Moving from the autumn to the winter timetable, First Wessex have registered a number of changes that have taken effect on Sunday 9th October. Services are taking a bit of a hit this winter which would suggest that First Wessex are struggling with both passenger numbers and staffing numbers moving towards Chr…. Christm…. I have to say it… CHRISTMAS!
Snow is falling and all that jazz – this is the plan:
Service 3: The service between Weymouth Town Centre and Westham is taking a substantial cut. At the moment – and I am sure it has been for many years – the service runs from 0800 to 1800-ish.
From 9th October, this appears to become a “between the schools” off-peak only service (albeit Monday to Saturday) with a single bus doing the 40 minute round trip every 45 minutes.
Service 4: Sees the summer timetable withdrawn. The service will now run every 40 minutes Monday to Saturday with buses after 1900 and all day Sunday being withdrawn altogether.
This is fairly similar to the state of play at the start of the year, albeit the low season 4 was every half an hour last time around.
Service 8: As with previous years, the evening service is being withdrawn for the winter, however the daytime service remains every half hour.
This time though, the Sunday service is also being withdrawn. I am sure previously there was an all year Sunday service which also incorporated a diversion to replace a lack of service on the 3(?)
Services X51 and X53: A “revised” Winter service is going to be running from 9th October.
Now, from First glance it does not seem hugely different from what I remember of the past winter timetable. Both run on a 2-hourly basis and the X53 runs alone on a Sunday. It does feel like it closes down slightly earlier though.
Unfortunately the old links I have to last years timetables no longer work.
Jurassic Hibernations
Of course, the summer specials also close down around this time of year as well:
- Service X52 to Bovington and Lulworth is already tucked up in bed
- Service 501 to Portland Bill finishes this weekend (1st October)
- Caravan Park services 502 and 503 end after Saturday 5th November
There’s been a strange transition period since most summer services ended on 17th Sept and the full winter timetable starting on 9th Oct. During this period, First have advertised on their website that the X52 would continue to run to Monkey World on two Sundays only (why??), but we saw no sight of it in Wool and nobody that I’ve emailed at First will tell me whether it’s running or not.
I was under the impression the X52 had already been put to bed, but you are right… Bus Times shows it too.