I am not going to start this post reflecting on past predictions. I really did want to see this be enough of a success for Hampshire County Council, or the New Forest District Council to want to invest financial support. Southampton Mini Link have thrown in the towel and – potentially only temporarily – on its flagship route through the New Forest.
In a post made to the Southampton Mini Link Facebook page yesterday that the service 5 journeys between Southampton, Totton and Ringwood will not run after New Year’s Eve.
Simon Gard posted that this is due to the national driver shortage, staff sickness and his own deteriorating health. He has been covering many trips across the company’s services of late due to COVID isolations and sickness, however on his personal Facebook page says that his own health is such that he might not be driving buses for much longer. Indeed looking through the Facebook posts for this week, the last round-tip from Ringwood to Southampton is a regular cancellation due to COVID related sicknesses.
We must stress that at the moment, only the service 5 is announced for withdrawal and not the schools or 13a services. Remarks from local enthusiasts indicate that Simon has commented this might also only be temporary due to the Omicron-era Pingdemic.
From reports from those who are local to the service, service 5 was apparently gaining custom. I must admit the two round trips I took on it did not suggest it, but at the same time I was travelling contraflow to any Southampton-centric focus. I certainly kept wondering if the custom would every be there to justify the DAF double deckers that regularly ran until they were sold or the UniBus.
It will be interesting to see what will happen to the current fleet. An ex- GoAhead London E200 recently joined the fleet, there is the ex-First B7TL ALX400 decker (I know, I criticised the First-not-First. I did see the branding go missing shortly after), there is the Plaxton President (I think…. is that used on the CM1).
With just the two school services and a Sunday only 13a, I can’t imagine more than the E200 or the white knuckler Fiat Ducato getting more than Rail Replacement use. I do hope this is not the end for Southampton Mini Link.
Southampton Mini Link therefore join the long list of services that have been and gone on the Southampton to Ringwood connection.
For those with long enough memories, Wilts & Dorset and Solent Blue Line (and before even my time – Hants & Dorset) were the last of the established services to have touted for business on the route. My earliest memories were the X1 and X2 Southampton to Bournemouth, then replaced by the X33 “express”, X34 and X35 through the Forest. Stagecoach South and Southampton City Bus then ran a huge coach-based service between Bournemouth, Ringwood, Southampton (and points to…) Brighton as the X27.
The Hants and Surrey Bus Blog (check them out if your Stagecoach South knowledge wants to stretch to Woking!) also reminded me of the Dorset Sprinter X5 and Phil Stockley’s Velvet Bus 300. I wonder if Xelabus (who bought out Velvet) might be interested in trying it?
More importantly though, what now for Southampton Mini Link? If First City Red wanted to really stick the boot in, they would have been watching the numbers on the Sunday 13a service which already covers some of their existing weekday routes.
Until then though, just in case Simon is watching…. you need to update your website with the cancellation….