Welcome to 2022!
If you are back at work today, or back at school, you are probably just grabbing your coffee from the Tassimo (Nespresso is also available) realising that you did not actually iron that shirt or indeed rolling over and grabbing a few extra winks as you are back to working from home.
There are quite a few bus timetable changes today. If you are travelling in Southampton, Bournemouth or North Hampshire, these are your changes!
Timetable Changes from 04 January
I say that normal weekday services resume on Tuesday, however at the same time there are now planned timetable changes that are advertised. I won’t dwell much on the blatant attempt to pull wool over your eyes either:
Bluestar
Now…. let’s get the gripe out of the way, because anyone who has worked with web development will know that posts, just like this, can be given any date in the world to deceive.
Listening to their own staff, Bluestar had not decided to make these changes until Monday 20th December.
Listening to others in the industry who don’t work for Bluestar, not even operational arrangements started to be put into place until the same day.
I still do not buy the date of the announcement. There was not a single hint of social media acknowledgement of it until I flagged it up on Wednesday 29th December. I don’t even think they would have done, pointing to their backdated news piece. Even the most diligent of locals missed it.
I was unaware until the Echo mentioned it the other evening. Then find it on Bluestar site posted 2 wks ago? The 16 on a Sat will be like a Sun, only every half hr. Traveline website shows future timetable but only as a M-F service?! Needs sorting out that does!
— Claire Thomson (@Clasamthom) December 29, 2021
Anyway. Gripe over. A shame no-one was going to admit that actually there was much less notice than they are making out; I would almost go to suggesting they poached a marketer from another local independent.
- Bluestar 1 will reduce to every 20 minutes on weekdays, every 30 minutes on Saturdays
- Bluestar 2 will reduce to every 20 minutes on weekdays, every 30 minutes on Saturdays
- Bluestar 4 has a permanent change affecting the 07:55 from Southampton & 09:00 from Romsey
- Bluestar 8 will terminate at Hythe Pier, replaced by the Bluestar 9 to Calshot
- Bluestar 11 & 12 will each run every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday
- Bluestar 16 will reduce to every 20 minutes on weekdays, every 30 minutes on Saturdays
- Bluestar 17 will reduce to every 12 minutes on weekdays, every 15 minutes on Saturdays
- Bluestar 18 will reduce to every 12 minutes on weekdays, every 15 minutes on Saturdays
Southampton Mini Link
Service 5 has been suspended for the time being due to a lack of drivers.
It’s also noted that the “Not a Firstbus” ALX400 and the dealer white Dennis Dart part-ex’d with Xelabus are now also both up for sale.
Stagecoach South
Published just before Christmas, and a thanks to Andy and Nigel for letting me know, changes affect Stagecoach across most of their depots.
Basingstoke from Tuesday 04 January
- Service 1 for Brighton Hill will run Every 12 Minutes during the peak, Every 15 Minutes off-peak
- Service 2 for the Hospital, Tadley and Baughurst will reduce to Every 15 Minutes
- Cross-town Service 6 between Winklebury – the Town – East Popley will reduce to Every 15 Minutes
- Service 7 gets a new timetable, although a broadly similar frequency of services
Winchester from Monday 10 January
- Service 3 (Harestock) will be reduced from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes on weekdays
- Service 5 (Badger Farm) will be reduced from every 12 minutes to every 15 minutes on weekdays
- The Spring (Springvale) will be reduced to every 30 minutes in the rush hour, matching the daytime frequency
- Service 66 to run mostly via Abbotswood, to a reduced hourly frequency
Portsmouth from Tuesday 04 January
- Service 700 will be reduced to every 20 minutes during the day
Xelabus
- Service X9 X9A X9B will have a variation in Holton Heath – every two hours via either Burnetts Road or Botley Road (hourly combined) – all X9 and X9B services will now go around Bishops Waltham via Free Street, Lower Lane and Bishops Waltham Pond to Bishops Waltham Square.
Cricklemede will no longer be served by the X9, but is still served by Stagecoach 69. - Service X15 has a route diversion in Hedge End, no longer service Hobbs Lane and through Grange Park there is a route change as well.
Yellow Buses
In a hastily short notice news piece over the Christmas break, Yellow buses have also announced they have a shortage of drivers again at the moment. As a result Yellow Buses will be heading towards running a Saturday timetable on weekdays across their higher frequency core routes:
- Service 1 & 1b between Poole, Bournemouth, Southbourne and Christchurch
- Service 1a to Somerford and New Milton
- Service 3 to Riyal Bournemouth Hospital and Castlepoint
- Express service 3x to Castlepoint and the Hospital
- Service 4 to the Hospital and Christchurch
- Service 5 & 5a to West & East Howe and Kinson
- Service 6 to Bearwood and Wimborne
IN addition; service 31 continues to be suspended, and all night buses are suspended as well.
Over the first week or so, Yellow Buses urge you to refer to printed documentation as online planners were still in the process of being updated…. yes it was that short notice.