Festive Services at Yellow Buses

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Edited: 27 November to correct the status of the 21 – Thanks to Tim Hewitt for the heads up.

So we are not even in December yet and all but one bus operator in the region has announced their Christmas service levels for this year. Our last but one operator this time around is Yellow Buses, who have now confirmed their reduced service levels. It’s not being promoted to their front page yet, but it is on their news page; so full details of their service levels can be found on the Yellow Buses website here.

First up though, they are the first operator that are not running a full weekday service in the days leading up to Christmas itself. I am not sure what Bournemouth does differently to the rest of us; but they apparently don’t do to work in the early morning.

First a note of caution: Route 21, mostly withdrawn from this weekend, but the one school day only service which is left will obviously not run. Thanks to Tim Hewitt for that correction. Route 31 the hospital workers service from Somerford to the Royal Bournemouth is also suspended for two weeks. I find that a bit odd, considering that hospital workers don’t get two weeks off over Christmas.

Second a note of caution: The Christmas Service news page / article on the Yellow Buses website is a bit hap-hazard. I hope that if Yellow Buses do read this, that they take another look. Certainly the suspension of the 31 seems to have been an afterthought when it was being written, likewise the lack of mention of early finishes on 6h and 737 until the very end (unlike the core routes). Maybe it will be re-visited when the special timetables (and a decision on the 6 Boxing Day) appear.

Christmas Week

Service changes start on Monday 20th December. For the Monday to Thursday period (Thursday being Pre-Christmas Eve-Eve) it appears that the service level is largely based on whether you are on a council supported bus service or not

A normal weekday timetable will be in operation on the following routes:

• The Slightly More Express 4a via Richmond Hill to Winton and Kinson
• The key workers service 6h between Wimborne, Ferndown and Royal Bournemouth Hospital
• The 18 to Westbourne, Waterloo Estate and Broadstone
• The 33 to Boscombe, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Christchurch
• The 36 between Talbot View, University, Wallisdown and Kinson
• The Bournemouth Airport service via Moordown, Parley and the Aviation Business Park

A Saturday service will operate on most other routes.

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve, the same service pattern above will run across the Yellow Buses network. The only difference is that the Saturday services (which are listed below rather than above – not trying to look to spammy!) are subject to an early finish on Friday night. This is of course, the opposite to morebus who are running services to the natural end of their Saturday or weekday timetables.

Okay… so I lied… I just wrote all this out then scrolled down to under the table of last bus services. There is a little post-script note that is not in their main service. In the weekday timetables the last 6h (19:30 from the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and 20:30 from Wimborne) and the ‘last journey to Bournemouth Airport’ on 737 (12:45) not operating.

Last Buses (, I gave you my Fare, but the very last day, you took the last bus away)?

Route	Last Bus from Bournemouth	Last Bus to Bournemouth
1	16:44 from Poole to Bournemouth & Christchurch & 17:41 from Bournemouth Triangle to Christchurch	17:38 from Christchurch to Bournemouth Triangle
1a	17:35 from Bournemouth to Somerford & New Milton & 17:40 from Bournemouth to Somerford	17:20 from New Milton to Somerford & Bournemouth
1b	17:11 from Bournemouth Triangle to Christchurch	16:36 from Christchurch to Bournemouth Triangle
2	16:50 from Bournemouth to Castlepoint & Bearwood & 18:30 from Bournemouth to Castlepoint	18:17 from Bearwood to Castlepoint & Bournemouth & 19:30 from Castlepoint to Bournemouth
3	18:47 from Westbourne to Royal Bournemouth Hospital	19:27 from Royal Bournemouth Hospital to Westbourne
3x	17:30 from Bournemouth to Castlepoint	17:00 from Royal Bournemouth Hospital to Bournemouth
4	17:40 from Bournemouth to Christchurch	16:59 from Christchurch to Bournemouth & 17:34 from Royal Bournemouth Hospital to Bournemouth
4a	17:15 from Bournemouth Triangle to Kinson	17:45 from Kinson to Bournemouth Triangle
5	17:42 from Bournemouth to Kinson	17:08 from Kinson to Bournemouth
5a	17:32 from Bournemouth to Kinson	17:30 from Kinson to Bournemouth
6	17:30 from Bournemouth to Bearwood & Wimborne	17:26 from Wimborne to Bournemouth
12	16:30 from Hengistbury Head to Alum Chine	17:30 from Alum Chine to Bournemouth

You should also note that there are no night buses on Christmas Eve night. You probably worked that one out by now, but for the balance of doubt…..

Christmas Day (Saturday)

There are No Yellow Buses services on Christmas Day.

Boxing Day (Sunday)

Yellow Buses are running a number of special Boxing Day services across it’s core routes on Boxing Day. The timetables have not been released yet (or certainly when I published this guide) so there is no more information other than they will run on:

• Service 1/1a/1b towards Somerford New Milton and Christchurch
• Service 2 towards Castlepoint and Bearwood
• Service 3 between Westbourne, Bournemouth and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital
• Service 5 & 5a towards Kinson

Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th December

Sunday services will run on all routes across Bournemouth.

Wednesday 29th, Thursday 30th and New Years Eve

The same Saturday and Weekday split of services can be found as the week before Christmas.

This also means that on New Years Eve the same early finish affects the Saturday service buses (and the 6h and 737 which are not running a Saturday service, but also not mentioned until the post-script as finishing early) and Night Buses Will Not Run. You have been warned.

New Years Day

There is another special service running on New Years Day. This will be the same, or similar, to the Boxing Day services – it’s definitely the same in that timetables are not available yet.

New Years Day will also see a New Years Day timetable running on route 6 between Bournemouth, Bearwood and Wimborne. Now – I wonder if the Yellow Buses media proof-reader has already been tapping the mulled wine, and the 6 is running Boxing Day as well……

Sunday 2nd January & Monday 3rd January

A full Sunday service runs on across Yellow Buses.

Tuesday 4th January

Normal service resumes.