So it has been a busy few weeks for the Transpora Bus team in Hampshire and Dorset as they have been busy on both emergency and scheduled rail replacement services on behalf of South Western and Great Western Railway. For those that have not been around the south Hampshire area there was a landslip just outside Fareham and services between the town and Eastleigh were diverted.
They have also been busy promoting their new Bristol service 23 between Ashton Vale and Broadmead, but less so the announcement that it’s headline Bournemouth route 2 out to Boscombe is being cancelled from 20th February.
For those that remember last year, Transpora Bus operated an open top bus service for most of the summer holidays, before the mid-August cancellation for training time on the new Kingston Maurwood College contract. Whether the cancellation of service 2 will lead to another ‘more lucrative’ contract within the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area being announced.
morebus have plenty of replacements
It is not that the locals of the Holdenhurst Road are without replacement though. Service 22 from morebus operates along the same route and for those heading to Boscombe there are a multitude of options to consider.
It may also lead to questions about the viability of the schools services in the Bournemouth area. Is there enough money in them to keep them going as a separate concern for Poole Grammer and Highcliffe? With the success of morebus taking over former Yellow Xelabus routes such as the 18, I can not see BCP council wanting to re-tender them (are they even supported now they are seven days a week?) and I am not overly aware of anything on the horizon in terms of contracts.
Maybe you know…. they want to take a pop at a new service between Ringwood and Southampton? That’s not been proposed in a year or so?
Perhaps Transpora could try he ex Yellow Bus 1a NM section..Highcliffe has a poor service with lots of gaps that More never took on when Y/B failed,+ the fact. they have buses parked in the area in between school runs..
Bristol contracts from April for 1 bus:
The 23 is not exciting with 4 round trips from 08:40 to 12:30.
The N2 is 1.5 round trips after midnight Mon -Fri and 4 round trips Sat night / Sun morning.
Transpora are not it appears doing much work commercially – almost everything is a contract. Historically most of their commercial choices have failed. Much better to stick with providing what others specify.
The 2 in Bournemouth was designed to use drivers between school runs (not part time staff), but it still has to cover its direct costs. I am surprised it has lasted this long. It is similar to part of the morebus 22, but only Mon-Fri excluding school day peaks and evenings although every 20 mins v the 22 every 30 mins. It is a lot of mileage. The 22 also serves the station, hospital and Castlepoint retail centre on the same 30 min timetable 7 days a week from early to midnight, plus fares over the morebus network.