See further details and the timetable for the new Bluestar 16 here.
There are also minor timetable changes to Bluestar 18. See the new timetable here.
Some Bluestar fares are changing from Sunday 4th October. Details here.
In other news, there's been no word yet of any replacement for Wheelers E1/E2 between Eastleigh and Winchester, which are currently scheduled to end on 10th October.
The E1 route via Colden Common is already covered by Xelabus X9 from Eastleigh and Stagecoach 69 from Winchester, albeit not via Stanmore or the County Hospital. The E2 route is less well covered with Bluestar 1 providing an alternative between Winchester and Otterbourne (again not via County Hospital or Stanmore) but Otterbourne loses its direct bus to Eastleigh.
Nowhere can I find a clear notice that the E1 and E2 are going, but there's also no mention of what happens to them from 11th October, so for now the only reasonable assumption is that they will be withdrawn.
I note also no mention on the Wheeler's site as to it's future.Even the HCC website which by this time of the month would show service changes has so far displayed nothing for October 2015.Not much help for those who might wish to plan ahead.
ReplyDeleteBluestar are set to give worst bus a bloody nose,when they compete with worst`s no.3!I have spoken to a few people now who welcome the new Bluestar service,all saying the no.3 is extremely unreliable.Bluestar will have far more chance of better timekeeping ,as it won`t be a cross city route.
ReplyDeleteSo that is the official Bluestar marketing department explanation as to why B* 18 has FAR worse timekeeping than the First 2 or 10 which runs down the same roads.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see whether this is borne out in practice when the 17 commences. My observations are that First make an attempt to regulate services and get them back on track when they are late whilst Bluestar don't seem to bother, except by accident, when they truncate 18s at City when no driver is available, which seems to be happening more and more.
BTW its usual to leave a space between complete sentences in English. More training required in the Bluestar marketing department. Perhaps you should concentrate on producing better maps, and then your lack of command of the English language might not be so obvious.
As has been explained the Bluestar 18 is cross City whereas the 2 and 10 are not therefor the frequency gaps tend to be more reliable.Perhaps if you were a bus driver and had to operate the 18 you would have some understanding of why it runs late at times.First do regulate their services better in putting them back where they should be,but in doing so it costs the loss of a service in one direction or the other.Perhaps you should concentrate more on the fact as to why bus operators have problems than worrying about the command of the English language people have when posting on this site
DeleteI understand completely why the cross city 18 bunches more than the 2 & 10. My point was that the original post said that the 17 will give First a bloody nose because it was not cross city, which is a bit rich considering that the 18 (Bluestar's flagship route) is cross city. Iin my daily experience, travelling from Thornhill to City and beyond, the 3 is more reliable than the 18, but the 2 and 10 are considerably more reliable than either the 3 or the 18. I would expect the 17 to be slightly more reliable than the 3 but it seems to me that Shirley is the major problem and it will still need to go through there.
DeleteI feel sorry for (some of) the drivers on the 18 because they appear to have impossible schedules to keep (why Bluestar think it is a good idea not to extend 18 running times during peak periods is quite beyond me - First are more enlightened and do add some journey time in the peaks). That fact added to First's more proactive regulation means the customer gets a better (though far from perfect) service - so much so that my commute is more reliable using First and changing in the City than using the 18..
Re the comment re command of English it was a throwaway comment in response to a childish comment on another thread. It is not important in the overall scheme of things I agree. Point taken.
Yes it's interesting that Blurstar give no extra running time at peaks to the 18 but continually alter the 1 to allow for differing peak conditions or they have done over the years.Whilst First in the City Centre do have regulators,it's rare to see one at the same point belonging to Bluestar.They do exist so i'm informed but rarely have I yet to see one,and when there is one it's quite common for them to be taken away for some other purpose.The drivers are then left to their own devises,which is not always the best option for the customer
DeleteThere will be no difference with the operation of the Bluestar 17 in reliability to that of the present First 3 and anyone who thinks different is not in this world.Because of continual roadworks all over Southampton and the density of traffic day in and day out,there is no operator that has the remotest chance of running to a published timetable.Even with the recent introduction of First 10 against Bluestar 18 most days you can observe vehicles running in bunches and the 10 doesn't even cross the City.Where I live there should be a bus in either direction from the stop I use, at least by the timetable information displayed about every two minutes during the day. It's quite common to come out for a bus of either company serving the stop and having to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus to appear.It's an absolute nonsense to suggest Bluestar are going to give First a bloody nose or that First will give Bluestar a bloody nose in some alteration to a service they might make.All I see is more empty buses trundling up and down the roads which just add to the chaos we already have.
ReplyDeleteIt would help if buses had pull-ins at stops,something which seems to be few and far between ,then buses wouldn`t keep holding up all the traffic,which is a right pain in areas like Shirley.
DeleteUnfortunately, the bus laybys which were provided years ago are, in most cases, too small for the buses now in use. When a bus can use the facility, the car drivers don't let it out again, on the Southampton car drivers' "ME FIRST!" mentality and, of course, the Council uses buses as a form of mobile 'traffic calming'.
DeleteShirley Road has been a problem for a number of years, since some clown felt it would be a good idea to widen the pavements for shoppers, forgetting about the need to park their cars and provide passing places for other vehicles to pass buses at stops.
It's all very well to have lay-bys for buses to pull into,but then once the bus is in them the driver has the headache of trying to get out of them,with very few people giving way.Years ago there were more lay-bys provided but then some councils decided to remove them at certain points as it was much more advantageous for the bus to block the road whilst loading or unloading as this slowed down the speeding motorists in built up areas.Please some and upset others it would seem
ReplyDeleteJust shows you how different things are when the bus companies do their own bus stop timetable publicity as opposed to the Council doing it for them.The rerouted 16 has at present along the rerouted section no timtable information provided at any stop between Bitterne and City that I have noted.If it had been left to Bluestar this information would have been posted at the stops at least four days before the start of the new timetable.In Bitterne this morning apart from the service number now on the flags,theres no information whatsoever.The Council and it's contractors most certainly need to pull their socks up in the way they provide information to potential bus customers.
ReplyDeleteGood Afternoon
ReplyDeleteXelabus has been informed not to provide timetable information between Bitterne and Central Station for the X10 (to City) and X11.
The legible bus network timetable panels are provided for SCC.
We have noticed various stops missing our services and these have been reported to the authority.
Customer Services
Xelabus Limited
Adelaide Health centre stop still showing VELVET info as is a timetable display case at Eastleigh bus station
DeleteYou at some stops still have your own out of date publicity left in them by whoever is suppose to do the job.Not in any way your fault but I have never seen such a mess with who at the Council is responsible for the new arrangement.They want to employ someone who knows what they are doing
ReplyDeleteWhen looked at most of these Council produced timetables are also riddled with errors for most operators when you look at them, such as incorrect frequencies,showing journeys running every day when they don't run on Schooldays.I agree they want to employ someone who knows what they are doing in producing them in the first place,plus a contractor that knows exactly what stop each service departs from.
ReplyDeleteI note that the £5 weekly ticket offer on Bluestar 18 has now been withdrawn.Bluestar might have done their selves a favour in posting this fact on their website to customers which they have not done so.I note lately that at Bluestar things seem to be getting very slack with information to the public in some instances.
ReplyDeleteHCC have now updated their website and now show planned changes for October 2015.In what is shown there is no reference to any changes to service E1/E2.Indeed a mystery
ReplyDeleteI don't know why it should be,but rarely when I use a First bus in Southampton of the Sreetlite variety does the driver when pulling into a bus stop not clip the front end of the bus,scraping along the pavement kerb stones.Over a period of time the damage to these vehicles will be quite considerable
ReplyDeleteWhat I have seen so far in SCC provision to bus stop timetables and information on the revised service 16 is bloody aweful-It;s quite clear at SCC there is no one remortely interested in in bus travel within Southampton.Never seen anything so shoddy in all my years of living in Southampton in the way of publicity.Best option is get your own private transport.
ReplyDeleteWent into Southampton this evening for a drink via Bitterne Park.You can see when Councils are left to provide bus stop publicity and the operator told not to do so,what a bloody mess it all is.Although I must presume Bluestar have removed the 16 timetables,the flags still show the service on them, but on the revised route no timetable information whatsoever.What a state to get into, when I thought Councils were trying to promote the use of buses.Maybe they are but not in Southampton it would seem
ReplyDeleteClearly it's a poor state of affairs in Southampton, but I have to strongly disagree with your generalisation that it's a "bloody mess" when councils are left to do the stops. In Surrey, Surrey CC do all of the stops, with the operators not allowed to touch them, and they do an excellent job. Knowing the local operators, I imagine it would be a complete disaster if it *wasn't* the council who did it!
DeleteIt depends who has the desire and the attention to detail. In east Hampshire, in Stagecoach land, some stops are council ones while others are done by the operators - it's a complete mess and one even has the Stagecoach stripes logo on it!
My reference to bloody mess refers to information in Southampton.I'm sure other councils do a good job and it plain that SCC needs to up its game.It's very poor at present, and in who does it needs desire and attention to detail as you suggest
DeleteWith respect, your original post clearly talks about councils (plural) and doesn't single out Southampton, but yes, I agree.
DeleteWhy do Bluestar HAVE to remove their timetables? Is their some kind of law that says they can't have their own publicity at a stop if they supply the casing?
ReplyDeleteI am reliably informed that First will be running the E1/E2 from 12th October, and that the first two morning journeys and last two evening journeys will extend in service to/from Portswood via Parkway Station and Wessex Lane.
ReplyDeleteI note since yesterday SCC have placed at most stops along the Bitterne corridor revised timetable information that now includes Bluestar 16.It's also noted that where there were many errors on certain times and information to some services,they in the main have now been corrected.However in Bitterne Shopping Centre towards City you will for the moment note the following.The two timecases on the stop for all services that run via Northam show in one service 3.8,9,10,16 and the one in the shelter shows 18,X10,X11 and W1.These services should have been put in the other timecase on the bus stop,but instead this shows departures for 6,8,9,11,12 and X7 from the Central Station. The other bus stop for services via Woolston in the timecase only shows the 13, as of course the 9 has wrongly been put on the other stop.Will they ever get it right.The bus stop by the Flower Shop towards Bitterne shows on the flag the Bluestar 3 as stopping there which of course it doesn't as it still uses the Gyratory Road.Many cases still have Xelabus information displayed in them which was done by them orriginaly,so is out of date.Even this morning where new SCC timetable information has been put up,these have been left and not removed.Might I add not the fault of Xelabus as they have been told not to provide information for X10/X11 along this corridor as the Council and it's contractors would attend to it.The main problem is the contractor just puts timetables in cases where they are told too and whoever is doing it more than likely has no knowledge of what services use a particular stop.I wonder just how many times they are going to have to visit a particular stop to get it more or less right for the public.
ReplyDeleteAs an update to the above the departure times from Central Station have now been removed,but instead of putting the card in the shelter into the case,a new time card has been placed in the timecase which now omits service 18,however underneath what is now in there someone has put a B* pocket timetable for B*16.Why I don't know as the B*16 is shown in the other timecase on the stop.The First 9 remains however when it should be in the timecase on the other stop.Still it's nice to know whoever is doing the job has now found out where the Central Station is,or have they?
DeleteGood Morning
ReplyDeleteWe really would like to revert back to providing our own bus stop publicity but are prohibited. We have sent a man out to do all stops where the LBN displays are not put in place. We are still observing Bullar Road Gyratory stop.
Customer Services
Xelabus Limited
This appeared today:
ReplyDeletePH0006159/405 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Registration Accepted by SN
Starting Point: Southampton, Portswood Broadway
Finish Point: Winchester, Broadway
Via: Eastleigh, Compton, Twyford
Service Number: E1
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 12-OCT-2015
Other Details: Monday to Saturday hourly.
At last we now know.In another matter Bluestar need to update their ticket information on their site, as references are still made to Velvet Travel and Brijan Tours
ReplyDeletePH0006159/405 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
ReplyDeleteRegistration Accepted by SN
Starting Point: Southampton, Portswood Broadway
Finish Point: Winchester, Broadway
Via: Eastleigh, Compton, Twyford
Service Number: E1
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 12-OCT-2015
Other Details: Monday to Saturday hourly.
For the benefit of any who might be struggling to find "Portswood Broadway", it doesn't appear on any map. It's the shopping centre area of Portswood Road - that is, between Sainsbury's (where the bus depot used to be) and Brookvale Road (where Waitrose is). There's no such place as West Cowes, either, but that's another story!
ReplyDeleteBoarded a packed Bluestar 16 from Townhill to Bitterne this morning.Just showed there is plenty of demand for a service between the two points.On arrival at Bitterne,a near empty no.10 went past.If i was a First shareholder i`d be calling for heads to roll over it!
ReplyDelete