Joy to the World, something, blah, blah something. I know, I have not still got into the Christmas spirit. For something slightly different, because someone asked on a previous post, today’s featured picture is an AI generated image courtesy of Microsoft co-pilot. I was playing, I know. I have very few pictures of buses in the snow, I know….. its because I am always either working or snowed in on snow days.
Across the big operators we now have details for the third and final for Go South Coast. The Christmas timetables follow a similar pattern to what the Blue, Green and …. well Blue brands are up to normally:
Sunday – Christmas Eve
A normal Sunday service will operate across Southern Vectis, Bluestar and morebus. For some reason, they make pains to also note that if a route does not have a Sunday service, then it will not have a … Sunday service on the Sunday.
Okay, who complained – or did someone take offence at my views on the X54?
Unilink (who I also most forgot, so it is like a footnote) is running a Vacation Sunday Service.
Christmas Day
Go South Coast, compared to other local operators, actually run a reasonably extensive Christmas Day service and have done for many years. Only the following services run.
Bluestar
Three special services will operate and this year for those that are unsure of the routes, the Commercial Team have provided maps as well on their website and Google Maps
- Service 1X: Southampton – Eastleigh – Chandlers Ford – Winchester (It feels like the route is different between Chandlers Ford and Winchester this year?) running every 2 hours
- Service 17X: Which is essentially the normal Bluestar 17 route. running hourly
- Service 18X: Which is the normal 18 route, but then extended to General Hospital and Aldermoor. running hourly
morebus
- Service m1 and m2 will run their usual Christmas Day service, with the m2 extending to Tuckton and Christchurch each service runs hourly
Southern Vectis
The normal Christmas Day offering is running again this year:
- Service 1: Newport to Cowes
- Service 3: Newport – Ventnor – Sandown – Ryde
- Service 5: Newport to East Cowes
- Service 7: Newport – Shalfleet – Yarmouth – Totland
- Service 9: Newport – Ryde
Boxing Day
A Sunday service operates on Southern Vectis and Bluestar (Except the Bluestar 6, which is in reality a morebus operated service out of Lymington…. and does not operate)
There is a mixed offering on morebus and a number of variations of a theme:
- Sunday service runs on 1a, 1b, 1c, 3 & 4, 5 & 5a, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, 25 & 26, 40, X3 & X8
- Special service run on m1/m2 and Breezer 50
- No other services run
Unilink will run a special half-hourly service on the U1 only.
Wednesday 27th to Friday 29th December
Services on Southern Vectis run to their normal weekday timetables.
Services on Bluestar and morebus run to a Saturday timetable with the following exceptions
- Weekday timetables on Bluestar 6 (operated by morebus), 35, H1/H2 and T3/T4
- Weekday timetables on Salisbury Reds X7 and X7R
- Additional Bluestar 5: 0705 Eastleigh to Romsey / 0750 Romsey to Eastleigh
- Weekday Timetables on morebus services 18, 24, 33, 38, 737 in Bournemouth
- Weekday Timetables on morebus services 119, 120, 191, 193 in the New Forest
- Weekday Timetables on morebus longer-distance services X1, X2, X3, X6 and X8
- Some additional early journeys also run in Bournemouth and Poole
Unilink will run a Vacation Saturday service, except a weekday service on the U8 and no U1N nightbus.
Saturday 30th December
All Saturday timetables will run across all Go South Coast brands, including a Vacation Saturday U1 on Unilink.
No service on U1N nightbus.
Sunday 31st December
On Southern Vectis, a normal Sunday service as well as the Friday / Saturday night bus timetables.
On Bluestar, Unilink and morebus a normal Sunday service will run. morebus will also run an additional 5a service at 0030.
New Years Day
Southern Vectis
A Sunday service will operate today
Bluestar
- A Sunday service will run on routes 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20
- A Sunday service will run on QuayConnect except the 0730 from Central (0747 from RedJet) will not run
- Special Services operate on routes 9, 12, 17 and 18.
morebus
- Sunday services operate on services 1a, 1b, 1c, 3 & 4, 5 & 5a, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, 25 & 26, 40, X3 & X8
- Special services operate on the m1 & m2 and Breezer 50
Unilink
A special timetable operates on route U1 only.
From Tuesday 2nd January 2024
Normal services operate across all operations. For school day services, please check the school is open before committing to a particular service.
Bluestar do not operate Services X7 / X7R during School Holidays or on Saturdays,
Thanks for the correction; I presumed they would have a board during all weekdays
Thought it would be worth mentioning on here about the double road closure in Ventnor which has necessitated a significant amendment to Southern Vectis route 3.
Due to a landslip on the Bonchurch Road and a damaged sewer on the Newport Road, two of the three access points to Ventnor are completely blocked, thus the only way in and out of the town is via the Whitwell Road. Southern Vectis route 3 is therefore completely unable to serve Ventnor without a major time penalty, thus it is running direct to Shanklin after Wroxall. A shuttle service (presumably also numbered 3) is operating roughly hourly between Godshill and Ventnor via Whitwell to maintain the public transport link for Shanklin passengers. Passengers travelling between Ventnor and Newport are advised to take the direct route 6.
This is ongoing until further notice. For the author of this blog, it might be worth making some reference to this in the next post.
Thanks for letting me know. I had heard there was a landslip and diversion, but did not realise it was an extensive one.