Updates: A really badly edited map and details for the new F1 and F2 routes.
The new school year is coming, it almost feels like the old school year has just ended! We are less than 56 days to September though so without much surprise First Solent’s changes have started to appear with a change date of Sunday 31st August.
But First… from 19th August
I don’t know what it is for…. nor how long it will run. It is a chance for some pictures of “a rare route” for some of our enthusiasts though.
A Tipner Park and Ride service PR5 has popped up running from Tipner Park & Ride to the Continental Ferry Port. It will only run on Tuesday’s and Wednesdays from 1920 to 0000.
I know this is also a really minor point and I am just being pedantic, but Tidner Park & Rider? I know, it’s a typo probably from years ago.
Changes from Sunday 31st August
There are changes to both commercial and supported services after Hampshire County Council’s cuts start to take effect. As a cautionary reminder – I already know some that have been caught out – this is the weekend AFTER the August Bank Holiday, not the weekend of the bank holiday.
Gosport & Fareham
Service 11 will gain two extra trips which are aimed at those commuting:
- 0721 Hoeford to Gosport (arr 0740)
- 0818 Gosport to Fareham (arr 0852)
- 1745 Fareham to Gosport (arr 1812)
- 1746 Gosport to Hoeford (arr 1809)
These will run Monday to Friday only with no changes to the existing services.
Services 28/28A will have a route changes in Whiteley and Segensworth.
There will be a route change in Whiteley with buses now running in a loop. From it’s current terminus on Whiteley Way it will now run it’s return trip via the new estates on Curbridge Way and direct back to the shopping centre.
The Saturday service will now also divert away from Segensworth’s industrial estates and run direct via Southampton Road. In theory this will offer quicker trips to the retail outlets.
Service 20 is confirmed as Withdrawn following the loss of Hampshire County Council funding. Unfortunately, any aspirations of Stagecoach South running any diversions on the 69 to cover Knowle have already been quashed.
Services 9/9A will see timetable improvements:
There are a few minutes additional running time added to most trips on weekdays, with some early morning services running a few minutes different.
Weekend timetables get a increase though with daytime frequencies increasing to every 20 minutes on Saturdays and every 30 minutes on Sundays. The Saturday service will mirror the weekday timetable with one bus per hour being a 9A trip
Eclipse E1/E2 – via the BRT
There is a whole new timetable with an increase in frequency all week:
- Weekdays will move to every 12-ish minutes on each route in the rush hour (every 15 minutes daytime)
- Saturdays will move to every 15 minutes on each route
- Sundays will move to every 30 minutes on each route
Services F1/F2 will return to being a pair of circular services. Presumably due to a low uptake of users, the section of the F1 between Fareham Bus Station and Sainsburys at Wallington will be withdrawn. I must admit that the few times I have seen it drive by The Ironmaster, it has not been that well used.
The new F1 will run (with the F2 in reverse) Blackbrook Road, Thorni Avenue, Frosthole Crescent, Mayling. It is reminiscent of the circular services of the past, in various iterations, so I am guessing that Maylings Farm Road and Miller Drive will be the route, however the timetable and route maps are not yet updated.
UPDATE: The service will run every 90 minutes in each direction, with an additional weekday trip for commuters (0750 F2 and 1730 F1). The route is also different to what I thought; going from the Highlands Road shops around Frosthole Crescent, then back and along Hill Park Road and Red Barn Lane (replacing the 20) before heading towards the Jolly Miller Pub.
Portsmouth
Service 7 will see the minor timetable changes although frequencies will remain the same. It is advertised as a frequency change to 15 minutes (20 minutes weekends) but it already is!
Service 8 will see timetable revisions to improve punctuality, there is no change to frequency.
Timetables – Not all yet available
Some of the timetables have popped up on BusTimes but they have not yet appeared on TravelineSW. That is probably just the update cycles that each site operates because of the size of the national bus dataset.
For example, the new 28/A and F1/2 timetables are not available yet, but the 9/A and 7 are.
The news article for the First Solent changes are also available on the First Bus website – and I am sure the timetables will appear there in due course.
Typically unimaginative changes from surely the country’s most hopeless, hapless, and frankly useless bus company. No direct services up/down Gudge Heath Lane for the first time, ever? To/from the railway station the same company operates. Joined-up public transport for ya! Of course, now, this also means that anyone travelling from the Highlands will pay £2.60/£3 rather than the £2.30 on the 20. Ker-ching, etc.
Not a surprise the F1 extension to Sainsbury’s is withdrawn, it was hardly as though they had the wit to promote it, properly. But allied with the changes to the 69, it means a swath of NE Fareham will now be unserved by any public transport, at all.
I loathe this company.
Also, a minor point, it’s not “Mayling”, it’s “Mayling’s Farm”. But what do you expect from a bunch of halfwits in Leeds? Who, incidentally, there is no way of contacting electronically, there’s a silly Form one can fill online, rather than offering the option to simply tell them How Rubbish They Are (or to offer encouragement, don’t forget that…)
Yes it has always been Mayling’s Farm. I assumed the council might have renamed it like they did with Cherque Farm.
Intresting to see the changes for F1 and F2 & intrested to see the route properly on a map at some point.
Well, I got on to Traveline because their maps are absolutely all over the shop. Still making my head spin a little. I used to board the F1 on the stretch of Fareham Park Road that appears to be no longer served, but I won’t miss that at all: at least, up at the Highlands, it will be possible to wait for both the F1 & F2 at (different) stops that have a shelter, rather than fight for space on a narrow pavement outside the chip shop, along with its inevitable spud delivery lorry…
Given both routes are now circular, I’m wondering how return ticketing is going to work, under the current price regime. I will certainly be looking to board the F2 into town at a point where the price is £2.60 (if this is possible), rather than £3, and then hopefully get whichever bus home. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
While I am glad to see an early journey into town / late journey back (for me, via the shorter Blackbrook Road route), I have to say it’s conspicuously rubbish that there is nothing at all between 1530 and 1730, this basically means there has been no actual *improvement* in service level, but I suppose at least keeping abreast of the timetables will be easier, rather than the every hour / every hour and ten minutes / every two hours nonsense we had before.