More changes next Saturday, plus Downs Breezer launches

A few changes come into effect next Saturday 25th May:

More M1/M2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 119, X1/X2, X8A plus Purbeck Breezer 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and Durlston Explorer 5. Full details here. The 152 is replaced by an extended 60.

Bluestar 6 has minor changes.

Southern Vectis's Downs Breezer starts for the summer season.

On 23rd April, Salisbury Reds 44 diverted a journey to run via the District Hospital.

The New Forest Tour relaunches on 6th July.

Stagecoach 69 gains some Sunday journeys from 26th May, which will run between Winchester and Bishops Waltham via Marwell Zoo or Fair Oak. It's designed for passengers from the Winchester end to visit Marwell, not from the Bishops Waltham end. Details here. From Eastleigh and Southampton, use First M1 for the zoo.


See all upcoming changes across the region at-a-glance here.

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News round-up

Yesterday, Sunday 7th April saw new timetables on many routes on the following operators:

• Bluestar - including the extension of the the 3 beyond Boorley Green to Eastleigh and cuts to Hampshire subsidised routes H1/H2, T3/T4, 35 and 36.
• Southern Vectis - with details of seasonal summer services.
• First Wessex - with a great new timetable book
• Yellow Buses - including extensions to New Milton and Wimborne, plus new route 19 to Tower Park on Saturdays.

Other changes that have occurred recently:

• Stagecoach 37/38 Havant-Petersfield-Alton got a new timetable on 1st April.
• Yellow Buses have brought in some new fare zones.
• Xelabus X5 was withdrawn on 22nd March. Boorley Park is now served by the extended Bluestar 3.
• First Portsmouth 16 had a timetable change on 24th March.
• First Southampton M1 has relaunched for the summer, linking Southampton and Eastleigh to Marwell Zoo.

Easter services are generally a Sunday service on Good Friday and Easter Monday with normal services at other times. The exceptions:

• Bluestar: Saturday service on Good Friday on all routes except for the 6, which will have a Sunday service.
• More: Saturday service on most routes on Good Friday. Sunday service on X1 and X8. No service on 7a, 7b, 7c, 10, 20, 24, 32, 38, 112, 152, U3, X2, Route One, Poole ASDA bus and Ringo
• Salisbury Reds: Saturday service on Good Friday on routes PR3, PR7, R8, PR9, PR11 & PR15. Special timetable on R1. No service on R3, R7 or R11 on Good Friday or Easter Monday. Sunday service on all other routes.
• Southern Vectis: Sunday service on Good Friday but usual Friday nightbuses will run on routes 1, 3, 5 and 9.

Looking ahead, Xelabus have some minor changes from 6th May on routes X4, X6/X7, X9 and X10.


See all upcoming changes across the region at-a-glance here.

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First fare tweeks / Yellows to New Milton & Wimborne / Round up

First have introduced a new fare structure for their services in and around Portsmouth and Fareham. Details here.

In Southampton, First have reduced the price of their FirstWeek Southampton ticket to £8. It was previously £11.

More have brought in extra peak hour journeys on the M1 to relieve overcrowding between Bournemouth and Poole.

Stagecoach have released the new timetables for the 37 and 38 Havant-Petersfield-Alton services, which take effect from 1st April. Cuts are enduced by Hampshire County Council cutting their subsidy, continuing the government's austerity agenda. There are no more through journeys between the 37 and 38, so a change of bus in Petersfield will be needed and timetables no longer necessarily match up.

Yellow Buses have new timetables on most routes from 7th April. The 1a is extended to New Milton and the 6 is extended to Wimborne. Further details here. Some of the new timetables are on Traveline, but not all.

On the Isle of Wight, Southern Vectis have launched their scenic Needles Breezer service for the summer season.

Islanders visiting one of Southampton's hospitals can now use Southern Vectis Rover and Freedom tickets on Bluestar 17 to get to the General and Unilink U6 to get to the Royal South Hants at no extra cost. You'll still need to pay for the ferry I'm afraid.

First 503 (Weymouth-Overcombe) resumes for the summer season from this coming Friday 15th March. Timetable here.

Sunday 17th March sees changes to More's Purbeck Breezer services 40, 50 and 60.

See all upcoming changes across the region at-a-glance here.

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Changes this weekend in Ventnor, Fareham and Christchurch

Xelabus X17 got a new timetable last Wednesday. It's down from two return journeys a week to just one, still on a Wednesday. It's extended to Eastleigh, but is only of use to anyone heading east towards Petersfield. Just 10 years ago, this route had 4 return journeys a day, 6 days a week. See the new timetable here.

Looking ahead to Friday 1st March, and we have a change of operator on route 31 in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. It transfers from Mark Tutty trading as Mini Bus Plus to Top Taxi. There is no change to the route or the timetable.

Sunday 3rd March sees changes to the following First routes in and around Fareham. Click the route numbers for timetables:

F2 Fareham-Highlands: Frequency halved from hourly to every 2 hours.
F3 Fareham-Portchester: Cut from six days a week to one. Now runs Wednesdays only.
10 Fareham-Gosport: Early evening service cut. Last journeys now depart before 1530.
11 Fareham-Alverstoke: Cut from 6 return journeys a day Mon-Sats to 4. Last journeys now depart before 1500.
20 Fareham-Wickham: Some weekday morning and early evening journeys cut. Saturday service halved to 4 return journeys instead of 8.
21 Fareham-Stubbington: Cut from 11 weekday journeys to 5/6 and from 5 Saturday journeys to 4.
27 Rowlands Castle-Emsworth: New timetable with some journeys cut.
28/28A Fareham-Whiteley: Early evening services cut. Saturday service slashed to 2/3 journeys.


Monday 4th March sees Southbourne C1 launch in Christchurch. Details of that can be found here.

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Austerity bites harder from Sunday

Hampshire County Council are wielding the subsidy axe on Sunday 17th February, meaning new, generally reduced, timetables on the following routes mainly in Winchester and Eastleigh... click the route numbers to see the new timetables:

Stagecoach E1/E2 Eastleigh-Winchester - Cuts to morning and mid-afternoon journeys. Last bus from Winchester now at 1715 weekdays and 1635 Saturdays.

Stagecoach 6A Winchester-Abbotts Barton - Cut from three days a week to two: Mondays and Thursdays.

Stagecoach 46 Winchester-North Baddesley - The mid-morning journey to Winchester and the mid-afternoon journey from Winchester are cut.

Stagecoach 63 Winchester-Owslebury - Cut from three days a week to two: Mondays and Thursdays.

Stagecoach 66 Winchester-Romsey - Minor changes.

Stagecoach 67 Winchester-Petersfield - Some weekday journeys are cut to run three days a week instead of every weekday.

Xelabus X4 Eastleigh-Hedge End - The 1845 Mon-Sat journey from Eastleigh is cancelled, meaning the last bus is now at 1715 weekdays and 1720 Saturdays. Revised Sunday timetable with 4 return journeys instead of 5.

Xelabus X6/X7 Eastleigh-Hiltingbury - Cut from a combined half-hourly to a combined hourly service Mon-Sat daytimes. Evening service cut, last bus from Eastleigh now at 1815 Mon-Sats. Sunday service cut from 8 to 4 journeys only as far as Velmore.

Xelabus X8 Eastleigh-Boyatt Wood - Evening service (currently Thurs-Sats) withdrawn. Sunday daytime service restored with 4 return journeys.

Xelabus X9 Eastleigh-Bishops Waltham - Sunday service between Eastleigh and Colden Common withdrawn.

Xelabus X10 Southampton-Bishops Waltham - Two additional weekday morning journeys to Southampton. Minor changes, despite what Traveline says. See the correct timetable in this booklet issued by Hampshire County Council.

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The slow and painful demise of the 46

There's a new timetable from Monday 4th Feb on Stagecoach 66 and 67 in Salisbury.

Elsewhere, Hampshire County Council cuts bite on 17th Feb. One of the routes affected is Stagecoach 46, which currently runs weekdays only between Winchester and North Baddesley.

Back in 2010 however, it ran 6 days a week and all the way to Southampton City Centre via the General Hospital and Shirley:

In October 2011, the route was curtailed to only run as far as the General Hospital and the Saturday service was withdrawn completely:

January 2012 brought a minor change, with some college services:

Come the summer of 2012 and the contract passed to Velvet (remember them?). The timetable was much as before:

By October, the contract was back with Stagecoach, although they weren't sure how long for:

It turns out they had it for good, the next change coming in January 2015. No longer running to the General Hospital, the southern terminus is now North Baddesley, with another cut to the number of journeys:

No much changed in August of the same year:

September 2016 sees some college services added again:

They disappear again in the current timetable, which started in September 2017:

From the present to the future... from 17th Feb 2019, we're down to three journeys a day from Winchester and just two towards the city:

Who says austerity's over?

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What's the 6A for anyway?

Amongst the bus services seeing a cut in subsidy from Hampshire County Council on 17th February is the Stagecoach 6A in Winchester. It drops from three days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) to two (Mondays and Thursdays).

On the days it runs, there are only two journeys anyway, with a gap of 67 minutes in the city centre before the last 6A runs back to Abbotts Barton. Useful for shopping maybe, but not much else. Note also how short the route appears to be...

The northernmost stop, Colley Close, is 1.5 miles from the bus station, which is about a 32 minute walk. This route must fill in some pretty big gaps in Stagecoach's commercial network to justify the council subsidy...

But no, Stagecoach's frequent Spring service runs along Worthy Road on its way to and from Springvale every 20 mins Mon-Sat daytimes and hourly evenings & Sundays. It's supplemented by the 67, which has between 4 and 6 journeys each way Mon-Sats although this is also being reduced in February.

So the point of the 6A seems to be to cater to people on the side roads off of Worthy Road who for whatever reason can't walk the short distance to Worthy Road to catch the Spring. As few of them are likely to be fare payers, I have a feeling more cuts will come to this route.

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Changes from Monday / Christchurch preview

This coming Monday, 28th January, sees new timetables on the following routes:

Bluestar 17 - Extra early morning and evening journeys

Salisbury Reds 26, 27, 29, 29A - Minor changes



Looking further ahead, Southbourne Buses launch their new C1 route in Christchurch on 4th March:

The route links the centre of Christchurch with Burton and Somerford, including Sainsbury's. Burton's only bus currently is More 24, which runs weekdays only, is rather infrequent and finishes by 3pm. Somerford's Hunt Road is currently only served by Yellow 1B, which has a bizarre 40-minute frequency on weekdays and no service at all on Saturdays.

This has more of a chance of being a success for Southbourne than the Ringwood incident.


Timetables for the services being reduced on 17th Feb due to Hampshire County Council/government cuts are now available on Traveline. More on those before they bite.

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