I was trying really hard to think up something more inspirational for a title. I don’t think it went well. Something which is going well though is the progress on the new extension to the Gosport and Fareham Eclipse busway. Henry Cort Way has been getting an extension during the pandemic, with Marc Reddy and the team eager to introduce new Eclipse services to run down it.
Except that is not happening.
Registrations made to the Traffic Commissioner are suggesting that from Sunday 5th December, the existing Eclipse E1 and E2 services running from Fareham to Gosport are having a timetable and route change. This would suggest to me that both services are going to be re-routed down the new section of road and directly onto Rowner Road near the Brune Medical Centre.
So this really shaky map is a graphical representation of where the new extension to Henry Cort Way is, which partly replaces a footpath from the existing Hutfield Link bus stops down to Rowner Road. Personally, I have not been down to see the progress yet to note whether a footpath is still included; Brune Park Secondary school (or is it an academy now?) is just a bit further down the path though and borders the B3334 Rowner Road. School children used that path every day.
What the Traffic Commissioner Knows:
FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LIMITED, EMPRESS ROAD,
SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Operating between Gosport Bus Station and Fareham Bus Station given service
number E1 / E2 effective from 05 December 2021. To amend Route, Stopping
Places and Timetable.
I have concluded that both the E1 and E2 are likely to divert from their existing routes and serve the new road. As I previously understood things, pre-New World, either a new “e3” was going to use it and then head towards Lee-on-Solent where there is new housing and business development underway on the Daedalus site. You also have CEMAST, the sort-of-recent Cherque Farm estate and a fairly lacklustre offering of buses in Stubbington.
I also had heard that the other option was to run similar as a shuttle from Fort Brockhurst, where both Eclipse buses already serve.
Neither service appears on recent notices from the Traffic Commissioner. I can not say I am surprised right now; driver shortages (not just at First, but all over the UK), lower passenger numbers, and Christmas around the corner probably means that every just wants to make sure the published timetable runs.
What Brockhurst Gate will Know
On the basis of the assumptions above, it would appear that the Holbrook Leisure Centre and Brockhurst Gate Retail Park will lose it’s on-the-doorstep bus service. Changes to the road layout way back in the early inception of the Eclipse Route 2 meant that First Hampshire (as it was) got a few bus lanes to speed up the serivce.
Then the E2 got re-routed, I think because of the traffic issues further up by the former ammunition facility at Frater, through Forest Way.
Now though, just the occasional route 11 running the length of the A32 will make any use of them, and Brockhurst Gate, the M&S Food Hall and (shock-horror) the McDonalds and Costa outlets might find themselves a little quieter. Some of the older bus users I know used to make a point of taking the bus to M&S when the Fareham store closed.
Don’t Expect New Buses
There has not been any ultra-secretive order placed for new Eclipse buses, so there is nothing like that to be announced before 5th December. With the re-development of Gosport Bus Station, various other projects under the South East Hampshire Rapid Transit and more on the go, I was not expecting any either.
The new bus road is scheduled to get it’s first services on Sunday 5th December though. What the timetable will be, is the next question.