Fares up / Timetable boost

Fares rise today, Sunday 27th February, on Salisbury Reds and on Tuesday 1st March on Stagecoach.

Also from today, Bluestar are boosting routes 1, 2 and 16 to their pre-Covid frequencies. Timetables here.

More fares up / First to Marwell / Minilink mornings for Chartwell Green

Fares are going up on More from Sunday 20th February. Details here.

Minilink will not now be going to Marwell. First have officially registered to run the M1 service this year starting on 9th April. More on that as we get it.

Minilink are instead now planning to run a service from 4th April between Southampton City Centre and Chartwell Green, via Woolston, Merry Oak and Bitterne. Looking at the planned timetable, it doesn't seem much use to anyone other than morning shoppers with the first bus getting to the City Centre at 0946 and the last one leaving town at 1255. It's not yet registered, and frankly I'd be surprised if it does actually run. Again, watch this space.

Fares up / Marwell

Fares are going up soon across several operators. First Solent go up on Thursday (!) 3rd Feb and Bluestar, Unilink and Southern Vectis all go up from Sunday 6th Feb.

First Solent are also withdrawing some ticket types, such as the 3 monthly and annual tickets. While Go Ahead's subsidiaries are steering everyone towards their mobile apps for the best prices, and away from The Key smartcard, which is now the most expensive way to buy your tickets - even paper tickets bought on the bus with cash are cheaper. Surely only a matter of time now before The Key is withdrawn as mobile apps have really made it obsolete.

Bluestar & Unilink Southampton zone ticket prices from 6th Feb: Time to switch from The Key to the app for the best prices!

New kid on the block Southampton Minilink have announced that they will be running the Marwell Zoo M1 service from Southampton and Eastleigh this year, starting from Saturday 2nd April. Details here, although plans could change as it doesn't appear to have been officially registered yet. We'll keep an eye out.

Don't forget that Marwell can be reached all year round on Sundays from Winchester on Stagecoach 69.

Reductions in Salisbury & Weymouth / Mini Link fills a gap

First of all, thanks for your kind comments to the previous post welcoming this blog back.

Thanks also to the Hampshire Bus Blog, which popped up while we were away, to fill the gap. Looking at its posts, it's doing a fantastic job and I hope it keeps going even though the initial intention was for it to be temporary. It covers the local bus scene in similar way to this blog, but also adds some extra analysis and insight that this blog, being written from outside the region, cannot do, so I encourage all my readers to bookmark it and check it regularly.

A couple of actual bus updates too:

Salisbury Reds have temporary timetables on most of their city routes as of last Sunday 16th January. These are mainly frequency reductions due to staff shortages.

In Weymouth, First Wessex have new timetables from today, Sunday 23rd January, on route 4, which has a weekday daytime frequency reduction to every half-hour due to staff shortages, and on the Jurassic Coaster X51/X53 in order to better connect with the trains in Axminster.

In Southampton, we have a new operator since October, in the shape of Southampton Mini Link. The Hampshire Bus Blog has been covering them since they launched. It's run by Simon Gard, who previously ran Gardbus of Ringwood and then Southbourne Buses in Bournemouth. True to form, they tried to revive a route between Southampton and Ringwood but alas, it has already been suspended. It would be good to see such a route succeed, but Ringwood and Southampton have been without a direct bus connection for so long now, that most people travelling between the two will have made alternative arrangements long ago and any new service will need to run consistently for at least a couple of years in order to gain any traction.

Mini Link's only service for now is the 13A, which provides a Sunday service between the City Centre and Harefield, via Woolston, Merry Oak and Bitterne. First City Red 9 and 13 cover the route Mon-Sats but neither runs on Sundays, so for Harefield and Merry Oak especially, the 13A is a real improvement. From 5th February, it will be running on Saturdays too, despite City Red 9 and 13 also running. Again we wish it well, but realistically, most passengers will probably stick with First on Saturdays. Here's the route of the 13A:

Update for January 2022

 We've been offline through much of the pandemic, but are back with an update...

Starting in Southampton & Eastleigh, where Bluestar cut frequencies on some routes from Monday 4th January due to staff shortages. Details here.

First City Red's last timetable change was on 12th December, when the 2 and 11 were merged into a new 2 running cross-city between Millbrook and Weston. The 1 to Calmore no longer runs on Sundays.

While we've been away, First City Red have introduced Tap & Cap, an innovative way to pay by contactless card when you board the bus and to have your total payments capped at the price of a daily or weekly ticket, meaning you don't need to know your travel plans in advance in order to get the best ticket price. It only works within the Southampton zone, so don't rely on it if you're travelling further afield, but still this is a huge step forward. It was only a few years ago that the only way to pay on the bus was using dirty, old-fashioned cash.

In Bournemouth & Poole, Yellow Buses no longer serve Somerford Estate, so More have introduced a new route, the 23, to replace them.

Yellow have reduced many services from 4th January due to staff shortages.

In Portsmouth & Fareham, First Solent have new timetables on some routes from this Sunday 9th January, including on the Eclipse E1/E2 services which last month started serving the new bit of the extended Fareham-Gosport busway.

Stagecoach have cut the frequency of the 700 due to staff shortages. Details here.

In Salisbury, Salisbury Reds have also been changing the way passengers pay for their travel. They now have a contactless ticket-free option, where you tap on and tap off the bus, with their ticket machines calculating and charging the correct fare automatically. Don't forget to tap off when you leave the bus otherwise you'll be charged for a longer journey than the one you've made.

First Bath have announced that their Discovery D1 service, which currently runs between Salisbury and Bath will be curtailed to only run between Warminster and Bath from 30th January. As it will no longer serve Salisbury, this blog will stop covering it, so anyone wanting stay up to date with that service should stay in touch with First Bath. This of course means that Salisbury loses its bus link in that direction, however much of it is duplicated by the train service towards Bristol. If you need to get anywhere that way that's not near a railway station, you'll need to either drive all the way or take a taxi from the nearest railway station. There is still Beeline 56, which provides a shoppers' service three days a week with one journey each way between Warminster and Salisbury on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays only, giving you a couple of hours in Salisbury before the return journey - not much use to most people but means access to the shops in Salisbury is retained for most of those with no other option.

In Winchester, Stagecoach are reducing some services from Monday 10th January due to staff shortages. Details here.

Don't forget that Bluestar 1 is also affected by staff shortage service reductions.

We've also had the news that Stagecoach is merging with National Express, with most of the management decisions presumably to be taken in the future by current National Express staff, so this could mean a major change in the way services are managed in Winchester, Portsmouth and Havant. More as we get it.

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Frequencies up, capacity down

Most of our region's bus operators increased their timetables to something approaching 'normal' from the start of this week. What isn't back to normal is the capacity of each bus. To ensure social distancing, many seats are out of use, meaning that each bus can carry about 25% of the number of passengers it is designed for.

As a result, bus travel is still reserved for essential travel only. See the tips and bus company links in our previous post.

First have announced an enhancement to their app which will enable passengers to see how full approaching buses are before they arrive. Sounds great if they can get it working right.

Xelabus start resuming their services from Monday 8th June. From that date, the X4 will run a Saturday service six days a week. Two weeks later, on 22nd June, the X6/X7 resume with a special timetable and the X9/X10 start again with a Saturday service six days a week. All other routes resume on 6th July, with the X11 having a Saturday service six days a week.

First Wessex have further changes to routes 1, 10, X51 and X53 in and around Weymouth and Dorchester from Sunday 7th June.

Not yet back to normal

Nothing is yet back to normal. Public transport should still be used for absolutely essential travel only and passengers are advised to practise social distancing and to avoid paying by cash where at all possible. Bluestar have a good list of tips to follow if you do need to travel here.

The usual notice periods for bus service changes are suspended, so services can change at very short notice. If you do need to make an essential journey by bus, we therefore recommend you check the website of the operator to see what level of service will be running. Most services are running emergency timetables with a greatly reduced level of service compared to normal.

Here are direct links to the operators' current service level pages...

• Bluestar
• First Bath
• First Portsmouth
• First Southampton
• First Wessex
• More
• Salisbury Reds
• Southern Vectis
• Stagecoach Portsmouth
• Stagecoach Winchester
• Unibus
• Unilink
• Yellow Buses

Apologies for the gap between posts. I've been preoccupied with the aftermath of a death (not due to Coronavirus) in my family.

Easter weekend, ticket acceptance and more changes

It's no normal Easter weekend by any means. Most operators, including Bluestar, More, Salisbury Reds, Yellow Buses and Southern Vectis, will be running a Coronavirus Sunday service on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but check the operator's websites before you travel just to make sure.

A bit of good news amongst all the service reductions: many of our local operators are accepting each others' tickets. There's a mutual agreement between More and Yellow Buses in Bournemouth. In Southampton, First are accepting Bluestar tickets on common sections of route. In Portsmouth, First are accepting Stagecoach tickets on common sections of their routes. Not yet clear whether Bluestar and Stagecoach have reciprocated, but hopefully they will.

No sign yet of any temporary replacement for Xelabus's service, which are all currently suspended.

More semi-temporary changes are on the way in the next few days:

• First Portsmouth are revising timetables on some routes from Sunday and reinstating a few routes in Fareham and Gosport, albeit on temporarily reduced timetables.
• Salisbury Reds R1 gets extra journeys on its temporary timetable from Tuesday, to make it easier for key workers to get to and from Salisbury District Hospital.
• Yellow Buses have revised timetables on several routes from Tuesday, including new route 31 linking Christchurch to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Stay safe!

• Please only travel if absolutely necessary, otherwise stay at home
• Check the bus operator's website to make sure what level of service they are running
• Please don't use cash. If you can, pay by contactless, smart card or mobile ticketing app