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.
If one catches the 46 to Sainsbury's at Lordshill. It is then possible to pick up a direct bus into Southampton every 8 minutes as against every 20 minutes for the Bluestar 1.
ReplyDeleteBoth the First 1 which runs every 10 minutes and the Bluestar 4 which runs every 30 minutes travel through Shirley giving one the choice of another High Street of good variety.
Or get off in Warren Avenue on the 46 and catch the 3 would be another good option
DeleteThat’s interesting. I haven't tried that one. I must give it a go.
DeleteSainsbury’s at Lordshill can be very useful while waiting for the 46, if one is running early on the return journey.
In addition to the supermarket there is also a Post Office and a Library with free internet access.
On the other hand Lordshill can at times be fairly exposed to the weather. My guess is that Warren Ave may prove to be a more sheltered location while waiting for ones connection.
Hardly surprising the service has been scrapped, Wheelers never advertised it!!!
ReplyDeleteQuite agree-The publicity for it was awful-No bus stop signs in Upper Shirley area or timecases-The publicity for the present W1 is no better in some areas within Southampton-The state of tendered bus routes in the Upper Shirley area such as S1 and S2 is a disgrace-The council have failed to provide bus stop flags or any timetable cases for most of the S1 although the S2 fairs slightly better-It's no surprise the public don't use the services as you would not think along some sections it was even on a bus route-I like all these various councillors attending unvielings of new buses and giving speeches about how they in Southampton support public transport and in the next breath the council announce cuts to the transport funding amoungst other cuts in the future-It's no wonder we have nearly all turned to our own transport,even on high frequent routes which seem most days to be highly unreliable-Last Tuesday I waited outside Asda by the Marlands for a Bluestar 18 to get home-I waited from 1224 until 1250 before a bus arrived and when it did there were three of them to choose from-This is common daily on this service even when there are no particular obstacles en route to cause this situation-Could have used a First 9 to get home,however none of these arrived either as First interwork the 9 with the 8 which causes problems most days-Must state while waiting all the other Bluestar services to Totton and beyond and all the Uni-Link services were operating as sheduled-Although withdrawn months,ago a now distant memory, Wheeler's W3 is still shown in most timecases over the route it followed in Southampton-Vincent's Walk still shows it on the flag-Wonder how long it will take to remove it together now with the W2-Portswood Waitrose stop towards City not only still shows W3 in the timecase but also W1 which does not even stop there-Where the council have provided flags along main corridors these are all in splendid condition although in many instances have route numbers that no longer apply,not their fault as operators keep changing routes or withdrawing them-Where First still have their own flags most are now in such a disgusting state, even on high profile routes such as 1,3 and 7 I would have thought someone by now would have tried to improve the image-All Bluestar flags where they provide their own are in excelent condition as are Uni-Link-Along West End Road between The Big Cheese and Beauworth Avenue where First no longer operate the flags have been removed,so nothing for Brijan 7 or Velvet B4 and empty timecases where they have remained with the stops that have shelters-It has to be stated Brijan is very very poor at publicity within Southampton,not even a timetable in Bargate Street the terminus of the 7-Here again they just hope the council will provide it,although in, if I might loosely state, it's own teritory, the stops do have timetables i.e.West End through to Bishop's Waltham-Some of these operators need to up their game with publicity in trying to stem the decline in usage of their services which I'm sure in many cases is now too late-I can see a lot more services being withdrawn in the near future-PAC
DeleteAside from the roadside publicity issues, a route like the W2 was highly unlikely to be a long-term success with such limited times of operation.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, Wheeler's own website publicity also appears to have been neglected, with a backlog of missing and (with the W2) outdated timetables.
We had to pop down to Southampton after our grand child was born some three months ago. It was good to see bus information readily available at the information office just inside the Hospital entrance (open on a Sunday as well). But nothing visible about Wheelers.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit of a timetable nut so obtained a copy of a booklet Wheelers had issued from Ebay (of all places) but was a little disappointed with its style and content. Not what I would have expected from a company trying to get into this field and keen to promote itself.
The 3 is the most direct, but the S1 is often faster at peak times (ie, when it's not doing the slow loop through Shirley) because it's more likely to turn up on time, doesn't get stuck on Shirley High St and spends less time waiting for passengers to get on, argue with the driver about where they're going, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who actually used the W2, I was astonished to find out it existed and wasn't surprised no-one used it. The bus stop I use is unmarked except for the markings on the road, which being a busy road are usually covered up by cars...