Following the announcement that Xelabus have registered their cancellation of some services, another independent operator has proffered to get public funding to replace council funding for routes in West Eastleigh.
As we have reported previously, Hampshire County Council have had a (now closed) consultation about transport provisions in the County. This includes the fact that Xelabus have already announced the withdrawal of a number of routes as a direct result of reduced funding; itself an interim solution prior to re-tendering.
Although Xelabus is proposing to extend its X4 Hedge End to Eastleigh service to Velmore (direct via Leigh Road) this leaves large parts of Chandlers Ford without a service.
Enter Southampton Mini Link
Simon Gard, owner of Southampton Mini Link, has recently posted on his social media channels bother personally and for Southampton Mini Link. In these posts, he has made his own proposal for a six month trial of a replacement service for some (or all) of the X6 and X7 being replaced by his own service.
Simon admits however that he can not do this as an entirely and has set up a GoFundMe looking for £6,000 to help support the service. In comments Simon posted on the Southampton Bus Update, he suggests it might run between Eastleigh and Fryern Arcade shops only; but there is an intention to register the service to start in September.
A Personal Opinion
This will be an interesting experiment. For Southampton Mini Link, this will show whether there are any die-hard commuters in the Chandlers Ford area that would additionally support the service. If the £6,000 GoFundMe is reached then you can be sure that Hampshire County Council will take enough notice that they would want other communities to do the same.
Unless a local business stumps up a good portion of the cash though, I am not convinced that people will feel endeavoured to donate much. I don’t think Hampshire County Council will be tendering for the Eastleigh area services anything like a level that local operators can say it will be cost neutral.
Either way… if you want to see Southampton Mini Link running services past the owners house; then hit up the GoFundMe.
Feel sorry for those in places like Droxford,who will now be cut off from bus services,once the X17 goes.
We have listened to community feedback and added additional areas to the proposed route which include Hursley Road, Sutherlands Way, South Millers Dale, Constantine Ave & Peverells Wood Ave some parts which have been without bus services for a few years. To accommodate the additional areas the frequency will have to be reduced to either every 90 minutes or 2 hourly and a timetable is expected to be made public at the end of the week.
Thank you for keeping us up to date Simon.
Whether the additional diversions will generate more custom than the reduced service will lose…. that is the conundrum!