Minilink Closes / City Red 9 Reprieve / Sandbanks Ferry Shut for 6 Weeks

 

Southampton Minilink has closed down permanently, with both of their remaining services, the 13A City Centre-Harefield and C Eastleigh-Hiltingbury withdrawn. There are now no buses between Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford/Hiltingbury.

First City Red 9 has a reprieve. It was slated to be axed completely from tomorrow, but now the city council will subsidise it for three months. What happens after that is anyone's guess, but it means that from Monday the 9 will still run with a new timetable, albeit via Peartree instead of Merry Oak, which gets the rerouted 13. Other changes on City Red, mentioned in our previous post, also kicked in today.

Xelabus have a minor timetable change to the X4 Velmore-Hedge End from tomorrow, but the new timetable does not currently appear on their website. It does appear on Traveline (screenshots below) and comparing it with the current timetable I can see that:

• The 1645 from Hedge End to Velmore will now leave 15 minutes later at 1700 Mon-Sats.
• The 1810 from Eastleigh to Hedge End will now leave 10 minutes later at 1820 Mon-Sats and will run direct via Southampton Road, no longer serving Barton Peveril College.

Fares rise on Bluestar from tomorrow, 31st October. Also, their The Key smartcard is to be gradually phased out. It is already the case that the best value tickets are only available via their app.

Fares also rise at Southern Vectis on the Isle of Wight, where The Key is also being wound down. Use their app to get the best value.

Sandbanks Ferry will be closed for up to six weeks from tomorrow, 31st October, meaning changes to More Purbeck Breezer 50, which will be split into two routes for the duration of the closure:

• 51: Bournemouth to Sandbanks
• X50: Bournemouth to Studland via Poole & Swanage, running non-stop from Westbourne to Poole and Poole to Swanage.

South West Coaches X3 between Blandford Forum and Shaftesbury is withdrawn from 30th December.

In Winchester, Stagecoach have announced that they won't be running the 63 Owslebury service or the 240 Alresford-Ropley service after 18th November. They say to check Hampshire County Council's website for details of who will take over those services - it currently has no details of any change, so it's not clear whether anyone will be taking them on.

In Portsmouth, changes are coming from 4th December on First Solent 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 18, and from 8th January on Fareham routes 28/28A.

Minilink & City Red changes / Peartree to be cut off

Minilink 14 has now been withdrawn, leaving Chartwell Green with First City Red 8. The 13A remains weekends only until 30th October, after which it is still scheduled to become a daily service. The C in Eastleigh will be withdrawn on Friday 25th November.

First City Red have confirmed changes to and new timetables on much of their network from Sunday 30th October. The main changes are:

• 2A: New route running weekday mornings only from Weston through to the General Hospital.
• 3: Weekday daytime frequency increased from every 12 to every 10 minutes. Sunday daytime frequency cut from every 15 to every 20 minutes.
• 7: Weekday daytime frequency reduced from every 12 to every 15 minutes.
• 8: Extended to the General Hospital using the same route as the 3.
• 9: Withdrawn. Sholing still has a more direct service to the City Centre on Bluestar 7. Merry Oak gets a rerouted 13.
• 13: Weekday frequency cut to hourly. Diverted to serve Merry Oak instead of Peartree, leaving Peartree with no public transport.

Their new route map gives confirmation of the 8 mirroring the 3's route between the City Centre and General Hospital, and the changes to the 13 east of the Itchen: