Evening journeys on the X4 and evening and Sunday journeys on the X7 are transferring to Xelabus with immediate effect. It is not yet clear what will happen with the other route Velvet ran under contract to Hampshire County Council: the E8. The council will be looking to sign up another operator to run it at short notice but until then, it will not be running. Bluestar have said that they will take over running routes S1, S2 and B4 under contract to Southampton City Council from tomorrow, Thursday 17th July.
The A was their only remaining commercial route. Wheelers have registered to run a new route, the WA, between Southampton and Hedge End starting 1st September. Officially they have to give 56 days notice, but it appears that they have been granted an exemption in order to start running the WA from tomorrow, Thursday 17th July. Passengers between Southampton and Hedge End can also use Bluestar 3 or First 8.
Route M between Eastleigh and Marwell Zoo is also no longer running, which is bad news for the zoo right at the start of the summer school holidays. Hopefully another operator will step in to run this vital link to one of our region's biggest attractions.
Velvet was always well respected and it is sad to see them go. They started with what was then route A between Eastleigh and Hedge End and route C between Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford after Bluestar withdrew from those routes. Then there was a war with Bluestar on the Eastleigh to Fair Oak corridor and also on what was then route B between Eastleigh and Southampton via Boyatt Wood, Velmore and Bassett. Bluestar won both of those squabbles (and withdrew their Beep Bus as soon as Velvet B has been withdrawn), but Velvet soldiered on and carved a niche for itself as the quality local operator, picking up tenders from Southampton City and Hampshire County Councils as well as launching a commercial route between Southampton and Hedge End.
Then routes became unviable, contracts were lost to Xelabus and reports appeared in the Echo that Velvet were having financial problems. A merger with Xelabus was cancelled at the last minute, before Velvet's original route between Eastleigh and Hedge End was transferred to Xelabus on a commercial basis.
More recently, the registration by Wheelers of a route between Southampton and Hedge End threatened Velvet with a bus war on their only remaining commercial route. It's a sad end to a high quality local bus operator.
Share your memories of Velvet in the comments section below.
A real tragedy
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed travelling on their buses, customer service was excellent, very reliable, Velvet, we will miss you
It looks like the WA route by Wheelers will be the Velvet A's replacement
I'm sure like most other people, this headline has been a case of when rather than if. In all honesty, the company died once Phil Stockley decided to work on the challenge that is TM Travel in Derbyshire.
ReplyDeleteI've always admired Velvet and they've always done things that little bit different. From the social media which apart from recently has been honest and fair which won them far more supporters than the big groups could ever imagine, through to a different website and making public transport a fun thing to be involved in. It doesn't have to be so serious!
I am upset for the staff of Velvet who essentially make the company what it is and I'm hopeful that they will find employment elsewhere as it is no stain on their CVs.
It's just a shame it had to come to such a sticky end. The embarrassment with Xelabus was the worst part of it all for me and showed some serious failings, one which the management of Xelabus enjoyed just a little bit too much for my liking but there we are.
Good luck with TMT Phil. All I will say though is, let's hope the going doesn't get quite as tough there. Maybe the purple paint has a new home?
What a sad day, although most of us suspected that this would happen-I hope all the drivers will find jobs quickly with other operators-I shall miss those purple buses passing by my door each day and certainly miss travelling on them with their friendly drivers-In what has happened I hope Wheeler's will be allowed to start his Wa earlier than anticipated and operators for the other services are found quickly-PAC
ReplyDeleteFurther to my post it has been announced by Bluestar that as from Thursday 17th July 2014 they will be taking over S1-S2-B4 and 502 on behalf of SCC-PAC
ReplyDeleteWe at Xelabus are taking over the 503, X7 Sundays, Bank Holidays and Thurs, Fri and Sat evenings plus X4 Thurs, Fri and Sat late journeys from tonight.
ReplyDeletePHILIP BLAIR
Managing Director
Xelabus Limited
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleterather rude of you there I might say
DeleteBluestar aren't a bad company but we all have our own opinions
Ok so you don't like us! Well we have stepped in to give children free travel for rest of the term so they can still get to school. We have stepped in tonight to provide continuity of service for what would have been velvet customers. Bunch of useless fools? I thought this site was to inform not to insult?
ReplyDeletePHILIP BLAIR
Managing Director
Xelabus Limited
Mr Blair - one insult comment (that I have not seen) is the bad apple in the bunch. I say well done Xelabus for stepping in. Thank you.
DeleteGive Xelabus credit, and Bluestar as well. At least they've took on the work at short notice.
ReplyDeletewow, for some reason my dislike for xelabus can keep on growing even when they are pretending to help, after undermining Velvet they then try and look like the good guys. Joke!!! cannot wait to see Xelabus go this way as well. Given how they run it cannot be long, shame it was not the other way round,
ReplyDeleteYeah. I agree with this guy!
DeleteWhilst you have your own reasons for a dislike of Xelabus they too have drivers that would be put out of a job should this happen-It's been bad enough for Velvet drivers to have been put in this position without wishing it to happen to any operator elsewhere in the area - PAC
DeleteI've removed an earlier comment because it was insulting and added nothing constructive to the discussion. Please try to keep it civil on here. Good on Bluestar and Xelabus for taking on Velvet's routes at short notice and making sure that people aren't left stranded. I've noticed in the Twitter feeds in the panel on the right, both First and Bluestar have invited Velvet drivers to apply to work for them. A sign of how well Velvet was regarded, even amongst its competitors.
ReplyDeleteHere,Here.I did not view the removed comment and glad I did not- but am happy to see most of the situation will have been addressed by tomorrow morning, and thank all operators and others involved in doing it so remarkabaly quickly - Well done to all involved in keeping the impact to potential customers not to painful-PAC
DeleteWheelers will be operating the A from tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eastleighnews.co.uk/2014/07/velvet-buses-cease-trading/
Velvet had polite friendly drivers and will be missed. Good luck to all their drivers in the future. I wont be saying the same when Xelabus fold.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of Velvet's closure and my sympathies go out to the staff and Phil.
ReplyDeleteAt least Phil put his money where his mouth was and tried to do something his way, so many preach about how easy it is to run buses, yet so few get into the industry, and apply for an operators licence and try to set themselves apart from the 'average' operations.
Failure is the flip side of taking risks in business. The other side is that you develop into a successful business and one that becomes very large. Stagecoach began with 1 bus and it grew.......
velvet was a good firm good lot of staff the roads of Southampton and Eastleigh will not be the same again without them
ReplyDeleteAn interesting range of comments on what is; the loss of a popular operator.
ReplyDeleteLots of praise for companies standing in at short notice on routes.... yes and no. On commercial routes I agree but many of these were council tenders, so an almost guaranteed income (everyone likes easy money) so it not surprising they got snapped up quick to make it look good at re-tendering time.
Also a lot of comments about the Blair's and Xelabus. Now I am not a fan of their operation; I think they have done some things that have damaged the reputation of public transport as well as doing the good of trying to introduce competition to the area. I will leave my comments about the company to that so I do not say things that will get this comment removed.
It is hard for a small independent to turn a profit though and I thought the writing was on the wall when stories were circulating about Velvet being barricaded in their yard by a disgruntled contractor a few months back (or maybe longer?) - it is a shame to see purple go though.
It is not always easy to find drivers at short notice these days, particularly when you are entering the holiday season and often many have gone over to 'coaching' with other firms for the summer. Yes you want to snap up the routes, and you may have a spare driver but not always 'just like that'!
ReplyDeleteI would guess (being involved elsewhere in the south east) that any replacement arrangements will initially be short term e.g. until September. When the longer tenders are issued they will be awarded on lowest cost - just as has happened here a few times recently.
Bluestar have just confirmed that they will be running the M. The timetable looks the same as the old velvet one and the fares look broadly the same but with the benefit of passengers being able to use Southampton Plus tickets so you easily change buses in Eastleigh
ReplyDeleteSympathies to Phil and all his staff on the demise of Velvet
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see Bluestar and Wheelers both mention the routes they are taking on, the former in good detail. No mention yet by Xelabus.
Sad to see as the last act of Velvet that its website does not show any details of who is taking on their routes - most unlike PS who takes great pride in his customer interaction
Lots of comments on this site but I think best left at this stage - it is easy to run things in hindsight. Has anyone else seen the drivel written on the Echo site - makes the worst comments on sotonbus seem excellent
Hope all staff find a suitable position soon
Well Southern Evening Echo have always been noted for drivel as can be noted for any operator who changes their services and issues a statement in what they are doing--They print what they want and not what is actually happening-Why anyone buys this local rag I don't know-Does more harm to the local community than a bomb dropping from a alien nation
DeleteApparently Excetera bus from surrey has taken over Velvet and its back on the road
ReplyDeleteA Tweet from Velvetbus today (Friday 18 July):
ReplyDelete"Velvet A, B4, S1 and S2 are all running as normal today - we have new owners and we're back on the road!"
I have just taken a look at the Velvet website and whilst it still doesn't give any information on the new ownership its timetable pages have been updated.
ReplyDeleteThose still listed are the A, B4, M, S1, S2, and 502.
Those no longer showing are the E8 (evening Eastleigh to Boyatt Wood), X4 (evening Eastleigh to West End and Hedge End), X7 (evening and Sunday Eastleigh to Chandlers Ford) and 503 (Barton Peverill College to Thornden School)
I live 100 miles away - has there been no local report or anyone seeing this?
http://www.xelabus.info/ showing some info on home page
ReplyDelete