On the tenth day of Christmas (well, last year anyway) my bus service sent to me, ten buses queueing. You know the old adage, you spend twenty minutes at Central Station waiting for a bus and then 10 come along at once due to congestion on the Shirley Road.
Yes we are back in Southampton, and although Bluestar are offering their usual range of buses on every day of the festive season, in a similar vein there is one operator *cough* that have chosen not to.
If First City Red in Southampton is not your local operator, 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.
Christmas Services
I am going to sound like a broken record about this for 2021 because frankly, I think that the service planning teams at all the bus companies have been a little bit busy recently. They are either sobbing gently into mulled wine about the shortage of drivers and short notice timetable changes, or out there trying to salvage the service when half a depot gets “PING! Congratulations, it’s your time to go stick a cotton bud down your throat! Please go to a darkened room and sit there for 10 days!“
So don’t take this as a criticism when I say “First Southampton has just changed the date on last years special timetables” – a minority of you think I am just here to give the bus companies a good kicking; I only do it when I think they need a tickle to make changes.
First City Red though, do have a relatively de ja vu feel to their Christmas service levels. For the official news page with First City Red’s offering, it is on their website here.
Christmas Eve
This year, the Empress Road depot are running a full weekday service up to – and including – most of Christmas Eve. As is usual though, the drivers are all off to help assist the elves in the evening, so services will be closed down by around 9pm.
Services that are not listed here, run until the end of their normal Friday timetable:
- Service 2: Last from Southampton is 19:55 – Millbrook 20:15
- Service 3 [Full Trips]: Lord’s Hill to Thornhill 19:32 – Thornhill to Lord’s Hill 19:30
Also 19:52 Lord’s Hill to Southampton City Centre only
and 19:45 Thornhill to Southampton City Centre only - Service 6: Last from Southampton is 19:55 – Hamble 19:15
- Service 7: Last from Southampton is 19:43 – Townhill 20:01
- Service 11: Last from Southampton 19:40 – Weston 20:05
- Service 13: Last from Southampton 19:50 – Harefield 20:15
Note: First Solent’s Solent Ranger X4 and X5 services run a normal Friday timetable to end of service.
Christmas Day (Saturday)
First Solent do not run any Christmas Day services.
Boxing Day (Sunday)
First City Red will run their usual limited routes on Boxing Day. These are on the core routes only and no other services will operate. These services all run between roughly 08:30 and 17:30 – with all buses finished by just after 18:00.
- Service 2: Every 20 Minutes
- Service 3: Every 20 Minutes
- Service 7: Every 20 Minutes
- Service 11: Every 20 Minutes
Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th December
Sunday services will run on all routes across the all the Southampton network.
Wednesday 29th & Thursday 30th December
Full Saturday timetable on these days.
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 up to half an hour earlier or later.
Services that are not listed here, run until the end of their normal Saturday timetable:
- Service 2: Last from Southampton is 19:30 – Millbrook 19:50
- Service 3 [Full Trips]: Lord’s Hill to Thornhill 19:40 – Thornhill to Lord’s Hill 19:39
and 20:09 Thornhill to Southampton City Centre only - Service 6: Last from Southampton is 19:50 (as normal) – Hamble 19:10 (Early finish)
- Service 7: Last from Southampton is 20:03 – Townhill 20:01
and 20:21 from Townhill to Bitterne Park Triangle only - Service 11: Last from Southampton 19:40 – Weston 20:05
Note: City Red 13 (unlike Christmas Eve) and First Solent’s X4 & X5 run full Saturday timetables today.
New Years Day
Like Christmas Day, First Bus policy seems to be that there are no buses running. There are No City Red Buses on New Years Day. You might see them on Rail Replacement Work though.
Sunday 2nd January & Monday 3rd January
A full Sunday service runs on all Southampton routes.
Tuesday 4th January
Normal service resumes.