Boyatt Wood & Hiltingbury get direct links to Southampton

Wheelers have revealed the full details of their new routes launching 18th November via Traveline. Here are the details:

W2 will provide a direct link between Southampton and Hiltingbury via Central Station, Hill Lane, Bassett and Valley Park. Rather than direct competition for Bluestar 1, this restores some direct links that were lost years ago. It will only run hourly weekday daytimes between the peaks for now, but hopefully it will expand in the future. Here is the route map, timetable and stop listing:

EDIT: the W2 timetable originally published here and on Traveline was incorrect. This is the correct one:

W3 will provide a link from Eastleigh Bus Station to Boyatt Wood then via Fleming Park to Parkway Station, down Wide Lane, along Wessex Lane then through Portswood and Bevois Valley to the City Centre. Again it'll initially only be hourly between the peaks on weekdays. Here are the route maps, timetable and stop lists:

This timetable starts from 18th November 2013:

W4 is a once-per-weekday link between Winchester and Salisbury, just outside our coverage patch.

W5 will provide one journey a day between Romsey and Stockbridge, designed for people from Stockbridge and Kings Sombourne to visit Romsey for a couple of hours. Here are the route map and timetable:

 This timetable starts on 18th November:

To see a full stop listing for the W5, visit Traveline, search for the W5, open the pdf timetable and scroll to the last page. Stop listings for all bus routes not just in our region, but across the South and the Midlands can be found in the same way.

Rather than unnecessary duplication, these routes open genuinely new links, particularly between central Southampton and Boyatt Wood, Valley Park and Hiltingbury. Those three in particular are served during the same hours by Xelabus services to Eastleigh. Wheelers could be making a good gamble that people in those areas are more likely to choose the bus if it goes right into the city rather than only to Eastleigh. Time will tell whether they are successful enough to extend their operating hours. We wish them the best of luck.

In other news, First have cut the price of a Family FirstDay Hampshire to £10 for the duration of the half term holiday. It's normally £13.50 but will be at the lower price until 2nd November. To get the best value out of it, take the sprogs on the X4 for a day out with our dear neighbours in Portsmouth, who don't rub it in our faces at all that they have a gleaming tower on the waterfront and we don't.

Velvet route changes from Monday

Most of Velvet's routes get new timetables from Monday. See the full details on their website.

The biggest change is to the S1, which Velvet take over from First, and the S2, both of which have a change of route and timetable.

See the new S1 route here and see a full stop listing and timetable here.

See the new S2 route here and a full stop listing and timetable here.

Wheelers expands

Wheelers have announced some new routes starting 18th November. Full details of the routes are yet to be announced, but here is what we know:

• W2: Competition for Bluestar 1 between Chandlers Ford and Southampton via Bassett.
• W3: Competition for Bluestar 2 between Eastleigh and Southampton via Portswood.
• W4: New route between Winchester and Salisbury via Stockbridge, just outside this blog's patch.
• W5: New route between Romsey and Stockbridge. Possibly just a school run.

More as we get it. While we wish them well, if the W2 and W3 in particular are mere duplications of Bluestar routes, then it's only a matter of time before Bluestar retaliate. Assuming that is, they're not pre-occupied with the war on First currently in full swing in Millbrook and Townhill Park. One can't help thinking that the Swaythling corridor in particular is already rather crowded with First and Unilink already running alongside Bluestar. If the W3 is going to run fast along the A335 between Portswood and Eastleigh, it might have a chance, but then again Velvet have already tried that and found out that the train is the established quick choice for Eastleigh folk heading to Southampton.

Google Blogger haven't sorted out their bugs, so the panel that was on the right, which I can no longer update, has to go. Instead, it'll appear on a separate page accessible from a link at the top of the panel on the right.

Totton diversions / First 3 to change

First 3 gets a new timetable from 24th November. I can't add it to the panel on the right due to an error with Google Blogger. Hopefully they'll have it sorted out soon otherwise I'll have to remove the panel.

There are diversions to routes through Totton after 2000 each night until 12th October. Bluestar 8 and 12 will be affected. Bluestar mention the 11 too but it doesn't run after 2000 so will not be affected.

Velvet changes / Central Station diversions / Special ticket offers

Velvet have announced minor changes to just about all of their routes in our region from Monday 14th October:

Click here for the new timetables on Velvet's website. The biggest change is that Hiltingbury will be cut off from public transport on Sundays.

For three weeks from next Monday, West Park Road and Blechynden Terrace will be partially closed, so all westbound buses serving the north side of Central Station will have to divert. Bluestar have advised that they will divert via the Mayflower Theatre-bit of Commercial Road. First haven't said what they'll be doing.

Bluestar 16 is now more or less head-to-head with First 7 to Townhill Park. First are fighting back with a special £10 FirstWeek ticket valid only on the 7. The standard FirstWeek Southampton is £17. A Bluestar Southampton weekly ticket is £13 and you're not limited to just the 16, plus it's also valid on Unilink.

Bluestar have introduced a special £5 off-peak day ticket valid only on route 1 to Winchester to celebrate some brand new buses on that route. The offer is on until Christmas Eve.

If you have any comments about Bluestar 2 and don't want the convenience of phoning or e-mailing them, then you can go and chat to a real human from Bluestar on 4th October between 1000 and 1500 "outside Sainsbury's", or at Eastleigh Bus Station as bus people used to refer to that location.

Phil from Xelabus has revealed in a comment to a previous post on this blog that the new Xelabus website will have full information on fares for any journey with Xelabus. A big step forward! When that happens, it will leave First, Stagecoach and Brijan Tours as the only local operators to think you don't have a right to know how much any single and return fares cost. Bluestar, More and Salisbury Reds needn't look so smug either - they give some sample fares for key routes, but not every possible fare. The shining beacons for letting you know how much you need to pay before you travel are Unilink, Velvet and Wheelers.

Are they still running?

Changes were due to Xelabus's Eastleigh routes today. So which timetables are valid? A look on Xela's website give you this:

...meanwhile a look on Traveline's timetable search, filtering for Eastleigh, gives you this:

So, the X7 definitely has a new timetable, which is only available from Traveline. The X1 should have a new timetable, but Traveline still shows the old one as being current. The X2 seems to have disappeared altogther. The X4 should have been renumbered the X3, but instead that has disappeared too.

Xelabus are clearly passionate about what they do, but I do wish they would put a similar amount of passion into telling potential passengers where and when their buses run!

Bluestar and Unilink have now released the full timetables for all of their routes affected by the changes on 22nd September. See two posts ago for details.

S1 to be cut completely?

First have registered that the S1 will cease running from 13th October. Not sure of the reasons why, but as it's a tendered route, Southampton City Council might have something to do with it. It's also unclear whether it will continue with another operator, be replaced by another route or will leave people in Lordswood, Regents Park and Bedford Place stranded. We'll let you know as soon as we do.

Look out for diversions in Swaythling this Wednesday and Thursday affecting Bluestar 2, Unilink U1 and U6 and First 5 (yet no mention of this from First). Plus diversions to Bluestar E2 in Otterbourne from Wednesday until next Monday.

Changes on the way / War in Townhill Park escalates / Bluestar 3 withers further

We have a few changes coming up over the next few weeks. Here's a quick summary:

From 1st September, there are some minor changes to Stagecoach 32, 33, 66 and 69. It looks like these are mainly to journeys serving schools and colleges. Click the route numbers above for the new timetables. Also, the summer season ends and with it Velvet M. More 112 reverts back to its usual almost useless timetable.

On 2nd September, Wheelers W1 gets its first amendment, but it's for the better.

• New additional short journeys are added between Romsey and Woodley
• The 0700 weekday journey from Romsey is retimed to depart at 0650
• The 1740 Mon-Sat journey from Romsey to Halterworth is extended all the way to Southampton
• There's a new 0738 weekday journey from Southampton to Romsey
• Most journeys from Southampton will now leave at 40 past the hour (previously xx38)
• The 1740 from Southampton, which currently only runs as far as North Baddesley, is extended all the way to Romsey

See the full new timetable here. Plus, Wheelers are happy for potential customers to know how much their fares are before they travel! This really should not be a rare thing in the bus industry, but sadly it is, so well done to Wheelers, Velvet and Unilink for setting the standard. See the W1's fares here.

On the same day, there are minor changes to Bluestar 1 and 5 (details here) and Salisbury Reds 34. Click the route numbers to see the new timetables.

9th September sees changes to all of Xelabus's routes in Eastleigh, including the X7, which is the only one for which the new timetable is currently available.

15th September is the last day of the New Forest Tour for this year. Plus there are changes to More X1.

22nd September sees several changes to some of Bluestar and Unilink's routes. Details here. Here's a summary. Click on the route numbers for the new timetables and route info, where available:

• 1: Minor changes
• 3: All journeys will run via Turnpike Way. Evening journeys withdrawn and Sunday service cut to just 4 journeys.
• E1/E2: Minor changes. Some journeys will run through to Romsey as the 5.
• 5: Minor changes. Some journeys will run through to Winchester as the E1/E2.
• 16: Frequency increased and route changed to more directly take on First 7. Bevois Valley will be served instead of Stag Gates and buses will run round the Midanbury/Townhill Park loop used by First. Retaliation for First 2's attacks on Bluestar 18 in Millbrook?
• 18: Minor changes.
• U1: Some journeys will terminate at the Wide Lane/Mansbridge Road roundabout during university term times, enabling a higher frequency between there and the city centre.
• U2: Minor route changes in Bassett Green and the city centre.
• U6: Minor changes.