We are not even at the end of the school year in some areas, but timetables are already starting to appear for the September return. That usually kicks off on 1st September for many. There are new services, extended services and diversions, so let’s jump straight in.
As timetables appear, they will – as always – appear on the HBU Service Changes page. This is subject to change and is not the official source of timetables, as it relies heavily on the Bus Open Data Service and the content uploaded by bus operators… which is sometimes about as reliable as fielding six defenders.
Timing Changes
There are some frequency changes, but not many. Running the raw data for daytime services shows only a handful, which are in the table below:
Headline Daytime frequency changes
| Route | Current Wkdy | Current Sat | Current Sun | From 30 Aug Wkdy | From 30 Aug Sat | From 30 Aug Sun | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Southampton-Eastleigh | every 60 min | every 60 min | every 80 min | every 60 min | every 60 min | every 120 min | Diversion in Hedge End & Sunday frequency halves |
| 6 | Southampton-Townhill Park | – | – | – | every 30 min | every 30 min | every 60 min | NEW |
| 10 | Southampton-Sholing | every 60 min | every 75 min | – | varies 60–87 min | every 80 min | – | Diversion via Northam Bridge instead of Itchen Bridge |
| 16 | Lords Hill – Southampton-Townhill Park | every 15 min | every 20 min | every 30 min | every 30 min | every 30 min | every 60 min | Extension (Lordshill end) |
| 26 | Southampton-Whiteley | – | – | – | every 60 min | every 60 min | every 120 min | NEW |
| N9 | Southampton-Fawley/Langley (night) | – | – | – | night service only | NEW | ||
Other Timing Changes
There are changes to the last buses on Bluestar 3 Monday to Saturday. Similar to changes made around a year or so ago, there is now a larger gap between early evening services and the last bus. From Southampton city centre:
- the 18:10 trip moves to 18:30,
- the 19:10 is withdrawn – effectively replaced by a 19:10 on new Bluestar 26 via Hedge End Centre,
- then trips at 20:10,
- and a new last bus at 22:50.
The combined evening timetable wit service 26 maintains an hourly service, so overall this looks like a net win.
Changes to Bluestar 16, with trips moving to new Bluestar 6, also affect early and late journeys – effectively removing the first and last trips.
Route changes
I am going to say this clearly: I am not convinced Bluestar 7 and Bluestar 16 are fully settled here, so tread carefully.
- Route 3 – small diversion, dropping the loop via Goodlands Vale / Coltsfoot Close / Berrywood Gardens on the Hedge End approach.
- Route 7 – based on information from Reece, no longer runs between Aldermoor and Lordshill. I thought this was an anomaly because it would suggest service 16 would go to Lordshill, but the timetable does not reflect that.
- Route 10 – moves from the Itchen Bridge/Radstock Road corridor to Northam Road/Bullar Road/Lance’s Hill between the city centre and Bitterne (the current Route 16 corridor), alongside a frequency reduction.
- Route 16 – extended at least to the General Hospital and Aldermoor via Dale Valley Road, St James Park and Howard Road.
- Route 21 – diversion at the city-centre end, now via Above Bar / Cenotaph / Henstead Road / Burlington Road instead of Art Gallery / Central Station / Alexandra Road.
To my mind, that means that there is an overall reduction of buses going from the General Hospital to Lords Hill Centre. Asking a chatbot to analyse the BODS data it reveals that:
- Southampton General Hospital to/from Lordshill will see a reduction of around 12% to 14% of services Monday to Saturday
- Southampon City Centre to/from Lordshill will see a similar reduction
Is it just that Lordshill had to many buses, or was a it more convenient termination point to the Aldermoor turning circle?
New services from 30 August
- Route 6 (Southampton-Townhill Park): via Holyrood Church, Itchen Bridge, Radstock Road, Freemantle Common, Bitterne Shops, Chichester Road, Dean Road, Montgomery Road, Vale Drive, Barton Crescent, Broadwater Road, Wakefield Road, Townhill Way. This replaces service 10, which will instead run via Northam Bridge.
- Route 26 (Southampton-Whiteley): via Solent University, Britannia Road, Bitterne, Thornhill Avenue, then a new leg to Hedge End (St Catherines View, Greta Park) and on to Whiteley via Fairthorne Manor, Curbridge Way, Beaulieu Road, Solent Business Park.
- Route N9 (Southampton-Fawley/Langley): a new Saturday night bus mirroring Route 9, running the full Totton-Marchwood-Hythe-Holbury-Blackfield coastal corridor.
As i said when First Bus pulled out this was waiting to happen and I think this will only get worse
No competiton means a bus company can operate less buses without losing passengers to another company
Whilst I think this is a relevant concern I believe the percentages are a little misleading.
Lordshill will still have 6 route 17 buses 4 19/19a 2 route 4 with two buses an hour. That is 10 buses to the general hospital, 10 buses to Shirley and 12 buses an hour to the city centre which is one on average every 3 minutes. There are areas to the east of the city which would love this number of buses.
While I accept that other areas would “love” this number of buses, the percentage is an accurate figure. If there was not a need for 200 buses a day across the area, then they would not run.
It does seem like a few cutbacks being made
3 reduced to every 2 hours on Sundays and Bank Holidays
1 less journey a day on the Bluestar 10 and reduced to every 60/75 minutes, 2 less journies each way on the 10 on Saturdays with a reduced frequency to every 80 minutes.
16 reduced to 30 mins and hourly on Sundays
The 3 is being reduced yes, however that is partly replaced by the new Sunday service on the 26
Likewise the 16 is being reduced as part of the introduction of the 6.