Round up 26th Sep

 

Southampton Minilink 14 is withdrawn from 28th October, when the weekend-only 13A will go 7 days a week. Chartwell Green's loss is Harefield's gain. 

Minor changes from 16th October on First Solent routes 7, 8, X4, X5, F1 and F2. The F3 is withdrawn.

On 9th November there will be changes to routes 1 and 9/9A. More details as we get them.

First Wessex have some changes from 9th October on routes 3, 4, 8, X51 and X53. the biggest change is the loss of evening and Sunday services on the 4 and 8.

Southern Vectis have released details of minor changes to most of their routes from 2nd October.

Sunday service on Monday / Other changes on the way

All operators will be running a Sunday service this coming Bank Holiday Monday 19th September, for the Queen's funeral. Go South Coast will also be pausing services across all their brands (Bluestar, More, Salisbury Reds, Southern Vectis, Unilink and Unibus) between 10am and 1pm so that their drivers have a chance to watch the funeral.

Other changes on the way:

First City Red 7 got a new timetable last Sunday to try and address reliability issues, partly caused by roadworks in St Denys.

First City Red 8 extends to the General Hospital from 30th October. We'll find out how often as soon as the timetable is released. On the same day, the 9 is withdrawn, surrendering most of Sholing to Bluestar 7, and there are new timetables on routes 3 and 13, which is rumoured to be dumping Peartree for Merry Oak.

Unilink has new timetables on all routes and a slight route change on the U2B in Glen Eyre from Sunday 25th September.

More introduce changes to many routes from Monday 19th September. Route 11 is withdrawn and replaced by a diverted X6.

First Wessex has new timetables from 18th September on routes 1, 2, 10 and X54. The X52 is withdrawn for the winter. Changes also on the 8, X51 and X53 from 9th October.

First Solent have changes to routes F1, F2, X4, X5, 7 and 8 from 16th October. The F3 is withdrawn.

Southern Vectis have registered changes to most services from 2nd October. Details on those as we get them.

Changes on the way / Stagecoach increase fares / Xelacuts bite

More fairly minor timetable changes to several routes from Sunday 4th September on:

• Bluestar
• Salisbury Reds
• Xelabus X4, X9, X10 (X4 extends to Velmore, X9 and X10 are to cut to every 2 hours weekdays)

First Solent have a new timetable on routes F1 and F2 from Monday 17th October. They had been slated for the axe but have been saved by a funding reprieve.

Stagecoach fares will rise from Thursday 1st September. The adult Dayrider Gold remains £9.10, Winchester Dayrider rises 20p to £4.90 and the Portsmouth Dayrider goes up 30p to £4.70.

Xelabus X17 runs this Wednesday 31st August for the final time, leaving Bishops Waltham with no bus service towards Petersfield for the first time in decades. The X8 runs for the last time this Sunday, after which Boyatt Wood will now be a bus-free zone on Sundays and bank holidays. The X6/X7 run for the final time on Saturday 3rd September.

From Monday 5th September, Southampton Minilink launch the C between Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford, partly replacing the X6/X7. Velmore is spoilt for choice, also being served by an extension of Xelabus X4. Hiltingbury is left with no bus link to Eastleigh.

First Wessex have registered changes from 9th October on their routes 3, 4, X51, X52 and X53. Not yet clear what they are, but we'll bring you more as we get it.

Changes from 4th Sep / Unilink fares up / Xelabus buy Yellow Coaches

Timetable changes (generally minor) are on the way from Sunday 4th September on:

• First City Red 8
• First Solent 2 and 7
• Stagecoach Portsmouth/Havant 20, 37 and 38
• Stagecoach Winchester all services

In Southampton, Unilink fares went up this Thursday just gone. Full details here. The adult single flat fare is now £2.50 (up 20p) and the Southampton Dayrider, which is also valid on Bluestar is also up 20p to £4.00, although if you buy it on a Bluestar bus or the Bluestar app, it is still currently £3.80.

Over in Bournemouth, things seem to be settling down with More running almost all of the routes abandoned by the collapse of Yellow Buses. The exception is routes 18, 33 and 36, subsidised by BCP Council, which last Monday transferred to Yellow Coaches, which is now a subsidiary of Eastleigh's own Xelabus.

Last Day of Yellow Buses Today / More to Replace Routes from Saturday

Today, Thursday 4th August 2022, is the last day of Yellow Buses running on the streets of Bournemouth, ending 120 years of history.

There's no mention on Yellow's website yet. Maybe their staff are busy applying for other jobs. The Bournemouth Echo confirms the situation.

Tomorrow, Friday 5th August, will see no service on any Yellow routes.

From Saturday 6th August, More step in with an emergency timetable of replacement routes covering most of the Yellow network.

Here's the Yellow network as it stands on their final day:

... and here are the replacement routes that More will be running from Saturday:

More (no pun intended) as we get it.

Thursday afternoon:

Friday morning:

Saturday afternoon:

Yellow service cuts

 Yellow Buses, in administration, have announced a cut to services across their network.

Withdrawn from tomorrow, Wednesday 3rd August:

• 6h
• 727
• Buster's New Forest Explorer

Cut to a Saturday service six days a week:

• 1/1a/1b
• 2
• 3x (and what remains of the 3)
• 4
• 5/5a
• 6

Route curtailed:

• Buster's Beach Bus, running between Alum Chine and Hengistbury Head only

Normal service continues:

• 18
• 33
• 36
• 737

Drivers may be being tempted away by Go Ahead's More offering a staggered £2000 golden hello for experienced drivers signing up with them. 

Yellow Buses' future is far from certain. We should hear in the next week and a half whether or not an undisclosed nationally known operator is going to step in to save them from collapse.

Yellow Buses in Administration

 Yellow Buses of Bournemouth have today gone into administration.

https://www.yellowbuses.co.uk/statement

The statement on their website says that negotiations have been under way for some time for a major national operator to buy the business. It is assumed that this is still ongoing and could be completed soon.

Both Go Ahead and First would be obvious candidates, but Go Ahead seems more likely. Bus services are not as commercially viable as they once were, so competition concerns that would have prevented such a purchase a few years ago no longer have the same weight. They would certainly be able to bring the most economies of scale and local knowledge to the Yellow network.

For First, Yellow would fill a geographical gap between their Wessex operation in Weymouth and City Red in Southampton, but is less likely as First have been concentrating on selling loss-making divisions over the last few years and have not made a new acquisition in a long while.

Stagecoach can never be ruled out, but their new private equity owners might have very different priorities compared to their previous management.

National Express, Arriva and Rotala are highly unlikely as they have nothing else in the region with which to support a new acquisition.

Transdev used to own Yellow Buses, which transferred to RATP when Transdev restructured. Transdev is now based in the North, where it is run successfully by Alex Hornby, who is no stranger to our neck of the woods having previously been operations manager of Bluestar. Yellows will be on his radar, but will Transdev's French government owners want to buy it back?

All should become clear in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime Yellow bus services are operating as normal.

Endangered

Recent rumours of imminent widespread cuts to bus services that are subsidised by Hampshire County Council appear to be true. The Hants Bus Blog has received confirmation from insiders at Xelabus indicating that major cuts are on the way to their public services.

Now they've officially registered the complete withdrawal of the following services:

• X8 Eastleigh-Boyatt Wood. This means Boyatt Wood will have no public transport on Sundays and bank holidays from 28th August.
• X17 Eastleigh-Petersfield. This ends a historic bus link between Bishops Waltham and Petersfield via the Meon Valley. For decades, the old 52 route ran several times a day all the way from Southampton to Petersfield, before it was severed at Bishops Waltham, with the Southampton end now living on as Xelabus X10. The route east of Bishops Waltham was eventually cut back to the current situation, where it runs just one return journey a week and continues through to Eastleigh. There's nothing left to cut other than the route itself, which will cease on 31st August. Hampshire County Council says it is currently paying a subsidy of £7.88 for each passenger journey on this service.
• X6/X7 Eastleigh-Hiltingbury. This is the successor of what was once a high frequency (every 15 minutes) service between Eastleigh, Fryern Hill, Chandlers Ford and Hiltingbury, with occasional attempts to also serve Valley Park. These routes will be withdrawn on 3rd September, leaving Fryern Hill with no buses at all, Hiltingbury with buses only to Winchester (and they are also endangered, see below), and Chandlers Ford with no buses to Eastleigh although it does have an hourly train service. Velmore will apparently be served by an extended X4, but for how long, who can say?

Hampshire County Council have been consulting (quietly - have they already made up their minds?) on other cuts, and the information pack provided as part of that consultation identifies the other subsidised routes in our area that are also endangered. Here are selected lowlights:

• Xelabus X15: Eastleigh-Hamble is apparently also to disappear, but this has yet to be officially registered as withdrawn. Bluestar 3 covers most of the route between Eastleigh and Hedge End, but its withdrawal would leave Lowford, Netley and Hamble with no direct public transport link to the rest of Eastleigh Borough.
• Stagecoach E1/E2: Eastleigh-Winchester. This route has been passed around all of our region's operators since Bluestar decided it was no longer commercially viable. The E1's route is largely covered by Xelabus X9 and Stagecoach 69, however access to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital would suffer greatly if these routes were to go. You can of course catch a (heavily subsidised) train directly between Eastleigh and Winchester.

• First Solent 11: Fareham-Clayhall. Already the timetable, Mon-Sat daytimes between the peaks only, is so restrictive as to make this route only of use to a very narrow section of the population. Expect it to go, leaving several areas of Gosport without bus services:
• 
• First Solent 20: Fareham-Wickham. Cutting this would leave Funtley and Knowle without public transport, while Stagecoach 69 continues to serve Wickham.
• First Solent 21: Fareham-Hill Head. Cutting this would leave Hill Head and Peel Common inaccessible by bus. It already only runs every 2 hours, 6 daytimes a week.
• First Solent 28/28A: Fareham-Whiteley. Cutting this would cut Whiteley off from public transport completely. Each passenger journey currently costs Hampshire County Council £3.83 in subsidies.
• First Solent F3: Fareham-Portchester. Currently operates Wednesdays only, for the benefit of serving Dore Avenue in Portchester, which would otherwise have no public transport.
• First Solent 27: Rowlands Castle-Emsworth. Axing this would leave New Brighton and Denvilles cut off from public transport. Rowlands Castle would lose all its public buses and be left with just its railway station.

• Bluestar 6 Southampton-Lymington. Partly operated commercially, so unlikely to disappear completely for now. Expect a cut in frequency.
• More 112 Hythe-Lymington. The timetable has been slashed back so much over the years that this route is no longer much use to anyone, running only a couple of days per week. Expect it to disappear, especially considering that it costs Hampshire's taxpayers £3.58 per passenger journey. End-to-end journeys can still be done via a connection in Totton. Beaulieu can be reached on the New Forest Tour in the summer, but will be cut off for the rest of the year.
• More 125 Christchurch-Ringwood. Currently runs three days a week, but costs Hampshire taxpayers £4.79 per passenger journey, so expect it to be withdrawn pronto, cutting off many New Forest villages from public transport.
• More 119 Lymington-New Milton. Eye-wateringly high single fares and restrictive operating hours mean it's mainly pass holders using this service, which along with the 191 and 193 services costs the Hampshire taxpayer £4.07 in subsidies each time someone steps aboard. Much of these routes is already covered by More X1 and X2. Withdrawal expected.
• Bluestar H1/H2 Hythe local services. Once upon a time this was the high-frequency 36/37 minibus route, but has been gradually cut back over the years. Many areas already served by Bluestar 8 and 9. Currently three days a week, costing the Hampshire taxpayer £6.30 per passenger journey. Expect it to disappear.
• Bluestar T3/T4 Totton-Cadnam. Once part of the Totton Link group of services, now a shrivelled rump running just two days a week, costing the Hampshire taxpayer £6.30 per passenger journey. Expect it to disappear, leaving all areas it serves west of the A326, including Cadnam, cut off completely. Cadnam had a daily commuter service to Southampton as recently as 2015. 
• More X2 Lymington-Bournemouth. Partly operated commercially, so unlikely to disappear completely for now. Expect a cut in frequency.

• Bluestar 35 Romsey-Braishfield. Not much scope to cut this back any further without completely cutting it, leaving Braishfield with no public transport.
• Bluestar 36 Romsey-Lockerley. Twice weekly shoppers' service costing Hampshire taxpayers £50.25 per passenger journey. It'd be cheaper to send each passenger in their own personal taxi. A dead cert for the chop.
• Bluestar 39 Romsey-Nomansland. Thrice weekly shoppers' service, partly funded by Wiltshire but costing Hampshire taxpayers £9.80 per passenger journey. If Wiltshire won't cough up more, it won't last.
• Salisbury Reds X7R Southampton-Romsey-Salisbury. The subsidy here is only for the Romsey to Salisbury section and Wiltshire chip in too, bringing the subsidy cost for Hampshire taxpayers down to 43p per passenger journey. Should just about survive. At the very worst, X7R journeys would be replaced with standard X7 not via Romsey.

• Stagecoach 46 Winchester-North Baddesley. This used to run frequently all the way into Southampton, but was first cut back to the General Hospital, then to North Baddesley, and the frequency has been slashed to just a few times a day. Costing the taxpayer £10.79 per passenger journey, cuts are inevitable even though some journeys are commercially operated.
• Stagecoach 63 Winchester-Owslebury. Only runs two days a week, but still costs Hampshire taxpayers £10.16 per passenger journey. Expect it to be replaced by a taxishare.
• Stagecoach 67 Winchester-Petersfield. Partly commercial, but the subsidised journeys cost Hampshire taxpayers £4.09 per passenger journey, so expect them to be cut. Only 4 full return journeys run on weekdays currently.
• Stagecoach 95 Winchester-East Stratton. Shoppers' service to Micheldever 2 days a week. Costs the Hampshire taxpayer £10.02 per passenger journey. Expect it to be withdrawn and possibly replaced by extending the existing taxishare service.