Stagecoach have a number of changes coming up in May which are in part funded by the Bus Service Improvement Partnership. At the moment, you can follow up on all of the changes that I am aware of in May in a new (and occasional) dedicated page within the website. I am trying to find a way to do funky automation and have the next two months posted in the sidebar…. I ain’t paying $39 a year for it though!
Hovering Over to New Operator on 1st May
I can not remember when Stagecoach first won the contract to run the HoverTravel shuttle service around the Portsmouth city area. Although there have been a few changes over the years, as far as I remember it has done a loop from the hovercraft terminal at Southsea’s Clarence Pier and serving Gunwharf Quay’s (or rather The Hard in old money) and Commercial Road South.
From the 1st May though, I understand this will be operated by First Solent.
Although it could be a great advertising canvas for First Solent to have a dedicated Wright GB Kite Electroliner for the service?
Changes on Sunday 5th May
There are a number of changes that are affecting services off our patch in the Aldershot and Farnborough areas. If you are looking for those, then keep an eye on the Hants and Surrey Bus Blog, who is a great overall resource for the top half of Stagecoach South and other operators in the area.
There are a few changes in Basingstoke as well though, which is in part is due to funding from the Bus Service Improvement Partnership.
The LINK 32
Firstly, the big enhancement is to Stagecoach in Basingstoke’s service to Newbury. It is currently called The Link, but from Sunday 5th May it will go full circle and regain it’s number 32 designation. This service, many, many years ago, was jointly operated by Stagecoach Hampshire Bus with Newbury Buses.
The pre-COVID half hourly service to Kingsclere has not unfortunately returned. There are however, a few peak time extra trips from Kingsclere to Basingstoke in the morning and back in the evening.
Late evening buses are being funded to run six days a week though. The last bus from Basingstoke to Newbury will be 2140 (returning from Newbury at 2240) with a 2240 Basingstoke to Kingsclere service.
The New Sunday Service will also run hourly between 0740 and 1940 (from Basingstoke)
The full timetable can be found as a downloadable PDF on the Stagecoach South website.
Service 1 to Brighton Hill
There is a timetable variation for timekeeping purposes. The service will still run every 12 minutes Monday to Saturday and every 15 minutes on Sundays.
Service 5 to West Popley
There have apparently been some operational safety concerns with the long-standing route via Pemerton Road in South View / Oakridge. This means that the service outbound from Basingstoke Bus Station will now run up Norn Hill and through the bus gate, then turning left into Oakridge, however the inbound route will still use Vivian Road and Pemerton Road.
The service will also see a frequency uplift to run every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday – the new timetable is here.
Temporary Suspension from SSEN for Service 13
The roadworks that have been blighting service 13 through East Worldham and Kingsley will be withdrawn by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks for “the school exam period” and this means that service 13 will be running to it’s normal timetable between Monday 6th May and Friday 28th June.
From a very hazy memory, I think Stagecoach won the Hovertravel contract sometime in the mid 1990’s. I’m sure it was well before I moved away from the south coast just after the turn of the century. Happy to be politely corrected if my memory is completely playing tricks!
It looks like there was a contract change in the first half of 2009, with photos on Flickr showing the dedicated Dart LK55 KZZ working the route with Tellings Golden Miller at the start of the year, but by May having Stagecoach fleet number 33156 and a beach ball logo slapped on the front. By July, it had a much more attractive Hovertravel livery with less contravision.