It’s an interesting comparison, for someone who has an interest in marketing strategy and product advertising, to see how the different bus operators promote something as important as Christmas bus schedules. We will probably take a quick aside before we get into things, but First Bus have published their Christmas timetables this week. It’s a fairly standard First Bus affair, but they are making it less obvious to find.
If you are not in the First Solent region, or you are looking for something more specific elsewhere, summaries by day and links to all the operators we have published so far can be found on it’s own dedicated Christmas bus service page.
First – and aside….
I am not any special blogger type person that has a finger in the pies of the teams at the big bus groups. Contrary to that, some of them would probably prefer I just <redacted> off and stop highlighting the fact they can’t manage a website, run mis-branded mish-mash fleets or have a live tracking app that does not appear either live, or tracking.
For some though, it feels like there is no joined-up thinking in how they promote and advertise things. I have my little rant at times as to how pages dedicated to COVID service changes get used, but only when remembered. Service updates not actually updated in most places and that “up-to-date information is only available phoning 023 80….”
Christmas service plans seems to feel like that at the moment.
So that comes back to my saying that I do not have fingers in pies. I get most of my information just like the rest of you, but sometimes get so frustrated that actually I might be a little more prominent. Christmas might be a month away, but while some brands (Yellow Buses and most of the GoAhead flags fly here) place them fairly front and centre in the news section of the home page, others don’t. Southern Vectis preferring a long-standing advert promoting job vacancies, and First Solent sticking it in the news section at the bottom of the page.
So when you go to First Solent’s COVID page, which is where apparently all the updates are centrally placed, there is no mention of it. Promoting the new map for the Eclipse BRT opening… far more important.
Christmas Services
I digress though, it’s a bit of a rant as to how I find the user experience and by having use of so many different bus operators websites, can see how people get distressed at not being able to find the information easily.
First Solent though, I think I wrote this already, have their fairly usual First Bus standard of Christmas bus services. It’s almost like they took last years timetables, removed the timing points for bits of the Eclipse no longer served from 5th December, and slapped 1 on the year count. For the official news page with First Solent’s offering, it is on their website here.
Christmas Eve
This year, First Solent are running a full weekday service in the run-up to Christmas and are planning to a Friday service for most of Christmas Eve. As is usual for First Bus in the south though, services will start to wind down starting at 8pm, to allow all the drivers to get home to bed before Santa arrives.
Services that are not listed here, run until the end of their normal Friday timetable:
- Service 1: Last from Southsea South Parade Pier is 19:36 – The Hard 19:42
- Service 2: Last from Paulsgrove Shops 19:39 – The Hard 19:43
- Service 3: Last from Fareham to Southsea 19:22 – Southsea South Parade Pier 19:38
NOTE and additional 3 runs Fareham to Commercial Road South ONLY at 19:52 - Eclipse E1 & E2: Last from Gosport (E1) 19:57 – Fareham (E2) 19:59
- The Star 7: Last from Wecock Farm 19:49 – Commercial Road South 19:45
- The Star 8: Last from Clanfield 19:41 – The Hard 19:40
Christmas Day (Saturday)
First Solent do not run any Christmas Day services.
Boxing Day (Sunday)
First Solent will run their usual special service on a limited number of routes on Boxing Day. These are on the core routes only and no other services will operate. These special services start running between 0830 and 0900 and last trips depart between 1700 and 1800
- Service 1: Every 30 minutes
- Service 2: Every 30 minutes
- Service 3: Every 30 minutes
- Eclipse E1 & E2: Every 40 Minutes on each route (every 20 combined on the Busway)
- The Star 7: Every 30 Minutes
- The Star 8: Every 30 Minutes
Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th December
Sunday services will run on all routes across the First Solent network.
Wednesday 29th & Thursday 30th December
First Solent run a full Saturday timetable on these days. Services that only run on weekdays will not operate.
New Years Eve (Friday)
First Solent will run a Saturday timetable on routes up until their usual approximate 8pm close down. As this is a Saturday timetable, unlike the Christmas Eve service, the last bus times on some routes will be slightly different.
Services that are not listed here, run until the end of their normal Saturday timetable:
- Service 1: Last from Southsea South Parade Pier is 19:39 – The Hard 19:42
- Service 2: Last from Paulsgrove Shops 19:39 – The Hard 19:43
- Service 3: Last from Fareham to Southsea 19:22 – Southsea South Parade Pier 19:38
NOTE and additional 3 runs Fareham to Commercial Road South ONLY at 19:52 - Eclipse E1 & E2: Last from Gosport (E1) 19:57 – Fareham (E2) 20:00
- The Star 7: Last from Wecock Farm 19:49 – Commercial Road South 19:45
- The Star 8: Last from Clanfield 19:40 – The Hard 19:40
New Years Day
Like Christmas Day, First Bus policy seems to be that there are no buses running. There are No Buses on New Years Day.
Sunday 2nd January & Monday 3rd January
A full Sunday service runs on all First Solent routes.
Tuesday 4th January
Normal service resumes.