With the heatwaves now in full swing, it should be time to take a look at some of the service changes in Dorset. The beaches have been really busy of late, and people want to socially distance themselves with a beach ball, towel and windshield.
So most of the bus companies have already removed their PDF copies of bus timetable booklets from their websites, which makes the job more difficult to compare them to what you would expect. That means I am relying much on memory of the 2019 Summer services as… Summer 2020 really did not get into full swing.
First in Dorset
Most services from First‘s Weymouth depot are running at reduced frequency. I am sure that last year the Portland service was every 10 or even every 8 minutes. Certainly the overnight service at the weekends is withdrawn much like overnight services across much of the UK.
Saturday service frequencies have been steadily increasing since the “bus as a last resort” advise was removed. Services 3, 4 and 8 (Westham, Preston and Chickerall) have all had weekend enhancements and Sunday services are coming back to previous levels.
The holidays parks have already seen a return of guests, albeit you won’t catch me at Littlesea this season! 501, 502 and 503 are all at their normal summer season levels if you are heading for a short break. I did hear from someone in the area that not all the 501’s have been open top buses though. Hopefully it is a short term issue!
Further afield for Weymouth depot the X51 X53 and X54 services are now back to a reasonable 7 day service; hourly Bridport to Axminster and two-hourly to Dorchester & Weymouth. The X54 now had a 7 day service as well for those avoiding the train to Wool and Poole.
morebus
The Breezer 30 is running again and has been for a few weeks. Like most morebus “tourist” routes, the open top services appear to be largely running a normal summer timetable.
The X12 run by Damory has what appears to be a normal service running. This might be why there is zero mention of it on the morebus service updates page.
South West Coaches
The 206 services to Wyke Regis is running an ’emergency’ timetable using 1 bus from it’s Portland Depot.
The 200 which normally runs to the Haven Holiday Parks at Preston is still currently suspended.