Summer route & timetable ends, normal service resumes.