A General Roundup

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There are lots of little things that are going on at the moment. If things were delivered in nice neat little parcels then some of them could have been whole posts in their own right, but I am not convinced that what I have seen is the whole story, particularly when it comes to First Solent.

Already Happened: The Z00

Firstly I knew about this, and forgot to mention it. Partly, the reason was I wanted to grab you a picture of the replacement Marwell Zoo service being provided by Bluestar.

For those that remember back the service has had a number of operators over the years:

• Black Velvet (later known as Velvet) ran it as the M
• Xelabus bought out Velvet and continued it
• First Hampshire / Southampton / City Red then ran it
• Southampton Mini Link registered to run it, but then didn’t

Now it is Go South Coast’s turn, running the ‘Z00’ service between Eastleigh Rail and Bus Station, and Marwell.

There is not an early extension from Southampton City Centre ala First so I surmise that this will be run from the Barton Park outstation. Also slightly interestingly as I don’t recall others doing this, Bluestar is running the service Bus Station – Rail Station – Marwell – Rail Station – Bus Station whereas I think other operators simply run Eastleigh as a loop.

You can find the timetable for the Z00 on the Bluestar website.

Happening: ‘Transpora Dorset’

New services have also started running in Bournemouth, on the Altonian Coaches discs of Transpora Bus.

the2

Between the school runs, and all day on school holiday weekdays, the2 operates between Bournemouth Triangle & Square, Rail Station and Boscombe.

Two buses providing a bus every 20 minutes, the duplication of Go South Coast’s morebus number 2 (soon to be 22) will more than double the frequency on the 18 minute section. The fact that school days will see 16 of the 32 round trips not operating shows the limitations of using a small schools fleet for service work.

I can’t think of another recent operator that had this problem…..

The Open-Top

Not currently advertised on the Transpora Bus (or Transpora Group) websites is their new open-top bus service along Bournemouth Beach.

The Bournemouth Coaster has been running with some familiar vehicles while the open-top busses are prepared. I hear (as I have not been to Bournemouth in a month or so) that it has a distinct yellow livery.

https://www.facebook.com/BournemouthCoaster/posts/pfbid02NhFatkEtUxboCvReyznX5SgNm9fD8bW2DGntxCU5KjniikJt9g7pEmQsvtwXmWUkl

The high season service every 45 minutes will begin from 29th May using two buses between Bournemouth Pier, Boscombe Pier and Hengistbury Head. This will be in competition with Go South Coast’s two buses an hour across the Breezer 70 and 80 routes.

Weymouth

Transpora Bus is also advertising for bus drivers for it’s new Weymouth Depot. It’s not advertised on their careers webpage, but it is on Indeed.

They have a number of schools contracts starting on 5th June (which is the start of the last half-term of the year) with more apparently on the way in September. They also state that they will be looking for service opportunities between the schools runs, so this has potential to become a full time gig.

They are currently looking for seven drivers, which sounds like a lot for some initial schools contracts; so they must be taking on a wholesale lot from another operator – answers on a postcard of a Sunseeker please…

Happening Soon? First Solent lists cancellations again

I feel a little deja vu saying this – First Solent have cancellations listed for Portsmouth

I am not sure if you remember a few months back, I might have mentioned it on Twitter, but not here, but First Solent had services listed for cancellation and then became en vogue again. There was speculation of cancellations back in February and yet the services continued (albeit with the 18 serving a new loop of Southsea).

So fast forward to cancellations listed for 30th July:

• Service 12 between Fratton Way Tesco, North End and Tipner
• Service 13 between Portsmouth City Centre and Milton and Portsmouth College (which includes the 14)
• Service 18 between Paulsgrove, North End and Southsea Shops
• Service 22 between Farlington Sainsburys, Cosham and Highbury
• Service 25 between Gunwharf Quays, Southsea and Hayling Ferry

A familiar list, although the inclusion of service 25 is a little surprise.

I know. When I originally brought this up on Twitter the registration included a reference to now serving Clarence Pier. I also reported it as a service change and was almost immediately corrected.

It was also pointed out on Twitter that the Portsmouth routes are believed to be out to tender at the moment.

Now – This is 3 months after the first round of cancellations were due to take effect in April. Whether this is the end of a temporary reprieve, or whether the cancellations will suddenly be withdrawn themselves remain to be seen. Maybe though, now Marc Reddy is at Stagecoach South, we will see a bit more white and swoopy through the city centre.

I must admit it is amazing though. I remember when Tipner was a battleground between First Portsmouth and Blue Admiral. There used to be a high-frequency service from Portsdown Inn through the backbone of North End and Fratton to Southsea loosely similar to today’s 18. The 25 and the 60 used to see many more buses running around Highbury.

Now, between the Council and the Bus Company, just running a single minibus around it is no longer viable?

Happening July: More Uplift at Weymouth?

There are some timetable changes listed for First Wessex taking effect as well.

• Sunday 2nd July for service 2 between Weymouth and Littlemoor.
  In the past, I am sure that Weymouth depot had additional short runs on service 2 between Kings Statue and the Mount Pleasant Park & Ride site in Radipole. Maybe this is happening again?
• Sunday 23rd July for service X54 between Weymouth and Wool
  The MonkeyWorld service, avoiding Durdle Door, is getting a timetable change. I suspect that this will be added running time as the school summer holidays start the same weekend. We might see a few extra services though as the school commitments are expended.