This will leave Millbrook without a direct link to the General Hospital or Lordshill, with passengers having to change in Shirley. It will also leave Oakley Road and Cumbrian Way, historically Citybus/First's main route to Millbrook, without any regular bus service, unless there is a change to the route of the 2 to compensate, no indication of which has so far been made.
It will also mean the end of First in Maybush after the 1 disappeared last month. It leaves Bluestar 4 as the only public transport in the area.
The 12 started as a cross city service during First's revamp of June 2013, running through to Townhill Park via Woolston, Merry Oak and Bitterne. At that point it boasted a Mon-Sat daytime frequency of 20 minutes. That was increased to every 15 minutes in June 2014, before it was chopped in half and only the western half remained, as we reported in September 2015. At the same time, the frequency was halved to half-hourly, where it still remains today.
The route's history of course goes back further than that, having been the old flagship 17A route for well over a decade. It was once even operated by routemasters in the Citybus days.
In other news, congratulations to Go South Coast, the Go Ahead subsidiary behind Bluestar, More, Salisbury Reds and Damory, who have won three prestigious national awards, including UK Bus Operator of the Year at the Oscars of the bus world. Maybe just a little bit of that is down to the scrutiny of this blog helping to keep to them on the straight and narrow!
I do notice that there is an variation logged for route 2 in January 21st.
ReplyDeleteRegistration number
PH0006159/324
Licence Number
PH0006159
Variation number
20
Status
Variation
Service number.
2
Service type
Normal Stopping
Start point
Southampton City Centre
Finish point
Millbrook
Via
Redbridge Hill
Date received
24 Nov 2017
Effective date
21 Jan 2018
Whether that be the rumoured curtailment or an amendment to cover the 12 remains to be seen. One thing is clear, First recently threatened to reduce services in areas where local authorities are not supporting services through traffic initiatives, this could be that threat becoming a reality in Southampton.
Having lived in Plymouth until relatively recently, I'm seeing deja vu with First Devon & Cornwall's operations. This started with a big push (in this case the Ugobus branding and network refresh c. 2008) to take share away from the local incumbent Plymouth Citybus (incidentally also a part of Go Ahead group) on their main routes, this inevitably doesn't work due to buses being too frequent proportionally to the number of passengers.
ReplyDeleteInevitably these routes are cut back as they become loss-making - FDC's 12 losing out to PCB's 21/51 in Plympton and FDC's 17 losing out to PCB's 40/41 in Southway for example. Routes and frequencies are cut back, initially to the same level before the network refresh, and then further to stem the loses of the initial push. Soon enough the network is a shell of its former self, and the incumbent is in a much stronger position than before. I feel exactly the same is happening with First in Southampton right now.
Incidentally, FDC's Plymouth operations were bought by Stagecoach two years ago. Stagecoach now only run one cross-city route (the 2/2A from Saltash to Plymstock) and two out-of-town routes to Tavistock (1) and Dartmouth (3), giving Citybus free reign of inner-city routes.
i) Who was the Managing Director of First Devon & Cornwall during the launch of Ugobus and the subsequent substantial service cuts described above?
Deleteii) Who is the current Managing Director of First Hampshire Dorset & Berkshire?
Dont forget route 48 to wembury
DeleteMaybe first group should sell it's Southampton operations to stagecoach? That's if they'd want to buy them...
ReplyDeleteX52 Lyme Regis to Seaton and Seaton to Exeter also being axed by First on 21 Jan 2018, along with the new 5 from Weymouth to Dorchester via Crossways and the 14 from Portland to Dorchester/Poundbury
ReplyDeleteAs soon as First got rid of the 1, I knew that the 12 wouldn't be far behind.
ReplyDeleteCould it also mean that if no replacement for the 12, it would bean that Lordshill which was dominated by First with 10 routes back in the early 2000s, will now only have one route served by First?
DeletePH0006159/319 Registered
ReplyDeleteFIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Lords Hill Centre to Thornhill
Service number: 3
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/320 Registered
FIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Townhill Park to Southampton City Centre
Service number: 7
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/323 Registered
FIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Hedge End Rail Station via Bitterne, West End
Service number: 8
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/321 Registered
FIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Sholing via Bitterne
Service number: 9
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
Interesting to note that Woolston isn't mentioned on the service 9 registration. Could this mean that it will run into town via Northam Bridge like it did before First's 2015 timetable change?
DeletePH0006159/321 Registered
ReplyDeleteFIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Sholing via Bitterne
Service number: 9
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/355 Registered
FIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Harefield via Bitterne, Woolston
Service number: 13
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/324 Registered
FIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Millbrook via Redbridge Hill
Service number: 2
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/355 Registered
ReplyDeleteFIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Harefield via Bitterne, Woolston
Service number: 13
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/325 Registered
FIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Richard Taunton College/ Southampton General Hospital
Service number: 40
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
PH0006159/324 Registered
FIRST HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET LIMITED
Route: Southampton City Centre to Millbrook via Redbridge Hill
Service number: 2
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 21 Jan 2018
Guess the 2 has been halved then just 3 months after making a through-city. Surely that should have said Thornhill to Millbrook otherwise?
DeleteCould be but the VOSA registration form history only showed that the route was between the city centre and Millbrook when the route was extended in October. So it could be the route is being cut back, timetable change or route variation will have to wait to see what First state.
DeleteLOL at the title.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone got the Daily Echo onto this?Then we would soon know what First`s plans are for the jan changes.
ReplyDeleteProbably not,they are too busy speculating ,rather than wanting to find out actual status quo.
DeleteCould First be withdrawing it`s Sunday and evening journeys on the 9 and 13?They weren`t well publicised and at every two hours is pretty useless anyway for a city service.
ReplyDeleteAlso the berkshire part of fhad have chucked the greenline services in
ReplyDeleteFirst have just announced on their site that the 2 between Thornhill to city will be axed! They say use the 3 from Thornhill to city or use the 8 from Bitterne to city! No good for us early birds as 8's still too late for us to get to city so looks like I'll have to use 18's to get to work
ReplyDeleteClueless is an understatement for the management at First.Bluestar are probably getting the champagne out to celebrate.
DeleteAgree, although clueless is probably too good a word to describe First's planners. Don't they realise that the 18's will soon be much busier as most will catch it from Thornhill-Bitterne etc?
Deletehttps://www.firstgroup.com/southampton/news-and-service-updates/news/first-southampton-announce-service-changes
ReplyDeleteI catch the bus from Maybush Corner. I appreciate they're probably correct in saying it's a "short walk" to other services but I really don't feel very safe walking half a mile from the 2/18 bus stops on Redbridge Hill in the dark, as the area is deserted. The 4 is too infrequent at night to be a helpful alternative, plus it often leaves early in the daytime so you've no idea if it's worth waiting for it.
DeleteIs there any news from Dorset regarding the re-tendering of the X10 and 187 between Blandford and .Dorchester/Weymouth?
ReplyDeleteIt's X12 (not X10) and 187, but nothing has reached my ears (or my desk)
DeleteKen. Traveline Dorset Data co-ordinator.
Bluestar need to run more buses to lordshill on the old 12 bus route and send an bus into harefield
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much money First Dumbhampton have lost in their war against BS18? Not just the bus costs but publicity changes cost money too. And the loss of public goodwill.......
ReplyDelete