Dorset Community Transport (part of ECT – itself formerly Ealing Community Transport) is not an operator that I have mentioned before, and from Tony Smale of the Friends of Wool Station comes news of a new service in Dorset that might appeal for a different type of day out.
The 2RN (“2 Arne”) service runs between Wareham Railway Station and the RSPB Arne Nature Reserve, with an additional extension to the Norden Park & Ride at Purbeck Park on Saturdays and School Holidays.
With over 500 acres of nature reserve, a visitor centre and cafe; it appears that they have a diverse range of wildlife to enjoy. We are not a family that would get the most out of a nature reserve, but if this sounds like something for you then you can see more about it on the RSPB website here.
The 2RN
As for getting there on the 2RN, the service runs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
On Schoolday Tuesdays and Wednesdays, there are 4 trips from Wareham to Arne via Stoborough Green and 5 on the return.
On Saturdays and School Holiday Tuesdays & Wednesdays there are 4 trips each way between Wareham and Arne and three round trips between Arne and Norden Park & Ride. I think this is potentially a good way of bringing some of the commuter traffic from the Swanage Railway although the timings of the bus service would only allow for three hours at the nature reserve.
You can view the full timetable on the ECT / DCT web page here.
Other DCT Services
If you are travelling in the New Forest, then DCT also run a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday services between Verwood and Fordingbridge. I remember when Wilts & Dorset ran a few more shopper and market day services in the New Forest, but this Little Green Minibus now does a villages service for the Verwood Morrisons.
It is predominantly a shopper service with most of the afternoon trips from Fordingbridge not doing the full route, and runs using a non-lowfloor bus (from the images it looks like a Ford Transit) but it might be of interest to those of you that like to take an elongated trip out by bus. A short walk means that you can connect in or out of morebus X6 at Verwood or a walk through the forest itself.
You can see all of their Dorset based bus services here.