There is also a big reduction in evening journeys on the remainder of the 8. The last bus from town currently leaves at 2245 (1800 on Sundays), but after 19th July it will be at 2025 (still 1800 on Sundays), making an evening out in the city centre more difficult for those living in Peartree, Chartwell Green, West End and Hedge End not to mention Botley.
That last bus on the 8 is also the last bus of the evening towards Hedge End, as both Bluestar 3 and Xelabus X11 stop running even earlier than that.
Botley and the northern part of Hedge End have their railway stations, which will make getting home still possible for some. Here are the evening train times to get back to Botley the week after the changes to the 8 come into effect:
In other news, Bluestar's New Forest Tour starts again this weekend for the summer season.
A shame really that Botley Station is in fact in Curdridge,so still quite a walk to the centre of Botley-However still not quite yet cut off entirely from public transport,but a good step in the right direction of eventually doing so.
ReplyDeleteI note from a posting this afternoon by Bluestar that from the 4th July 2015 they will be operating a new service named the South Downs Rambler-3 journeys each way between Winchester and Petersfield on Saturdays,Sundays and Bank Holidays-Looking at the route, it's way back in history that Cheesefoot Head last saw a bus-This service will also serve Exton and Winchester Hill.
ReplyDeleteOf course there is public money for special tourist buses, but none for the local people.
DeleteThat's an interesting set of priorities at HCC.
Wonder what Stagecoach think of this new service?
Someone at the South Downs National Park told me that they are paying for the service, not Hampshire council
DeleteI'm sure they are and not HCC-However there is no straight forward policy on these special services-New Forest Summer services in the main don't accept concessionary passes, but other funded services by National Parks do-It's no wonder the general public get confused-Another major problem reading operators websites and nothing to do with funding,is the fact that on many days during the Summer there has to be diversions due to carnivals or other activities-The bus company involved publishes the diversion involved,but in loads of instances the drivers do something else and leave potential passangers stranded-How does this happen?-There is something very wrong somewhere along the line,and it's no wonder the public get p*****d off and just hate travelling by bus-In the 1960's when I worked for a bus operator this situation would have been unthinkable,and if it did occur heads would have rolled top to bottom
DeleteSouth downs National Park may well be paying for the service but who is paying for the concessionary passholders who travel free? If it is HCC then that is money out of the public transport budget that won't be spent on subsidising socially necessary services. The inevitable result will be cuts to supported services. If this is aimed at tourists, why should concessionary passes be accepted?
DeleteQuite agree but who knows what goes on in this crazy so called deregulated bus industry
DeleteWhy does everyone have to be so negative on this site?
DeleteCommentators just post as they themselves see a situation.There is nothing wrong with this as we all have different views on a subject
DeleteI agree the majority of comments are pretty negative and probably good reason for me to view this blog on a less frequent basis
DeleteIt is regretable that bus services are dissappearing at an alarming rate, but this country has such a love affair with their cars.
DeleteIncreasing frequencies, days of operation etc. will not get people out of their cars.
So do we have to look to London where the congestion charge probably forces folk out of their cars? They tried that in Manchester, but the 'public' overwhelmingly rejected the proposition.
Even more justification for folk to get the car out and ignore the few buses that are left!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to note also that concessionary passes are also valid on this service whereas on the New Forest Tours they arn't-All a bit of a mixture really-Would not think that Stagecoach would be over concerned about this operation-A rather late posting by Bluestar of the service,which I would have thought would have had to go out to tender in the beginning,but who knows in this 21st centurary crazy bus world
ReplyDeleteI'm very surprised to note that whilst flood prevention steps are being done in Hambledon,it seems only necessary to operate one journey for shoppers with a minibus Mondays to Fridays between Hambledon and Denmead-The surprise is that under normal circumstances Hambledon enjoys an hourly X9 service which is supported by HCC-Do I take it that HCC are throwing money at a service that would seem not to require an hourly service between the two points
ReplyDeleteWould it be possible for someone at Southampton Bus Update to try to post an accurate assesment of what is possibaly happening at one of our local operators, as I keep noting various conflicting reports on certain sites,which I'm sure is very upsetting for their staff to read,and they should not have too read these postings
ReplyDeleteThe timetable for the Beach Bus is now being shown on Traveline-Note the services has been renumbered from 112 to 99
ReplyDeleteA full more detailed timetable plus map is now being displayed on Traveline for the South Downs Rambler to be operated by Bluestar
ReplyDeleteLast time I got a cab from Botley to Hedge End at 10.30 it was £9
ReplyDeleteProbably £20 now