Ringwood's most recent link was run by Velvet, but Gardbus have tried before: route 39 ran between July and September 2011.
We'll let you know as soon as the timetable is out.
In other news, our sister blog, Great British Bus Routes, has run a feature on Bluestar 6 to Lymington, detailing things to see and do all along the route. It also contains other posts about interesting bus routes from all around the country.
It will be interesting to see how the 139 fares.
ReplyDeleteFrom the FB pages the service will run for twelve Sundays and could be open-top. Will it then qualify for concessionary pass use, seeing that it is also limited stop?
ReplyDeleteAs it covers part(s) of NFT, I wonder what More and BlueStar will react. There does seem to be some needle developing the 132 Ringwood/ Ferndown / Wimborne service , where Gardbus impinges on More's 38 and 13 and More is to run a rival Ringwood circular. Gard also has other irons in the fire. From FB 18/4:
"Gardbus require owner drivers with New Forest District Council private hire vehicles and licences for our business expansion starting in Autumn 2014 for further details please call Simon on 01425 479068 we also require part time taxi drivers with New Forest District Council licences to drive our vehicles."
Lastly, how attractive as a means to reach Soton will it be, given the long way round??
Timetable is up. ( sorry for my act of usurpation).
ReplyDeletehttp://gardbus.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/gardbus-139.pdf
Think for length of ride to Soton, I'd need Anusol.
Here is the link for the 139 timetable www.gardbus.co.uk/introducing-route-139/
ReplyDeleteIt is planned to operate service 139 throughout the year but this servic will only serve Paultons Park on days when the park is open. Service 139 will serve all bus stops along the route and is not a limited stop service. It is planned to use an open top bus subject to availability during the summer months on this service but during the winter one of our optare solos will be used. The service is designed to provide links across several areas of the New Forest To Paultons Park and Southampton giving a more leisurely ride rather than an express service to Southampton which is already well covered from Ringwood by National Express.
We are also expanding the business to include private hire cars as we regularly recieve requests for hire of smaller vehicles and this also brings us an opportunity to enter the demand responsive bus service market using taxi buses.
Simon Gard
Operations Manager
Gardbus
Simon, Interesting info about the new 139 service, hope it is successful. Could you let us know what open top vehicle will be used on the service please?
DeleteThank you! But the registration says Limited Stop.
ReplyDelete"SIMON ALAN GARD - PH1099035/7
Registration Number:
Variation Number 0
Status Registered
Operator Name SIMON ALAN GARD
Service Number(s) 139
Start Point Ringwood, Meeting House Lane
Finish Point Southampton, West Quay
Via Paultons Park
Service Type Limited Stop
Date Received 01-MAY-2014
Effective Date 29-JUN-2014
End Date -
TAOs covered by route West of England
Local Authorities covered by route Hampshire Council
Southampton City Council
N&P Reference 2503"
This appears to be an error on the registration posted online, we have contacted the traffic commissioners and they have confirmed the registration documents sent show as normal stopping service. Hopefully this will be rectified on the website shortly.
DeleteMany thanks
Simon Gard
Operations Manager
Gardbus