In other news, Xelabus have announced that the X11 City Centre-Lordshill service will be operated by Wheelers from 3rd January due to a change of contract by Southampton City Council, who subsidise the route.
First have an offer on for group travel within Southampton. FirstDay Southampton Group is valid for up to 5 people and costs just £7 for unlimited travel in the bits of Southampton still actually served by First. So not Swaythling then.
Outside the city, FirstDay Hampshire Group is now £12 and also valid for up to 5 people.
What a strange comment about swaythling - is that like saying a soton ticket on bluestar for the bits they serve, so not Weston, Harefield, etc
ReplyDeleteThe difference is that I'm from swaythling and that first did once cover the whole city. Bluestar never have but have been increasing their urban coverage consistently over the last few years.
ReplyDeleteYour comment re Swaythling just reinforces the continued impression that you are permanently biased against First and in favour of Bluestar/GSC/whatever they are calling themselves this week. GSC (in all its guises) do not cover many sections of the City such as Weston, Harefield, Merry Oak, Peartree, West End to name but a few.
DeleteThe predominant operator in Swaythling is Unilink; currently operated by GSC but hasn't always been and may not be again!!
I find your view is far more one sided and you always make the same comment about Blue star every time that you post here. They have been called Blue star and have been part of GSC for many years, and are totally consistent in their name and branding, unlike First! Anyway, big changes afoot for both from February, I am led to believe, which may not be too popular with you. Watch this space...
DeleteCould the person above please give some detail and evidence to these described 'changes'?
DeleteSorry but to say "they have been called Bluestar and have been part of GSC for many years" is simply not true routes have switched brands constantly for many years (Solent Blue Line, Red Rocket ETC.), and have only recently settled down. GSC insist on maintaining many different brands and in the case of the southern half of Wilts & Dorset('more') have a very annoying policy of pretending to only operate buses in Bournemouth and Poole, doubtlessly confusing for anyone traveling in Lymington, Swanage, Salisbury or Weymouth!!
DeleteAlso Southampton Bus Update is not that biased in favour of any operator, First H&D is just being terribly run ATM.
Note: I'm not the OP.
Perhaps you can say what is so terrible about FirstBus. Bearing in mind there is high quality and low fares from both operators in Southampton at the moment ?
DeleteI read this blog frequently - I do not see any bias from sotonbus.
DeleteThis is a good well thought out blog and it keeps us informed.
Long may it continue
In contrast to the comment above It's really disappointing to see the continued bias on this blog. I stopped viewing it for 15 months as it had got ridiculous. Having just returned to view again I see nothing has changed. Poor show. Will try again in another 15 months (if it's still going). You do have to ask yourself why it is so difficult to write a balanced article.
DeleteAs a long time reader I don't detect any bias. It's a well written and informative blog.
DeletePlease also bear in mind that it's someone's personal blog, not Reuters or the BBC. They can write what they want to write, (and we're all free to read or not depending on whether we enjoy it) so if he wants to add interest and 'colour' by throwing in a few personal views along the way, well frankly why not?!
Because it's makes it all very boring and totally predictable. Not good for readership levels
DeleteWell it's reached over a million,so it must have been of some use to many.
Delete@Anonymous 12 November 2016 at 21:03
DeleteFirst have constantly changed there routes and timetables and have focused all of their resources on routes that compete with GSC, to such an extent that potentially profitable routes have been withdrawn (with Bluestar replacing some) while empty buses run every 10 min on other routes. Take a look at this post http://sotonbus.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/timetables-out-map-nostalgia.html it shows how First H&D's network has shrunk in recent times and its not critical at all it just states facts. The tiny rare bits of opinion that slip through are more than welcome IMO, but you cannot claim that this blog is bias overall.
It doesn't have to be neutral anyway.
I feel I have touched a nerve! Is that like Solent blue line have pulled off routes in Townhill and Weston in the history. If SBL are making money on service 7 then it's time to eat a hat or two !
DeleteI wonder what made SCC change the X11 contract to Wheelers? At least as a college student, I can get a ticket at child fare with them, when I use it.
ReplyDeletePresumably they put in the cheapest tender?
DeleteI'm not very well versed with how subsided services work, if I'm honest. I wasn't too sure if SCC randomly took the service off Xela or this was the time for it to be retendered.
DeleteWhat I like about Xelabus is the fact they always give news of any service changes well in advance.I presume they do this to stop any rumours that might circulate about a certain matter of operation.The fact is that in many cases there is too much gossip within the industry as too what or might not happen,a good example as to rumours about February 2017 which I read on this site.
ReplyDeleteI wonder when it will dawn on someone at Xelabus that is responsible for checking printed timetables issued to the public, that in the index it should show X9 as serving Botley and not X10 as shown.This is now the third issue of a timetable book where this has not been corrected.Also the new issue of the HCC timetable for Eastleigh and Hedge End in the index it still shows the Stagecoach 46 as serving the General Hospital,when that was withdrawn ages ago,references to Xelabus X5 no longer with us,and Xelabus X15 serving Southampton City Centre.Even though also thay have updated the map for Bluestar 3 they still show it as using the Gyratory Road by Bullar Road,and in the Woolston area what all the nonsense is with the First X5 routing is heaven knows,and still showing X4/X5 as running via Portsmouth Road and not Wright's Hill.Have the days gone when someone with knowledge was employed to do proof checking to a reasonable standard.I also yesterday called into the First travel shop in Pound Tree Road Southampton for a Gosport and Fareham area timetable,but as usual no surprise here they didn't have any.
ReplyDeleteI read the blog as often it is the place where I find out about forthcoming changes in the city.
ReplyDeleteI regard myself as unbiased, and as a user of buses in Southampton have to say that my last 4 trips on First/CityReds have all been superb, with smart polite drivers and a smooth ride each time.
These were all on Shirley High Street, and I used First purely because they were first to turn up each time. Both trips after 2100 were over half full, which did please me.