Sunday 18 November 2018

Festive bus services: What we know so far

Christmas is only a few weeks away and the following operators have published their service levels over the festive period (click for details):


No word yet from First, Stagecoach or Salisbury Reds.



On Christmas Day, Bluestar will be running two routes: the 18, which is extended to the General Hospital and Lordshill, and the 1X which will be a hybrid of the 1 and 2 - it'll run as per the 2 between Southampton and Eastleigh, then along Leigh Road to Chandlers Ford and then via Otterbourne and the Royal Hampshire County Hospital to Winchester.

More will be running the M1 and M2 on Christmas Day again, with each route extended to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Christchurch.

Boxing Day will see a full Sunday service from Bluestar, except for route 6, which will not run. More will also have a Sunday service on most routes in the Bournemouth/Poole conurbation.

After all that, the weekend of 6th/7th January sees changes to many services, especially on Yellow Buses in Bournemouth. First Weymouth 2 (which has an extra weekday evening bus for Overcombe and minor changes on Sundays) and More X8 and 13 will also be amended. We'll let you know the details of those as soon as they come in.


27 comments:

  1. On Christmas Day the 1X between Swaythling and Estleigh runs direct via Airport and not via North Stoneham

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  2. Salisbury Reds is the same as last year: normal service, except Christmas Day (no service), Boxing Day (special R1 and X4 only) and New Years Day (Stonehenge Tour only).

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  3. PH0005857/165 Registered
    STAGECOACH (SOUTH) LIMITED
    Route: Winchester to Alton
    Service number: 9064 (64, 64X, 664)
    Service type: Normal Stopping
    Effective date: 14 Jan 2019

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    1. Closure of road under Butts Bridge at Alton for approximately 5 months. Also severs the Mid Hants Railway for that period.

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  4. Link for the Salisbury Reds plans for this Christmas https://www.salisburyreds.co.uk/news/christmas-and-new-year-bus-times/

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  5. Stagecoach is also similar to last year, with a Sunday service on Boxing Day and New Year's Day plus a Saturday service with some extras on 24th, 27th, 28th and 31st December. This is an approximate 2100 finish on 24th and 31st December to allow staff to be at home with their families at a decent time.

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    1. Are you still working at Stagecoach Winchester?

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    2. The odd guest appearance, yes :)

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    3. I saw the decker on Sunday but didn't clock the driver.By the way,you are not odd!

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  6. interesting to note that the Yellow`s are the only ones to continue a special timetable beyond New Year`s Day.

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    1. Absolutely ridiculous to be running anything other than a normal service after New Years Day. Majority of people will be back at work as normal and will be totally bemused by the lack of normal bus services especially early morning services. It's the sort of thing that gives public transport a bad name to be honest.

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    2. We can now add worst bus to the list.

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  7. First Southampton have released their Christmas information:
    https://www.firstgroup.com/southampton/news-and-service-updates/news/christmas-timetables-december-2018

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    1. Surprise surprise, the usual four routes on Boxing Day, no service on New Years and Saturday Service until the first Friday in January.

      Could have predicted that ages ago.

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    2. Like the First heading "We are keeping you connected this Christmas"

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  8. I see First Solent are planning on running Saturday levels of service on the Sunday after Christmas.

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    1. The PDF timetable on that page says they're operating a Sunday timetable on the 30th. Looks like they copy and pasted it wrong!

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  9. Can anyone work out what days First Dorset services 6 and 7 are running or which nights the service 1 is going to be running overnight? If you think you've worked it out from the webpage then try the pdf version!

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    1. Looks to me as though...

      The Weymouth 1 will not operate on the early mornings of 27th and 28th.

      Route 6 will only operate M-F timetable on 24th and 31st. Route 7 will only run 24th, 27th & 29th.

      As the 6 doesn't run on Saturdays, it doesn't have a Saturday timetable to run to, hence the special "2" note.

      The 7 only runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays, meaning that if they were to run the Sat timetable on route 7 over the Christmas period, it would mean a huge step up in service provision!

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    2. There were errors on the text description page for the Weymouth Xmas arrangements but the PDF book was correct. The web psge has been updated.
      Ken Traveline

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  10. First to run 15 minutes bus services on Boxing Day a big improvement from last year so we probally won't see the 09 Plate Volvos on every route.

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    1. Pretty sure last year's service from First was every 15 mins on the 2, 3, 7 and 11. Though they did finish very early at around 6pm. Not exactly much improvement this year, sadly.

      Thankfully Bluestar are running in Woolston this year so I will be using them (because of the earlier and later buses on Boxing Day).

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    2. Nope. Last year was every 30 minutes on the same services on Boxing Day.

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  11. Dennis when you say Odd Guest appearance why's that then you got a different job mate?

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  12. An interesting fare rise by First Southampton as from end November 2018 Singles and returns up by 50p on services 6 and 8 only outside the Southampton boundary

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    1. Gotta make up that lost revenue on the 11 somehow...

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    2. Even more incentive for people in Hamble & Hedge End to get the car out, leading to further cuts in service. Goodbye, First!!!

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