There have been a number of updates ongoing while I had to take a short break. Thank you to the many of you that have been sending me information over the last few weeks and I have been reading them, even if I have not had the time or mental capacity to reply.
So let’s try and cover all the bases, I will forget some, I will miss some.
morebus timetable changes
I already posted that there were morebus changes coming, alongside the return of sorts of weekend night bus services. Back in 2015 the original N1 and N2 morebus services provided a 24 hour service Monday to Saturday with the N2 (or Nm2) extending to Southbourne. This time around N1 and N2 will run a small number of trips on Friday and Saturday night only.
I was also reminded that the N5 also has a history, which Yellow Buses ran in the late 2010’s. A Facebook post from the local students union highlighted it from 2018.
Anyway, back to the rest of the timetable changes:
- There is an additional 1b to Somerford on Fridays and Saturdays at 00:10
- There are additional morning trips and general retiming on:
- Services 3 3x and 4 for Waterloo Estate and Wimborne
- Services 8 and 9 for Turlin Moor
- Services 25 and 26 to Canford Heath
- Service 12 will use a new bus stop at Castlepoint
- Breezer services 40 and 50 reduce to their winter timetables
- Breezer 60 returns to the Compton Acres and Canford cliffs winter route
- Breezer 70 reverts to it’s winter route between Alum Chine and East Cliff
- The Saturday service 898 for Poole ASDA is withdrawn
Weymouth Change in October
There are a small number of timetable variations to town services taking effect 20 October. There are not timetables available yet that I can find and I will keep an eye to see if they do.
- Wyke Regis and Portland service 1
- Preston service 4
- Chickerell service 8
All 3 are simply listed as timetable variations. There is also a variation that was listed as taking effect on 1st September for service 3.
Bluestar replacing Xelabus?
There are a few comments starting to appear that there are changes affecting Xelabus HospitalLink X11 and Hoppa X12 services.
The VOSA service registration history shows the X11 and X12 as cancelled from 25 October, however corresponding Bluestar registrations are not obviously visible to me. Of course, I might have been using the wrong filters. Southampton City Council had asked for tenders for the services at the start of August.
Commenters are suggesting that the replacement services will be numbered 21 and 22 and it will be interesting to see if there are any route changes to go with the new operator.
New Winchester Bus Service for Kings Barton
A new bus service is being introduced for residents of a Winchester’s new Kings Barton estate.
The new KB1 service will run 0700 to 1900 Monday to Saturday from October. There is no registration on VOSA that I can see yet, however the service will be run by Community First.
Hampshire County Council decision imminent
Multiple local news outlets have been reporting that the Cabinet of Hampshire County Council have a decision coming up on 14th October regarding ongoing support of bus services and Concessionary Pass holders.
You may remember that there was a consultation that I was encouraging readers to complete. The results of the consultation and decision process was then delayed when Rishi Sunak called the General Election.
The Draft Cabinet Report is available on the Hampshire County Council website and the recommendations will save the council over half a million pound. The review saves a number of supported bus services, although also suggests potential changes to extended free travel for disabled National Concessionary Pass holders.
Gosport Bus Station nearly ready
The work to replace Gosport Bus Station and associated changes are – from people in the area – almost complete. I have heard a number of October opening dates and I may have a chance to go and see for myself in the next few weeks.
Hampshire County Council have updates on the scheme including the new bus lane crossing the High Street (with a bus stop opposite Lloyds Bank) and changes to the road layout around the old Gosport Police Station.
Portsmouth City Centre bus lane opens
The new Charlotte Street bus gate between Commercial Road South and Commercial Road North has opened and is being used by services.
Transpora “Dorset” Traffic Commissioner Decision
If you remember, Transpora Bus had a short lived operation in Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth having taken on the Altonian Coaches operators licence in February 2022. It also operated in the Bristol area more recently on the same licence.
The Bristol services ended on 13th July and there was a rush of interim service arrangements similar to the Yellow Buses withdrawal in 2022.
I am not going to comment on the decision of the Traffic Commissioner Inquiry. I will however let you read it for yourself.
The Traffic Commissioner’s “Notices & Proceedings” bulletin dated 26 Sept lists Go South Coast’s service variations with effect from 16th Sept. At last!
They’re listed under “Variations” not as “Variations Granted Under Short Notice”, so it’s not GSC’s fault that the notices of changes are retrospective.
Therefore we can assume the TC’s staff have been sitting on these change notices for 8 weeks, with the result that we mortals remain uninformed about the future of our bus services.
Should we complain?
I don’t know what has been particularly happening at the TC and certainly I did not intend to blame GSC for any tardiness. Apologies if it looked that way.
My complaint about tardiness of TC change notices is unrelated to your HantsBus narrative, but of course it relates to the same service alterations.