There are quite a few little bits that I have missed over the weeks which might be of interest to you all. At the moment, I am of a quandary though. The renewal for the mail service that I use for you to send me mails is due in February and is £80 a year. Whether I make changes to get rid of WP Mail is something that I have to dwell on over Christmas, and it certainly does not qualify as being offset against my tax bill!
First Solent lose more in Portsmouth
From Tuesday 2nd January, First Solent will no longer operate the 27 between Emsworth and Rowlands Castle, or the D1 and D2 services between Waterlooville and Denmead / Hambledon.
Both routes are long serving services steeped in background. The names Hants & Sussex and its successor Emsworth & District feature as previous operators (the latter being the Emsworth operations of the latter as bits were sold off) and if you want a background of the last years of E&D then you should check out this 2018 post from the Public Transport Experience blog.
Anyway we digress. Stagecoach South will operate the 27, D1 and D2 from January, apparently to the same timetable as currently. This of course adds to their wins during 2023 of most of the Portsmouth “supported” network of routes.
What will be interesting to me, is how the operator change will affect passenger numbers. My question would be whether there is substantive through traffic from the D1 / D2 towards QA and Portsmouth; now requiring two operators and potentially 2 tickets.
Southern Vectis gains buses and diversions
Following a landslip in the recent weather Ventnor had some significant access issues. Peter commented on a previous post with the following:
Due to a landslip on the Bonchurch Road and a damaged sewer on the Newport Road, two of the three access points to Ventnor are completely blocked, thus the only way in and out of the town is via the Whitwell Road. Southern Vectis route 3 is therefore completely unable to serve Ventnor without a major time penalty, thus it is running direct to Shanklin after Wroxall. A shuttle service (presumably also numbered 3) is operating roughly hourly between Godshill and Ventnor via Whitwell to maintain the public transport link for Shanklin passengers. Passengers travelling between Ventnor and Newport are advised to take the direct route 6.
Christmas at Go South Coast comments
There is nothing on the Island Buses service updates page, so whether the shuttle bus is still running I am not sure.
Southern Vectis also have a number of new vehicles for service 1 on the Island. The seven Enviro 400MMC double deckers have been purchased for route 1 between Newport and Cowes and although I have not been over to see them, I have previously seen how busy this route can get.
Sister company morebus also has received a number of buses for their m1 and m2 services. I think they are are 400MMCs as well, but I have lost the pictures I saw on Twitter of them.
other changes at First Solent
Heading back to First Solent, there were service registrations lodged for February. Some have been withdrawn, but I will include them here (annotated, of course) in case there is a subsequent new variation registered:
- Service 1 between Gunwharf and Southsea is a variation lodged and then the new variation was withdrawn (note: not a service cancellation, just the variation) and it mentioned introduction of an overnight service.
- Service 2 between Paulsgrove, Copnor, Eastney and Gunwharf is showing a timetable variation stating “Timetable variation, including introduction of overnight service” – it would be interesting to see if this means a 6 or 7 night overnight service as it provides a connection to QA from a large swathe of Portsmouth.
- The Star 7 shows a route and timetable variation
- The Star 8 shows a timetable variation
- Service 9 & 9a in Gosport shows a route and timetable variation
These changes are listed for Sunday 4th February, so as expected there is nothing on Traveline yet.
Also I have seen images of the first First Solent electric bus out on driver training and familisation. I was in Gosport last week, but regretfully it was not out to play so I have not got a picture of it myself. Just a speculative opinion, but these might be in place for February?
First Wessex have also registered a change, adding an additional service 3 in the afternoons.
Flightline 730 coaches arrive
It’s taken me a while to be in the right time and place for a photo, but I finally managed to grab one of the new Newbury & District Flightline coaches at Basingstoke. Newbury & District is the Newbury brand of Reading Buses and also runs both local Newbury services, as well as the Jet Black 1 to Reading.
I think it looks very Greenline, but I do also like the addition of wheelchair access within the main seating area which you can see mid-body.
I have been told that the Flightline 730 and 731 are now also included in the Government £2 bus fare cap. As the services are split, Basingstoke to Heathrow will cost you £4 each way, but that is still a good bargain!
Christmas silence
Lastly, you may have noticed that I have not mentioned either Transpora Bus or Xelabus in the Christmas service levels. This is not a mistake, but something that neither have published on their websites.
Hopefully a printed notice is proudly on display on their buses.
Speaking of Christmas
Although I am working on the Christmas week posts for service levels, as you can tell I am still not here as much as I used to be. The prozac is starting to do it’s thing and I am getting better; I don’t intend to disappear any time soon.
If I don’t talk to you again this year though, have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As you can imagine, it was maybe a good thing that I never became a bus driver!
The Rowland’s castle service before Hants & Sussex took it over as the 327 was operated by Southdown motor services who as you know were purchased by Stagecoach. So in effect full circle!
Similarly-ish for the Hambledon/Denmead route with Southdown running the 745 / 45 & other earlier route numbers. Then along came bus deregulation with White Heather service 45 & more!
I think the Hambledon and Denmead area has actually had one of the most interesting backgrounds.
It could be a whole post on its own.
I have the vague early childhood memories of H&S and Southdown in Fareham, so it definitely shows my lack of age!
Yes indeed. There was once a Southdown Depot/Garage at Hambledon. The service Hambledon to Denmead to Waterlooville after Dreg-day if I recall was actually run by 3 different operators. one Mon to Fri, one Sat & one Sun. I’d have to go into my “vaults” to confirm who ran what day but not able to do so at the moment.
Indeed, a fascinating history on both these routes. Before 1975 the Rowlands Castle route was Southdown 67, which then became 307 at that point, and extended to Southsea as part of the next big reorganisation in 1979, either via Fratton (327) or Commercial Road (330).
The Hambledon route was the 139 pre-1975, then the 339 before becoming the 745 in (I think) 1977. That’s where the residual ’45’ numbering of the pre-D1/D2 route came from, which is a good source of confusion for future historians as before 1975 the 45 group were the services between Southsea and Fareham. I’ve seen at least one well-respected magazine article get that wrong.
The Hambledon outstation was in use until relatively recently (i.e. the past 25 years) as early/late journeys to/from Clanfield on the A3 axis routes then ran across country via the ‘Bat and Ball’ to Hambledon for overnight sleep.
Regarding the christmas announcement about our services we have had IT issues and have tried to get this rectified. We only operate the X11, x12 and Hoppa services and with our Enviro buses. Notices have been displayed on buses and drivers have handed out a xmas leaflet to customers.
Regarding the D1 and D2 service in the Portsmouth area I can confirm the 139 did run for many years from Hambledon via Waterlooville to Portsmouth Hyde Park Road.
The 137 ran from Berg Estate on same route to Portsmouth. I own a queen mary bus from Southdown and will be recreating the 139 route in the new year for photo opportunity.
Great stuff. Will look out for information about it.
There was a 317 to Rowland’s Castle that went onto Horndean but was very limited peaks only. The 307 had odd trips to Finchdean too!
From their Facebook pages
Transpora Bus South West
8 December at 17:22
·
🎄 Christmas and New Year Service Levels 🎄
We’ll be operating the following over the Christmas and new year period:
Sunday 24th December (Christmas Eve):
Normal Service until 21:50 (the evening CP1, CP2, AD1 and LD1 will not operate).
Monday 25th December (Christmas Day):
No service
Tuesday 26th December (Boxing Day):
CP1, CP2 & AD1 will operate a normal service. No other services will operate.
27/28/29/30th December:
Normal service except for route 25 which will operate a Saturday service.
Sunday 31st December (New Years Eve):
Normal service (no 25 or 925 will operate).
Monday 1st January 2024 (New Years Day):
Normal service except for routes 25 and YCL which will not operate.
Tuesday 2nd January 2024:
Normal service resumes on all routes.
We wish our customers a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year, thank you for your custom in 2023.
Transpora Bus South Coast
🎄 We wish all our customers a very Happy Christmas and New Year. Here are the service levels over the festive period:
Route 2 will operate normally until Friday 22nd December but then will not operate until January 3rd.
School and College services finish Friday 15th until January.
Thank you for your custom and support in 2023.
Xelabus
No news, but presumably normal days less Bank Holidays.