It is not unusual for a bus company to make changes to services in January, simply because people come out of the seasonally lower frequencies and then they have a new timetable to come back to. Stagecoach South have decided to wait a week and then make a number of changes to services in the Basingstoke area which involves both route and timetable alterations.
These are the changes that are affecting the Basingstoke depot from Sunday 11th January 2026. I can not yet see an announcement on the Stagecoach South website.
Route 6 becomes Routes 6 and 9
No chortling from the young at heart in the back row, the long standing cross-Basingstoke service which runs from Winklebury in the west to East Popley in the north will be split in two, with service levels adjusted to match the demand in each area.
Now, I need to make sure I get this right, because otherwise people will be demanding my head on a spike:
- Service 6 will run the section of route between Basingstoke Bus Station and East Popley
- Service 9 will run the section of route between Basingstoke Bus Station and Winklebury
- Both routes will run to their existing service 6 equivalents – route 6 will not serve the railway station
Service 6 will run every 12 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday and every 20 minutes on Sundays. Service 9 will run every 20 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday and every 30 minutes on Sundays. Those that are more intelligent than I have done the maths and Dick on Facebook reports that the service will need the same number of vehicles as the current cross-town route.
The 8 will interwork with the 7?
In yet another change of route on the 8 (at least on a Sunday) it looks like changes to the 7 and 8 will lead to the two services interworking across the town.
Both services are planned to run every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday.
- Service 8 in towards Basingstoke is advertised (except Sundays) to finish it’s trip at the Railway Station. Service 7 then starts it’s trip at the Railway Station a few minutes later
- Service 7 in towards Basingstoke finishes it’s trip at Stand K in the Bus Station where the 8 departs. The 8 then goes via the Railway Station outbound towards the Leisure Park
On Sundays both services operate separately:
- Service 8 will do the opposite of the loop it does now – calling at the Bus Station before the Railway Station
- Service 7 will come into Basingstoke town, call at the Bus Station (at Stop S on the main dual carriageway) then the Railway Station to end it’s trip. Then it will start at the Railway Station, go to the Bus Station (it’s usual Stand E) and head out to Chineham
I have checked the times and the 7 does not interwork with the 20 or anything on a Sunday.
Other Timetable Changes
There are also timetable changes that affect other services in the town. I think that some of the changes are because vehicle duties in the morning and evening peak interchange with high frequency services like the 6, so some small shuffles are required. There are however, some not-connected timetable changes as well.
Service 5 between Basingstoke town centre and West Popley will see a timetable reduction. The new timetable will run:
- Every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday ( was every 15 minutes )
- Every 30 minutes on Sundays (as it is now)
Service 11 will run later on it’s four Sunday trips.
Service 20 has additional time added into it’s timetable and now runs mostly without any interworking (it currently does so with the 7) except a few Saturday trips where it appears to interwork with something from Stand N in the bus station.
There is not an announcement on the Stagecoach South website that I can see, although I have oft lamented about how I think the Stagecoach website is not great. Timetables are now on Traveline however so you should see them on your favourite online third party resource.