Merry Christmas to you all, and may you have opened as many lumps of coal that you can muster.
The Go-Ahead Group are the only ones running a limited bus service today, Christmas Day. I had a quick interaction with Andrew Wickham of GoAhead and enthusiast Gavin Rowney about Christmas Day services on the Isle of Wight. Now over there, there is evidence of timetables as far back as 1936, but the current incarnation of the GoAhead network started back in 2008.
We digress though, because one of you is shouting “SHUT UP – WHAT BUSES ARE RUNNING TODAY DAMNIT.”
morebus
In Bournemouth and Poole, morebus are running services across the m1 and m2 on their usual Christmas Day extended routes.
Each route runs hourly between 0800 and 2100.
m1 runs from Poole to Bournemouth, Charminster, Castlepoint and Royal Bournemouth Hospital
m2 runs from Poole to Bournemouth, Southbourne and Christchurch
The timetable is available here – Tickets are flat fare; single is £4 adult / £3 child and return is £6 / £5
Bluestar
In Southampton and Winchester, Bluestar are running their usual Christmas services.
Service 1X runs every 2 hours between Southampton, Swaythling, Eastleigh, Chandlers Ford and Winchester. Tickets are flat fare; single is £4 adult / £3 child and return is £6 / £5
Service 18X runs hourly between Thornhill, Bitterne, Southampton, Millbrook, General Hospital and Lordshill. Tickets are flat fare; single is £3 adult / £2 child and return is £5 / £3.50
In both cases, period tickets and concessionary passes are valid.
Southern Vectis
On the Island, there are 5 services running this Christmas Day.
Service 1 running direct between Cowes and Newport runs as a round trip hourly between 0900 and 2100
Service 3 between Newport, Wroxall, Ventnor, Shanklin, Sandown and Ryde runs hourly between 0800 Newport / 0830 Ryde and 2200 / 2230
Service 5 runs 5 round trips between Newport, Whippingham and East Cowes
Service 7 runs 5 round trips (using the same vehicle / diagram as the 5) between Newport Shalfleet, Yarmouth and Totland
Service 9 running direct between Newport, Wootton and Ryde shares a diagram with service 3, running hourly between 0800 and 2100
Normal fares apply ( I think ) and timetables are available here.
MERRY CHRISTMAS