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- Bluestar 11: The peak-hour extensions to Cadnam will be withdrawn.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.
46 Bus.
ReplyDeleteSo now the bus which was specifically designed to get the residents of Hiltingbury, North Millers Dale and Valley Park to Southampton General Hospital no longer goes there.
You know it makes sense !!!!!
Presumably some bright spark in Hampshire County Council thought the residents of the above areas would be able to use the Wheelers W2 introduced last April, which also went to the General Hospital, in place of the 46.
Well I have news for Hampshire County Council the W2 was scrapped last month ( September ).
So now the residents of Hiltingbury, North Millers Dale and Valley Park have no direct or easy way of getting to this Hospital. Well Done Hampshire County Council !!!
Very sad reading-The Wednesday only 118 has run ever since I can remember-It was originally Hants and Dorset service 114 until in later life it was renumbered 118, but always ran just the once a week-Not a good day for public transport in Hampshire-Not only is it good news for car dealers in the Meon Valley,it's good news for car dealers throughout Hampshire-It would seem the Beeching style rail cuts of the 60's, have now become that of the bus industry for the early part of the 21st century-PAC
ReplyDeletePerhaps they will run 'rail replacement services' instead, effectively reversing some of Beechings cuts? /Sarcasm
DeleteUnfortunately the 118 has long out-survived its original purpose. Ringwood market used to be a traditional very busy "country" livestock market, when that ceased it became no different to any other town market, the older people who grew up going to market days have not been replaced because, amongst other reasons, there is no longer the experience of "going to market". However, as you say this is sad news because it is the end of piece of local history.certainly pre-dating my earliest records of 1958.
DeleteWell done to Xelabus who have offered better timetables than tendered - if only the big operators weren't so greedy. Stagecoach refusing to run early evening Winchester city routes commercially is particularly obnoxious when they are running to Romsey very late.
ReplyDeleteDeregulation and privatisation has finally destroyed all social responsibility from operators. These massive cuts throughout Hampshire will make Labours policy of re-regulation very attractive.
Ah, but in Havant (not in the Soton coverage) S'coach are running some previously HCC routes in the eves. 30/31 & 39, so they are not 100% bad boys!
DeleteHow does this make re-regulation attractive?
DeleteThe current situation is that a cash-strapped authority is swinging an axe around all over the place, making very severe cuts, some of which are utterly ridiculous.
Would you really want them in charge of the commercial stuff as well?
A dedicated transport authority will use the profit from the busy routes to provide the less profitable ones. Similar to the arrangements 50 years ago when councils agreed the network (and fares) with the operators (mainly nationalised or council owned). Buses and trains were clearly not suitable for deregulation and privatisation but many (me included) were lucky to make a lot of money from it. However my wages and conditions have suffered.
Delete"A dedicated transport authority will use the profit from the busy routes to provide the less profitable ones."
DeleteYeah right! Maybe at the start, but how long until the politicians realise that the "less profitable routes" can be cut to make savings. Cash strapped authority. "We're in the situation where we're running buses with only a couple of people on, it's not efficient, so we're cutting them" (i.e. exactly as now). They can cut the less profitable routes, and - oh look - what a surprise, the profits from the profitable routes have been diverted elsewhere in the council coffers.
And then they realise that, they can make even more savings by skimping on the profitable routes too. Cash strapped authority. "Well, it needs a frequency increase, but that would cost money, so we're not going to do it" (which is what happens in London).
I'm sure it would be a disaster.
At the end of the day, who would you prefer to have running buses?
Bus companies, accepting the weaknesses they may have?
Or politicians?
20 passengers each way Saturday on Brijan 17 to Petersfield is not worth supporting ? I suppose the reasoning is most of the route has services to other places so it is not essential. Go to Winchester or Fareham instead !
ReplyDeleteThere much less than that in my experience on a Sun 64 Winchester - Alton, apparently that's commercially viable - according to HCC anyhow.
ReplyDeleteSmart move HCC, smart move
ReplyDeleteIn Fareham where I live, cuts are also happening including the 26
"The full dossier of shame can be viewed in disgust" - is disgust on the south coast? Not heard of it before.
ReplyDeleteDepends which area you're taking about ;)
DeleteThe 20 passengers each way on Brijan 17 should live in one of the CANGO areas. Some of the CANGO buses don't carry 20 passengers in a day, yet they are spared any cuts. Why do HCC treat them as sacred cows?
ReplyDeleteThe following quote comes from feedback to the article in the Echo.
ReplyDeleteVery timely! I was going to rely on the Stagecoach 46 to convey me to Southampton General Hospital for Radiotherapy for my Prostate Cancer treatment once Hormone therapy treatment ended. Getting to SGH now will involve a much more complicated journey!
abhorrent
ReplyDelete/əbˈhɒr(ə)nt/
adjective
inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant.
synonyms: detestable, detested, hateful, hated, loathsome, loathed, despicable, despised, abominable, abominated, execrable, execrated, repellent, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, disgusting, distasteful, horrible, horrid, horrifying, awful, heinous, reprehensible, obnoxious, odious, nauseating, offensive, contemptible.
??????
DeleteCuts of this nature always seem to elicit support for operators who offer to carry on regardless. In most cases services are supported because they don't make any money for their operator. If people want sustainable public transport then operators need to make money to invest in the future. Running services at a loss is only a route to bankruptcy for the irresponsible operator and even less public transport for all of us
ReplyDeleteLarge operator's often (I believe) run services at a loss where there is competition, sometimes these are subsidised by rural cash cows.
ReplyDeleteQuite correct. Go South Coast enjoy monopolies in Salisbury and on the Isle of Wight which they abuse to the full.
DeleteIn turn they use those profits to prop up loss making services in Bournemouth, Poole and Southampton and fight a two way bus war. Where they enjoy a monopoly in those locations they abuse it - Lymington, parts of Poole and Blue*1 spring to mind immediately.
What are you talking about! We on the isle of wight enjoy one of the best bus services in the UK! The fares are cheap - The average age of the fleet is way below the industry average and we get a service every single day of the year! Including Christmas day - I notice their are no buses in Southampton on Christmas Day? This is because the company are able to make a long term investment in the fleet as they don't have to worry about other companies forcing them into an unsustainable price war!
DeleteAlso your comment about Morebus & Bluestar being unprofitable is untrue!
DeleteBluestar 1 has seen a recent investment in 8 new buses costing around £200,000 each!
Yes if only the rest of the UK was as stable as the IOW-PAC
DeleteSo, a bus company buys new buses that cost a lot of money. Plenty of unprofitable businesses buy new vehicles. You kind of need to buy new vehicles every so often to stop your old ones wearing out.
DeleteSouthern Vectis enjoys a monopoly because it has acted anti-competitively and flattened any competition that has come along - more recently going after small operators' school contracts forcing them out of business.
Fares on the Isle of Wight are on average are higher than on the mainland, and compare unattractively - £10 island day rover against the parallel Explorer ticket at £7.20 allowing travel on at least 5 different operators.
I hardly think you can call it a success when you measure it against other operators.
Fares on the IOW are eye wateringly expensive. £10 for a day Rover (valid on SV only) versus £5.90 for a First Hampshire Dayrider which covers a similar (or maybe slightly bigger) area, or £8 for a Solent Go day multi operator ticket which covers a much bigger area. Why do you think the Solent Go ticket is not valid on the IOW?
DeleteGSC fares are sometimes reasonable where they are in competition (such as Southampton or Bournemouth/Poole) but not elsewhere (try getting a GSC bus to Lymington from anywhere!!).
Yes GSC have bought 4 new buses for Bluestar; First have just bought 31 14 reg buses for Hoeford depot alone, as well as 18 new buses into Southampton depot!
The fact that Bluestar have got 4 new buses doesn't necessarily imply they are making a profit.
I think the IOW is a great success,where you can travel almost anywhere and don't have to worry about different types of tickets-If measured in operation with other operators in all my memory fares were always higher than on the mainland-Who the hell in their right mind would want loads of other operators on such a small island.
DeleteNo-one is arguing for that. What we are complaining about is the excessive profiteering by GSC on the Island which is being used to subsidise competition else where in Southampton and Bournemouth/Poole.
DeleteNot everyone on IOW has a concessionary pass! Some of us pay fares!
That may be true, but nonetheless there are differing attitudes among operators to the assessment of 'profitability'. Some will ruthlessly assess each individual journey, while others place a greater emphasis on providing an attractive overall package of service to sustain and grow the market, either at route level or even at network level.
ReplyDeleteOf course on routes that have no commercial potential the operator is merely a contractor of the council, and has no sensible option but to stop operations if the council decides to end the contract. That would apply to many of the rural or back-road routes that are being cut.
However where a route does have commercial potential or is a bolt on to a strong commercial network then a forward thinking operator will try to find a way to sustain it, in some form, if funding ends. For example if Stagecoach really do shut down the whole Winchester city network at 7pm then I think they will be making a mistake.
The above is in reply to Venturer 19:15
ReplyDeleteThe running down of service 46 continues! A few years ago it ran to Southampton City Centre via Shirley. This route was cut back to SG Hospital several years ago and will be pruned down to North Baddesley very soon. This in turn will reduce the revenue and turn it into an unattractive choice of travel.
ReplyDeleteApart from the college kids I never see many on it.
DeleteThere were a lot of ordinary members of the public already on the 46 yesterday afternoon when I boarded it.
DeleteWheelers have "won" the E1/E2 and Hythe town services
ReplyDeleteAll a bit worrying this rapid expansion of Wheeler's all over the place recently-Hope it's not going to turn out as others have done and suddenly go out of business-PAC
DeleteWhat doesn't inspire confidence is that Wheelers makes no mention on the website of any of the routes that they took on in Salisbury a few months ago.
DeleteReading the report in full, it says this about the 46:
ReplyDelete"The section of route between North Baddesley to Southampton General Hospital will no longer operate, due to low passenger numbers, approximately 12 per day each way"
The saving is £18,160, which if divided by 3600 passengers per annum (12x300 days, in round numbers) is a subsidy of £5 per passenger journey, which outstrips even that for community transport (a little below £4 per head).
It sounds to me like a sensible pruning.
There are two important things to consider when one is looking at that part of the 46 route which falls between North Baddesley and Southampton General Hospital.
Delete1) The number of students who travel over that part of the route during the day.
Many of whom have annual passes which the driver just glances at and then nods to them to carry on without pressing any buttons on his system. My wife and myself travelled to Lordshill a couple of weeks ago on the 1.00 pm 46 Winchester to Southampton General Hospital. There were at least 23 people on board that single decker bus; 50% of whom where still on board as we crossed over from North Baddesley to Rownhams . ( Yes; we did stop at the customs post on the bridge !! ) Half of the 50% left on board were students and when we got off at Lordshill there were at least half a dozen people going on past Lordshill.
2) The effect of Wheelers altering the route of their W2 bus.
Wheelers introduced the W2 last November giving the residents of Hiltingbury, North Millers Dale and Valley Park the ability to travel directly into the centre of Southampton. When this happened a certain number of people from Valley Park who had travelled on the 46 in both directions could now be seen on the W2 and less often on the 46.
In April Wheelers altered the route of the W2 in the hope of attracting more passengers, such that it now went via the Southampton General Hospital on its way to Southampton City centre. The W2 ran once an hour as against the 46’s once every two hours and Wheelers also timed it such that it
arrived at the bus stops in Hiltingbury and Valley Park a few minutes before the 46 was due at the same bus stop. As a result people who were waiting for the 46 quickly learnt about the W2 and started to use that in place of the 46.
No doubt the spring and summer months when the altered W2 ran, were the times when HCC were compiling their passenger figures and making their plans taking into account that their was an alternative service ( W2) ready to take over the SGH section from their cuts to the 46.
Well I am sorry to tell you HCC but the Wheelers W2 has gone. Not only that but Xelabus have also gone from Valley Park. The residents of Valley Park have the 46 as their only bus service and low and behold they are starting to use it more than ever before. Not only am I seeing people I have never before seen on the 46 travelling to Winchester, but local people including total strangers can be seen travelling distances on the 46 in the direction of Southampton General Hospital.
The waving through of pass holders happens on many other routes either because the ticket machine has a problem or as you state the driver just waves them through. I doubt the true ridership beyond North Baddesley to General Hospital or return is fully accurate as is the case on many other routes. To much is relied on nowadays with technology, which in many cases is faulty
DeleteThe local Lib Dems are petitioning to reverse the most damaging cuts to services. you can sign the petition at www.winld.org.uk/bus
ReplyDeleteIt would have more sense if they had participated in the deliberations before the cuts were decided. starting a petition now is a total waste of time (as frankly are the Lib Dems).
DeleteFrankly they would be better suggesting what else HCC could cut in order to save enough money to restore some of these cuts. but they won't do that because they haven't a clue, frankly. Perhaps they could start by getting their councillors to take no allowances?? Thought not!
Perhaps the local Lib Dems might reflect on why they persist in propping up this Government before briefing against 'Policy'
DeleteWheelers have also "won" two town routes in Andover!
ReplyDeleteWith such a far flung empire, it will be for Wheeler's, if they take on contracts in Eastleigh,Hythe,Andover as has been suggested, very interesting to note, how when if a vehicle breakdown occurs, it will take to replace a vehicle to resume service-PAC
DeleteI hate the Tories
ReplyDelete| agree,not just the present Conservative Government but some past Conservative Governments with their Privatizations of Public Utilities.They said it would be good to increase competition to improve services HO HO
DeleteHow can any tenders be won as I'm sure HCC have not done the paperwork that quickly? Also, no one has mentioned the fact that a local council (like Eastleigh has done with the original Sunday "A") could offer to step-up & contract out a service.
ReplyDeleteFor "won" read "preferred bidder"
ReplyDeleteDidn't know the routes had been put out for bids yet!
DeleteAnon said "However where a route does have commercial potential or is a bolt on to a strong commercial network then a forward thinking operator will try to find a way to sustain it, in some form, if funding ends. For example if Stagecoach really do shut down the whole Winchester city network at 7pm then I think they will be making a mistake."
ReplyDeleteI quite agree - my comment about running at a loss will only lead to bankruptcy needs to be viewed as being valid for entire routes or groups of routes. If a passenger cannot get home from the Station in the evening then the operator has probably lost a trip to the Station in the morning, and hence has lost double the revenue taken on the threatened journeys.
Stagecoach's evening services in Winchester do generally run shortly after fast trains arrive from London so they are undoubtedly aware of the importance of commuter traffic on these services. I wouldn't be surprised to see at least some journeys retained, regardless of what the HCC report may say.
Prob run a few up to say 2000hrs then call stop.
DeleteIn addition to the withdrawal of the 26, I have it on good authority that First will be making further changes to their commercial network in Southampton in January. These include a cut in frequency of the 1 to every 15 minutes Mon - Sat daytime (from the current frequency of 10 minutes), Sunday services on the 8 reducing to hourly, and a reduction of service 11 back to every 10 minutes from the current 7/8 minute frequency. It's also very likely that service 5 will be disappearing completely, conceding Bassett Green to Unilink.
ReplyDeleteTumultuous times ahead it seems.
If the 1 goes to 15 minutes it would be a good idea to merge with the 9 as they both have similar running times in the day (between about 0600 and 2000). It would also bring back connections between Lordshill to Shirley and Sholing (just like the days of the popular 7 and 27 of CityBus)
DeleteIt probably won't happen but would be a good idea
No surprises here at all-As usual First in Southampton so called planners just don't know what to alter nextand seem to lurch from one disaster to another-Surprised the 12 is not mentioned as well-The 5 has been on the cards for sometime
DeleteThe 5 should have been cut years ago - The Basset Green section has a fantastic service courtesy of Unilink while First seam to have focused on the 9 for the Sholing area - Whats needed is a competing service between Sholing and Southampton via Woolston as it would be a much quicker journey time then the 9
ReplyDeleteI note the Bluestar changes to services affected by HCC cuts are now shown on their website with timetables to be displayed later on this week-PAC
ReplyDeleteNew timetable as from 4th January 2015 for service 5 and 6 now showing on the Bluestar website-The Sunday service on service 6 has survived-PAC
Delete46 Bus.
ReplyDeleteThe new timetable comes into effect on the 4th January 2015.
Nice to see the direct service between Eastleigh and Hiltingbury restored again on Mondays to Saturdays by Xelabus as from 4th January 2015-I would imagine the residents in the Hiltingbury area will be delighted with this-It does however have it's pitfalls with splitting the stops at Chandler's Ford Precinct and now just one bus per hour direct to Oakmount and Fryern Hill but maintains the half hourly frequency on Velmore-Difficult area to serve between Chandler's Ford and Hiltingbury as many options have been tried in the past-PAC
ReplyDeleteI note on the Salisbury Reds information for 4th January 2015 changes that service 34 will be withdrawn and replaced by an X7R,but no mention of the 35 or 39 being withdrawn-Although no timetable published on the site at present,it looks as if Totton may be reconnected during the day with Romsey once again at certain times-PAC
ReplyDelete