Not surprisingly, having been in Southampton this week, First have started to increase their services again. Granted it is an increase rather than a decrease but City Reds are doing this on Monday, giving just the minimum 72 hours notice.
Now, the furthest my visit to the city went was the Woolston side of the bridge. I was glad to see city centre passengers are already starting to stand on board. So something needed to happen.
The Increases
City Red 2 to Shirley and Millbrook will be running up to Every 6 Minutes on weekdays. It will continue to be Every 15 Minutes on both Saturday and Sunday daytimes.
Cross City Red 3 will also be increasing it’s Saturday service. It will continue to see a bus Every 8 Minutes on weekdays, but now Every 10 Minutes on Saturdays. Sundays continue to have a bus Every 15 Minutes.
Services are on the Increase
More people are returning to school and work. This means we can’t be entirely surprised that bus services are starting to increase.
Bluestar being back to normal timetables weeks before First is something to watch though. The busier cash cow services are back to high frequency, whereas the tightly budgeted ‘community link’ services languish on a 70 minute headway.
Now. Which operator seems to have more of those?