The team at morebus introduced a largely pre-COVID timetable just 5 days ago, but they are now at it again. This time around the changes are more minor and/or seasonal in nature. We have already intimated that this was happening, so the fact it is in black and white is good. All of these changes will happen on Sunday 20th September.
The first thing to note though is that the Night Bus remains suspended. This is presumably as the Government does not want us going to nightclubs and socialising, and this means there is very little custom. It is interesting to note that in contrast, GoAhead’s Brighton & Hove subsidiary are now running many night bus services across the city.
BU is back
The new University term for Bournemouth starts at the end of the month so morebus is preparing to bring the university network back and being the Bus for BU.
All 4 University routes will resume their term time timetables from Monday 21st September. This is going to be the daytime timetables though by the look of things, as all night buses are still suspended.
Brrrrr-eezer
The Purbeck Breezer services are heading back to their winter timetables. We guessed this was the case a few weeks ago when the Breezer 70 went weekends only, and suggested that this was merely a seasonal change rather than anything more COVID.
So this means that the Purbeck Breezer 30 (for Weymouth and Dorchester) and 70 (which almost was just a supplement for other Breezers) are suspended for the winter.
This also means that the 40 (Poole, Wareham and Swanage), 50 (Bournemouth, Sandbanks Ferry and Swanage) and 60 (Rockley Park and Sandbanks) are all dropping their frequencies down to the Winter schedules.
Other Changes
Changes in Wimborne and Winton will add more buses into town on the 13. This is extra buses being added for the morning timetable, so it would suggest that it would be for school flows or similar.
The X8 will have a Sunday route revision. It will now follow the weekday timetable through Beacon Hill, but also turn off the A350, loop around the centre of the Lychett Matravers village, and return to the A350. This is presumably because the 10 does not run on a Sunday.
Check Before Travel
The bus companies are still only required to give 72 hours notice to the Traffic Commissioner. This means that if there is a local lockdown, or even if they feel like it (behave, morebus managers are not that sadistic!) bus services can be slashed with just a few days notice.
Check bus timetables carefully.