Southampton Bus Update

Sunday, 25 December 2016

Boxing Day 2016's buses

Happy Christmas to all our readers!

We're seeing more bus routes running on Boxing Day than ever before here in the South. Here are the details:

A full Sunday service will be running on Bluestar (except route 6 Southampton-Lymington which isn't running) and Stagecoach (except route 5 Salisbury-Swindon, which won't be running).

More have a Sunday service on routes m1/m2 (first buses 0600), 4, 5/6, 8/9, 13, 14, 16/17, X3, X8 and Breezer 40 & 50 only.

On top of that, we have a skeleton service of special timetables being provided by:

Unilink U1 in Southampton:

First Southampton routes 2, three, 7, 10 and 11:

First Portsmouth/Fareham routes 1, 2, 3, 7, E1 and E2:

Yellow Buses 1a, 1b, 1c, 2, 3, 4b, 14, 5a, 5b and 6 in Bournemouth:

Salisbury Reds R1 and X3:

Activ8 Salisbury-Andover: Stagecoach journeys will run to a Sunday timetable, but Salisbury Reds journeys will not run.

There will be no service on Xelabus, Wheelers or other smaller operators, nor on any other route not mentioned above.

Saturday, 24 December 2016

Buses running on Christmas Day!

Normally on this day we report that no buses will be running on Christmas Day. But this blog has now expanded to cover Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Winchester and Salisbury as well as Southampton. Part of our region at least will be served by buses on Christmas Day.

More have run their M1 and M2 routes on 25th December in the past and are doing so again this year.

The usual routes are extended so that the M1 runs from Poole, via Bournemouth, to Castlepoint and on to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. The M2 runs from Poole via Bournemouth to Southbourne and then on to Christchurch.

Here are the stops the M1 will serve on its extension between Castlepoint and the Hospital:

...and here are the stops the M2 will be using on its extension between Southbourne and Christchurch:

Period passes are valid as usual, but there will be special flat single and return fares of £4 adult single, £6 adult return, £3 child single and £5 child return.

No buses are running anywhere else in our region - not even in Southampton or Portsmouth.

Wednesday, 21 December 2016

Christmas Eve buses across the region

Here's how our region's buses will be running on Christmas Eve. Details of all the seasonal changes can be found here.

In Southampton & Eastleigh:
Bluestar have a full Saturday service
First have a Saturday service with an early finish:

Salisbury Reds have a full Saturday service.
Unilink have a Saturday service with an early finish:

Xelabus have a Saturday service with an early finish on routes X7 and X8: the last X7 leaves from Eastleigh Bus Station at 2015 and the last X8 at 2000.

In Portsmouth, Fareham & Havant:
First have a Saturday service on all routes with an early finish on routes 1, E1/E2, 2, 3, X5, 7, 8 and 17/18:

Stagecoach have a Saturday service with an early finish on routes 21, 23, 30/31, 39 and 700:

In Bournemouth & Poole:
More have a full Saturday service but with no night buses.
Yellow Buses have a Saturday service with an early finish:

First X54 to Weymouth has a normal Saturday service.

In Winchester:
Bluestar 1 has a full Saturday service
Stagecoach has a Saturday service with an early finish on routes 3, 5/5A and Spring:

In Salisbury:
Salisbury Reds have a full Saturday service but with no Stonehenge Tour.
Stagecoach journeys on Activ8 to Andover have a Saturday service.
First 265 to Bath has a Saturday service.

All other operators, including Wheelers, have a normal Saturday service.

Unibus Bournemouth is suspended from Christmas Eve until 2nd January inclusive.

Just to recap, there is no early finish on Bluestar, More or Salisbury Reds.

Saturday, 17 December 2016

Winter solstice buses to Stonehenge

It's the winter solstice on Wednesday and for those who want to go to Stonehenge for the sunrise, Salisbury Reds are running a special service, the 333. See full details here.

If you're travelling from Southampton, the first X7 of the day doesn't get to Salisbury until it's far too late, so you'll need to get the train from Southampton Central at 0630 in order to connect with the 333 bus from Salisbury railway station at 0720.

If you're travelling from Bournemouth, the X3 doesn't run early enough either, so you'll need to get the 0515 train to Southampton Central and then change to the 0630 to Salisbury, connecting with the 333 bus from Salisbury railway station at 0720. The first X3 of the day from Ringwood does run early enough, departing from Meeting House Lane at 0557.

From Portsmouth, you'll need to get the train at 0516 from Portsmouth & Southsea and change at Southampton Central as above.

From Winchester, get the train at 0559 to Eastleigh, then get the 0613 through to Salisbury for the 0720 bus.

Friday, 9 December 2016

Yellow Buses full network recast

First have announced their plans for Christmas and New Year: see details for Southampton here and Fareham/Portsmouth here.

So far Stagecoach and Yellow Buses are still to announce how they will be running over the festive period. A summary of the plans we do know about can be found here and will also appear as daily summary posts on this blog from 23rd December.

One of the reasons Yellow Buses are taking so long with their Christmas plans is that they have been busy working on a revamp of their entire network. Details haven't yet appeared on their website, but the Bournemouth Echo has reported that all but four of Yellow's routes will change on 15th January 2017. Details and the new timetables are already on Traveline, so here's a quick summary of the new routes. Click the route numbers for the new timetables:

[UPDATE 11.12.2016: Yellow Buses have issued this new network map. I've amended the below listings to reflect that the 18 will be the Heath Line and the 20 is the Dolphin Line. Yellow Buses have also issued their Christmas & New Year service alterations.]

Bourne (services via Winton):
B1: Bournemouth Town Centre-Bournemouth Airport