So with the school holidays now in full swing, and the countries families busily packing themselves into the local Butlin’s or Pontins (other holiday suppliers are available) the local bus operators are having a bit of a shuffle in advance of the 2023/24 academic year.
We have already reported that Go South Coast’s UniLink brand will be taking on the Xelabus X21 for Southampton Science Park and what we assume is National Express’ WSA service for Winchester School of Art. Transpora have now also started to advertise their changes courtesy of the world publishing magnate…. Facebook.
- The daily saga of Transpora and morebus fighting over students will be coming to an end as routes 906 to 909 serving St Peter’s Catholic School will be cancelled.
- Routes A, B and C for Highcliffe School will continue in September and Transpora will introduce live tracking on these routes (hopefully open data, rather than relying on a app tied to identifiers.
- Route 930 for Poole Grammar and Parkstone Grammar will continue
While schools buses are not running of course, the vehicles and drivers will spend the 6 week break running local service 2 between Bournemouth Triangle and Boscombe Bus Station.
We have also previously questioned the logic of ending the Bournemouth Coaster open top service just before the late summer bank holiday. The ‘more lucrative’ services that Transpora need to train their staff on have now been announced as the small network of routes serving Kingston Maurwood College.
These routes were operated by Go South Coast and at the end of July were advertised as “The Double Deck Routes” by the further and higher education provider.
- 701 for Portland & Weymouth
- 702 for Christchurch, Bournemouth and Canford Heath
- 703 for Kinson, Poole and Upton
- 704 for Verwood, Wimbourne and Corfe Mullen
A quick look at the college website suggests that they have a pretty comprehensive network of other routes as well. The institution is in the middle of the countryside and has quite a specialist list of agricultural and animal based courses on offer, which probably explains the wide commuting area.
We can only wish Transpora luck and success on this small network of schools services, presumably split between their Weymouth and Poole depots.