TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I think that was the joke
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buscoaster
Member
Interesting to see the new MoreBus open top 70 timetable for this year. They have combined the 70 and 80 into one long route from Rockley Park to Mudeford, but as a result the service between Alum Chine and Hengistbury Head has halved to just hourly this year.
341o2
Established Member
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Note that the combined route is numbered 70, and route 80 will not operate this year.
The rest of the new ADL Enviro400's are in service, all the buses from other Go Ahead operators, apart from one Southern Vectis and three from Go North East have either returned home or been withdrawn
The rest of the new ADL Enviro400's are in service, all the buses from other Go Ahead operators, apart from one Southern Vectis and three from Go North East have either returned home or been withdrawn
Incidentally, this means the direct bus link between Poole and Christchurch is reinstated. Bearing in mind the m1/m2 and 1a/1b/1c routes often get caught in congestion, will the 70 be fast enough to attract passengers for an end to end journey?
miklcct
On Moderation
I imagine that someone who wants to go from Poole to Christchurch would normally use the South Western Railway instead.
aliceh
Member
Southbourne Crossroads to Poole is timetabled as 1h 7 min on the m2 and 1h 40 min on the 70, so it would have to be some pretty hefty congestion to make the 70 more competitive if speed is important.
Mind you, if there's anywhere that can make a bus journey take 50% longer than it should, it's BCP!
Wychwood93
Member
I agree in principle but, the drawback is that, from roughly 0900 to mid-evening, there is only one through train an hour. In the up direction the xx.00 and xx.07 from Poole to Christchurch combine at Bournemouth. On the down the xx.52 from Christchurch is 'fast' from the front 5, divides at Bournemouth, whilst the rear 5 serve Branksome and Parkstone. As ever, it depends where you are exactly going from/to in either direction.
Stephen1001
Member
As far as service work is concerned, I believe the answer is no - or at least nothing booked, which isn't to say that one-off substitutions are impossible. Tourist Coaches vehicles were previously used on a few services but I believe this ended around 2018, with the withdrawal of the 84/86 East Knoyle market day services and the 201 Salisbury-Figheldean (since reduced to a single school journey as far as Amesbury) moving to Salisbury Reds.
Noting the arrival of new '24 reg E400MMC for route M2, Alexander Dennis press release states "44 new Enviro 400 MMC for Go SouthCoast" - would seem to be 16 for Bluestar, 28 other (so far 20+ for Morebus M2), where are the others (if ADLs numbers are correct) going?
I have assumed that Bournemouth depot operates the M1 & Poole depot the M2 but looking at 'bustimes' it looks like interworking occurs on both routes from both depots?
I have assumed that Bournemouth depot operates the M1 & Poole depot the M2 but looking at 'bustimes' it looks like interworking occurs on both routes from both depots?
Lynford1976
Member
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- 160
I believe a batch is due for the X3 (Salisbury - Bournemouth).
Ringwood for the X3. The existing X3 buses are planned to go the Isle of Wight for the 7 & 12.
Bournemouth overwhelmingly works the m1 and Poole overwhelmingly works the m2 but each works some of the other towards the start and end of service for sensible operational reasons to minimise dead mileage.
Bournemouth also appear to work the 1a/b/c, 5/5a,6/6a,12,13/13a,22,33 and 737 plus various schools and college services and the U1-4s. I believe some of the other routes are shared between the two depots.
I'm not sure why bustimes treats everything as being run out of Poole but I guess that's how the database is set up.
Does Southern Vectis have any specific allocations. In my experience any age of double decker can appear on any service?
Gloster
Established Member
Not that I have ever observed: it is all Newport with the outstations changing by the day, except for a few that may be stored. (I am not sure about the open-toppers and coaches.) The new 73 Enviros are most often on the 1, while the old Omnicitys are more likely to be found on the 4, 37 and 38.
WibbleWobble
Member
The Tourist name is being wound down, in effect now being an extension of the main Reds fleet. Those vehicles that remain are generally coaches confined to home-to-school work. Private Hires are done by Excelsior/Damory.
Generally, E400 MMCs on the 1 (newest batch), 2 and 3; Scanias on 4 and 37 (sometimes 38); Solos on 22, 24, 32 and 39; E400 Classics on everything else.
WibbleWobble
Member
Not yet - likely to be used at the Isle of Wight Festival. One has been out on Damory hire duties this week.
thedorsetone
Member
1997 is in poole.
I’ve just been looking at the ridiculous number of operating centres that Go South Coast have registered with VOSA
Do More have buses outstationed at Brockenhurst College, and if so how many? Which depots allocation does it come from, presumably Lymington?
Also is Eastleigh an outstation of Southampton, or Southampton an outstation of Eastleigh?
Do More have buses outstationed at Brockenhurst College, and if so how many? Which depots allocation does it come from, presumably Lymington?
Also is Eastleigh an outstation of Southampton, or Southampton an outstation of Eastleigh?
Cesarcollie
Member
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- 5 Jun 2016
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- 679
Why is it ridiculous?
I didn’t mean ridiculous in a negative way, sorry if it caused offence
I meant ridiculous as in you don’t see many bus companies with 27 operating centres
If you look at the Vosa O licence number for Lymington (15) and compare it to the actual allocation, (@ 23 by my reckoning) the answer is a resounding yes - 8 for Brockemhurst college.
Southampton Empress road is now the main depot (The former First depot). Eastleigh is now effectively an outstation of Southampton; it retains an O licence for 100 vehicles, most of the maintenance facilities were closed/reduced/moved to Empress road.
The Eastleigh site(s) are adjacent to Hants & Dorset trim, so the parking space is not wasted. A sizeable number of buses are outstationed at Eastleigh for school/college contracts and a number of workings on the 2, 3, 5 & zoo routes, which other posters advise interwork with Empress Road.
Lymington used to have 2 O licence sites. The former bus station was used to park buses, but are since closed.
It gets a little more complicated when the New Forest open top routes start in a few weeks time. I believe one bus is based at Totton but other posters may have more detailed info.
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OptareOlympus
Member
Brockenhurst College is an outstation of Lymington although there may be some Ringwood vehicles based there too. The allocation is primarily for the Brockenhurst College contracts.
Eastleigh is now the outstation of Southampton.
Also of note is that Bluestar 6 (Southampton to Lymington) is operated by morebus from Lymington depot. I'm sure it's also still the case that 2 Lymington buses are outstationed at Bournemouth Depot and one of those Bournemouth based Lymington duties works a 6 to Southampton in the pm between trips on X1/X2.
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I know what you mean, but that's probably because we don't see operators of Go South Coast's size elsewhere.
GusB
Established Member
Would you mind sharing your source, please? If you're referring to an external source, you should provide the link as well as quoting the relevant information.
A good way of telling which workings are Eastleigh is that they appear to carry "Exx" working numbers on the front. As well as the 2 and 3 (and presumably the 5, which I never really see) they also appear on the 1 and a small number of journeys on the 16, which has a small amount of interworking with the 3. Possibly other routes too, I saw one on the 14 yesterday (1155 departure from Southampton) though whether that was a regular working or a one-off I'm not sure.
Empress Road don't appear to currently carry working numbers (which would be "Sxx") but they go through phases of doing so, most recently in March/April.
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Earlier this evening I passed 6904 & 6907 (both in Go North East livery with Bluestar fronts) heading westbound on the A35 near Dorchester. Anyone any idea where they are heading?
1649, 1650, 1651 all in use at Poole with X3 branding removed
Green New Forest buses 1828, 1829 also still in use in Poole with roofs on, whereas New Forest Tour spare 1821 was on the 60 with its roof removed
The new buses on the X3 seem to be a retrograde step. The previous buses had extra luxurious seating and tables. The new ones have the standard (which to be fair is a good spec) Go South Coast seating like all the others recently delivered.
A shame these high spec buses are just going to be lost in a mixed allocation somewhere
1649, 1650, 1651 all in use at Poole with X3 branding removed
Green New Forest buses 1828, 1829 also still in use in Poole with roofs on, whereas New Forest Tour spare 1821 was on the 60 with its roof removed
The new buses on the X3 seem to be a retrograde step. The previous buses had extra luxurious seating and tables. The new ones have the standard (which to be fair is a good spec) Go South Coast seating like all the others recently delivered.
A shame these high spec buses are just going to be lost in a mixed allocation somewhere
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Morebus running a consultation on bringing back night buses
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WibbleWobble
Member
Thing is, the luxury seats and tables resulted in lower capacities. The X3 can get absolutely hammered when the weather is nice or if there's a major event taking place (like the Downton Cuckoo Fair), so the extra seats would be welcomed - especially the case with the current £2 fare.
I guess with the luxury seats and tables we're talking about something similar to the dedicated vehicles for the Bluestar 1?
The 1 still seems to be mostly operated with these vehicles though there are a couple of Mon-Fri workings which are not, including one (the 0910 from Southampton and corresponding return journey) operated by one of the new (17xx) batch which then goes onto the 2.