In one of those “RaRe, BeAsT, ThRaSh” moments; I feel a bit Deja vu when I say this, but we have a third occasion in one season’s tidings that I am going to say NEW. We are back with the next batch of festive services and yes, there is something new to talk about – but I think I have worked out what is going on.
The guys and girls at Hoeford and Hilsea are going to be working their socks off over the Christmas period and some of them are probably going to be appreciating the overtime without the mostly cooked Christmas Turkey and half-renditions of God Save the Qu King.
Christmas Eve (Saturday)
First Solent will be operating a full Saturday daytime timetable, but there will be the usual early finish and ‘run-in.’ Now, as a slight aside I presume the phrase “early run-in” is a company wide standard as it seems to be used on a few First subsidiaries. Surely “Last Buses on…” would be more language friendly? I digress.
Unless it is listed below, the usual last bus departures apply:
- Service 1: 1936 from Southsea – 1942 from Gunwharf
- Service 2: 1940 from Paulsgrove to Gunwharf & 2000 Paulsgrove to Eastney (only)
1945 Gunwharf to Paulsgrove & 2005 Gunwharf to Hilsea Bus Depot (only) - Service 3: 1822 from Fareham to Southsea & 1852 Fareham to Gunwharf (only)
1938 Southsea to Fareham & 2008 Southsea to Gunwharf (only) - The Star 7: 1941 from Wecock Farm – 1945 from Portsmouth Civic Offices
- The Star 8: 1856 from Clanfield – 1940 from Gunwharf
Note: The 1819 and later departures from Gunwharf will complete the full Clanfield loop through to Coombs Close. - Service 18: Only the 2005 from Paulsgrove to Southsea will not run
- Eclipse E1 & E2: 1958 from Fareham (E2) – 1955 from Gosport (E1)
Christmas Day (Sunday)
We have new news – there will be a Christmas Day service in Portsmouth on Christmas Day, running to a special timetable. If you are bored with my ramblings, then just click here now for the First Solent PDF with the Christmas Day timetables.
There does seem to be a pattern this year as well. I have already mentioned earlier in the week that Stagecoach South are running a Christmas Day service on the 21 and 23. These services were subject to funding from Portsmouth City Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan to gain a late night weekend service and new early morning depatures.
Ironically – or not – the services that First Solent are going to be running on Christmas Day are the ones that (mostly) have received funding from Portsmouth City Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan to gain… you know the drill:
These routes will have an hourly service between approximately 8am and 6pm:
- Service 1: Gunwharf – City – Fratton – Southsea
- Service 2: Gunwharf – City – Eastney – Cosham – Paulsgrove
- Service 3: Fareham – Paulsgrove – Cosham – North End – City – Gunwharf – Southsea
- The Star 7: Gunwharf – City – North End – Cosham – Waterlooville – Wecock Farm
- The Star 8: Gunwharf – City – Stamshaw – Cosham – Waterlooville (Only)
Note: The Star 8 will not run north of Waterlooville on Christmas Day.
The full PDF timetable is available to download on the First Solent website.
Boxing Day (Monday)
First Solent will be running a special service across the Portsmouth and Fareham on Boxing Day. They usually do this on a small number of routes, but I feel like there is an enhanced service in Portsmouth this year, probably for the same BSIP funding that I would think is in place for Christmas Day.
The full timetable PDF can be downloaded here – but with one exception these services will run every 30 minutes between approximately 8am and 6pm:
- Service 1: Gunwharf – City – Fratton – Southsea
- Service 2: Gunwharf – City – Eastney – Cosham – Paulsgrove
- Service 3: Fareham – Paulsgrove – Cosham – North End – City – Gunwharf – Southsea
- The Star 7: Gunwharf – City – North End – Cosham – Waterlooville – Wecock Farm
- The Star 8: Gunwharf – City – Stamshaw – Cosham – Waterlooville (Only)
Note: The Star 8 will not run north of Waterlooville on Boxing Day. - Eclipse E1 & E2: Gosport – Fort Brockhurst – Fareham
Note: Each route will run every 40 Minutes – with 3 buses an hour on the Bus Road
BIG NOTE: On the news page, there are errors about last buses on Boxing Day, including a reference to the Paulsgrove to Southsea service 18. It looks like someone has copy and paste this in error, certainly as the Boxing Day PDF is a completely different set of timetables.
[Of course – the “team” might have also corrected this by now as they are aware of it]
Wednesday 28th & Thursday 29th December
First Solent are going to be running a modified Saturday service. Now, just to get confusing, it looks like the modification is that the new late night Saturday services that are going to be introduced on Sunday December 4th are not running; but the standard timetable is.
HOWEVER
At the time of writing, I have not had a chance to check all the last times against the new timetables, so I am not going to say with conviction that this is definitely the case.
Friday 30th and New Year’s Eve
First Solent will be running a full (with Night Buses) Saturday service on both days.
It will be interesting to see how the night service will play out compared to the usual New Year’s Eve routine of queuing for the taxi. Will buses be busy, or will revellers simply decide that the Kens Kebab and Cab is still king?
New Year’s Day (Sunday)
It’s a special service Sunday for First Solent, across the same timetable as the Christmas Day specials.
These routes will have an hourly service between approximately 8am and 6pm:
- Service 1: Gunwharf – City – Fratton – Southsea
- Service 2: Gunwharf – City – Eastney – Cosham – Paulsgrove
- Service 3: Fareham – Paulsgrove – Cosham – North End – City – Gunwharf – Southsea
- The Star 7: Gunwharf – City – North End – Cosham – Waterlooville – Wecock Farm
- The Star 8: Gunwharf – City – Stamshaw – Cosham – Waterlooville (Only)
Note: The Star 8 will not run north of Waterlooville on Christmas Day.
The full PDF timetable is available to download on the First Solent website.
Monday 2nd January
A normal Bank Holiday Sunday service will run across all of First Solent.
Tuesday 3rd January
Normal service resumes.
No news about Christmas service levels from First Wessex yet. In previous years I have had to remind them to make an exception for our X54 Jurassic Coaster bus service which normally only runs Mon-Fri and thus may disappear from the road for about 10 days over the Christmas period – this is because the company declares a “Saturday” service on days that are not bank holidays. If your local bus service is normally Mon-Fri only, be warned!
First Wessex have now declared their Christmas service levels, and as predicted they’ve forgotten to make an exception for the X54 yet again. Let’s see whether my complaint has any effect!