This article was edited on 04 October to reflect the C service was extended until 14 October – Source
This article was updated on 04 October (again) to reflect the C service was extended until 28 October – Source
The article is currently out of date as Southampton Mini Link will now run the 13a (Weekends Only) and the C until the end of October and the ‘Not City’ Little Red Enviro 200 is no longer for sale on Ebay.
The 14 remains withdrawn from this weekend, but the weekday replacement of the 13a might start at the end of October subject to the “new management” taking over. Whether that means Simon Gard as an operator has to change, remains a question asked to VOSA.
Now – back to what’s left of the original article.
Local Hampshire bus operator Southampton Mini Link has announced that this weekend will be the last that you will see the whir of little red bus plying for trade on the 13A to Harefield.
No, that is not because the little red Enviro is up for sale (although it is was) but because it has been announced that Southampton Mini Link will be closing its doors after service on Sunday 9th October might be closing it’s doors at the end of October – although a “new manager” has been found. Simon Gard has had to take a back seat from managing the operation due to his health recently, and Simon’s partner has been taken unwell over the weekend.
Thus endeth the short 15 months that Southampton Mini Link have been operating. From the service 5 to Ringwood, with a fully First UniBus branded ALX400 (which may, or may not still be at Xelabus as fleet number 801) (which may or may not still be in dealer style white); to the M1 to Marwell which may have actually been de-registered before it was registered.
Some criticised me as being too critical of this new operator, even after I dropped names like GardBus and Southbourne Buses.
We also of course have the recently taken over Dekkabus operation, which had a small number of schools runs and buses in Dorset.
The school bus run by Southampton Mini Link in Ringwood, has long since passed on to another (or no) operator.
Interim Service Changes
In the few days that are left of the operation; Eastleigh service C will now only run tomorrow (04 October) and on Thursday 06 October on a reduced 3 round trip timetable run weekdays until 14th October – 4 round trips a day.
Updated (a second time) – It appears the long standing and ‘very popular’ 13a / 14 service will still be withdrawn, but money has suddenly been found to continue running Service C until the end of October.
Southampton services 13A & 14 will run their normal planned timetables until Sunday night the end of October.
It is unlikely though, that Southampton Mini Link’s services will be taken over any time soon. First Southampton are already pulling out of their City Red 9 (or is it service 9 operated by City Red’s) service with a partial replacement diverting service 13 (not to be confused with the red bus running on the 13a).
Minilnk C now running until the 14th October 2022
Thanks Reece, I have now amended the article to reflect that.
I don’t think this is much of a surprise to anyone – I think we all knew it was going to fail eventually. It was just a matter of when!