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Go South Coast

TheGrandWazoo

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Hello there,

I am not sure how many routes were organised to be on the blinds - potentially all of them? - but the 14 to Hedge End is certainly one of those - see here with DOE32 in October:



I did wonder if, to enable easy fleet transfers, if all the blinds were made with a specific list from each of the Go South Coast companies - i.e. the Southern Vectis chosen routes, the Salisbury Reds chosen routes, the Swindon chosen routes - were all on the same blind, for ease of transfer and production. I don’t have factual evidence for this however.

Best wishes,
James
They were. Saw one in Newport bus station with a number of Southampton destinations as it scrolled through.


EDIT: posted exactly as @thameslink2000 sent his message - was he stood next to me??? :lol:
 
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nw1

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Checking bustimes over multiple days, I've noticed the planned diagramming on Mon-Fri on the Bluestar 10/13/14 seems to be particularly unpredictable at the moment with many inbound journeys not necessarily forming the obvious next journey out. Formerly there were 7 diagrams, four doing 10-14-13 and repeat, and the other three alternating between the 13 and 14. This is much less the case now.

In that respect it's becoming similar to the Totton group of services (4/8/11/12) which has been similarly unpredictable for a long while.

Not complaining - the unpredictability is quite interesting - but wondering what the main reason was?
 
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nw1

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Some significant changes in Bluestar diagrams this week by the looks of it, following a few minor timetable tweaks. In fact, every return to school after holiday and half-term recently seemed to produce significant changes compared to before the holiday, though post-October half-term showed less changes.

Looking at Bustimes:

One notable change is that there seem to be less double-deckers between school/college duties finding their way onto regular services (notably the 10, 13, 14 and 20) during the school/college day. Have noticed more double deckers parked up in the city centre this week compared to the period before half-term, perhaps as a result.

The 10, 13 and 14 diagramming continues to be complex, as noted above, even though almost all daytime journeys are now single-deckers which ought to make the diagramming simpler. Perhaps to avoid drivers having to swap between vehicles? I have noticed one or two points of confusion though, with two buses seemingly turning up for the same 14 yesterday. One thing that doesn't help perhaps is that Southampton vehicles rarely display the working number nowadays which makes things perhaps harder for drivers changing vehicles; indeed a week or two ago I overheard a driver having to ring up control to find out which vehicle his was. Totton continues to display them without fail, though.

It's interesting just how often Bluestar (particularly the Southampton side) is seeing quite significant diagramming changes even with only minimal timetable changes.

I'm wondering whether this is because diagramming is done more by computer these days, so it's easier to optimise the diagrams when small tweaks happen compared to doing it on pen and paper.

Over on the Totton side I've noticed more Enviro200s on the 9 lately, perhaps related to the transfer of some Enviro400s to More?
Have also noted one of the Totton Enviro400s (sorry, didn't note the number) having an interesting multi-coloured "bird" design as its livery.
 
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Jamesbus80

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Have also noted one of the Totton Enviro400s (sorry, didn't note the number) having an interesting multi-coloured "bird" design as its livery.
Is it this one?


Go South Coast swapped 1632 (Unibus grey/lilac), 1633 (BlueStar colours now) and 1634 (pictured above) with the higher spec 1683, 1684, 1685 when they increased the Bournemouth route 13/13A recently; I think this when they swapped over.

More details post #487 for this thread.

Thank you for the details re: scheduling for the 10, 13, 14, 20 - all very interesting to see how frequently things change and trying to keep up-to-date.
 

nw1

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Is it this one?


Go South Coast swapped 1632 (Unibus grey/lilac), 1633 (BlueStar colours now) and 1634 (pictured above) with the higher spec 1683, 1684, 1685 when they increased the Bournemouth route 13/13A recently; I think this when they swapped over.

More details post #487 for this thread.

Thank you for the details re: scheduling for the 10, 13, 14, 20 - all very interesting to see how frequently things change and trying to keep up-to-date.

Yes, that's the one, thanks. Last noted on the 9 at the weekend, also seem on the 11 and 12.

No worries! Yes, interesting how frequently the scheduling has changed in the past year, gone are the days of workings only changing once or twice a year it seems.

Can we expect another change post-Easter holiday? Or are all these changes part of the process of Bluestar "settling in" and working out which scheduling works best, and at some point we may enter a period of stability?
 

Surreyman

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Does anyone on this forum know what services/vehicle numbers are operated from the (now) Eastleigh outstation?
i am guessing that at least parts of routes 2, 3, 5 and many of the school/college contracts are based at Eastleigh.
 

Megafuss

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Some significant changes in Bluestar diagrams this week by the looks of it, following a few minor timetable tweaks. In fact, every return to school after holiday and half-term recently seemed to produce significant changes compared to before the holiday, though post-October half-term showed less changes.

Looking at Bustimes:

One notable change is that there seem to be less double-deckers between school/college duties finding their way onto regular services (notably the 10, 13, 14 and 20) during the school/college day. Have noticed more double deckers parked up in the city centre this week compared to the period before half-term, perhaps as a result.

The 10, 13 and 14 diagramming continues to be complex, as noted above, even though almost all daytime journeys are now single-deckers which ought to make the diagramming simpler. Perhaps to avoid drivers having to swap between vehicles? I have noticed one or two points of confusion though, with two buses seemingly turning up for the same 14 yesterday. One thing that doesn't help perhaps is that Southampton vehicles rarely display the working number nowadays which makes things perhaps harder for drivers changing vehicles; indeed a week or two ago I overheard a driver having to ring up control to find out which vehicle his was. Totton continues to display them without fail, though.

It's interesting just how often Bluestar (particularly the Southampton side) is seeing quite significant diagramming changes even with only minimal timetable changes.

I'm wondering whether this is because diagramming is done more by computer these days, so it's easier to optimise the diagrams when small tweaks happen compared to doing it on pen and paper.

Over on the Totton side I've noticed more Enviro200s on the 9 lately, perhaps related to the transfer of some Enviro400s to More?
Have also noted one of the Totton Enviro400s (sorry, didn't note the number) having an interesting multi-coloured "bird" design as its livery.
Somewhere like Totton will have three different schedules in a typical week. A Monday only (Barton Peveril different start time) + Hythe services, Tuesday/Thursday (No Hythe) + Barton Peveril standard start time and Wed/Fri for Hythe locals + Barton Peveril standard start time. And then there will be things which crop up week to week like other schools/early finishes, where buses need to be juggled around to accommodate .So, I can see how things change so often.
 

nw1

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Somewhere like Totton will have three different schedules in a typical week. A Monday only (Barton Peveril different start time) + Hythe services, Tuesday/Thursday (No Hythe) + Barton Peveril standard start time and Wed/Fri for Hythe locals + Barton Peveril standard start time. And then there will be things which crop up week to week like other schools/early finishes, where buses need to be juggled around to accommodate .So, I can see how things change so often.

Mind you there are Totton-Cadnam locals on Tues/Thur, so I'd guess that the vehicles which do Hythe on Mon/Wed/Fri do the Cadnam services on Tues/Thur (edit, checked bustimes: both seem to do the 605 college service in the morning and go on to form the 539 and C27 in the afternoon).

I haven't noticed any particular patterns for specific days of the week, though I have noticed that some college services do run at different times on different days.
 

Megafuss

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Mind you there are Totton-Cadnam locals on Tues/Thur, so I'd guess that the vehicles which do Hythe on Mon/Wed/Fri do the Cadnam services on Tues/Thur (edit, checked bustimes: both seem to do the 605 college service in the morning and go on to form the 539 and C27 in the afternoon).

I haven't noticed any particular patterns for specific days of the week, though I have noticed that some college services do run at different times on different days.
Indeed. Like you say, most depots will have a schools in and schools out. But I think Bluestar is one of those places where that simply isn't possible, with so many competing forces and the ability to move work from one depot to the other if a problem arises.
 

nw1

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Going back to the "London buses" and what Bluestar routes they appear on, since the schedule change on the 19th, two such vehicles seem to appear reliably on one morning journey on each of the 13 and 14 before going onto the 20 for much of the rest of the day and operating 2 out of the 5 workings on that route. (source bustimes).

Also saw one on the 10 on Saturday.

So one might guess the "roller blinds" have all the (Southampton depot) Bluestar routes though I haven't seen them on any on the longer distance routes like the 1-4 yet. The 2 is a possibility I guess as that route often sees some older vehicles.

The consistency also might suggest that certain workings are officially scheduled to run with "London" vehicles.
 
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Mills444

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Evening all I notice that the electric demonstrator has not done any workings today, Has it left Poole/More? If not does anyone know when it will be leaving?
 
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341o2

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The Bournemouth Echo has reported a trial of an existing electric bus for routes 40 and 50. Presumably, it will be based at Swanage, any dates?

A BATTERY-electric bus is being trialled in Dorset to demonstrate its zero-emission capabilities.

Bus operator Morebus, part of the Go-Ahead Group, is testing the brand-new double-deck StreetDeck Electroliner.
Wrightbus manufactured the electric bus, which was the first ever to be built.
The trial is taking place over the next fortnight and the bus will operate along the Purbeck Breezer 40 and 50 routes in the south of England, covering areas such as Bournemouth and Poole

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/n...s-new-electric-double-deck-bus-around-dorset/

The other news story is that there are proposals for 20mph speed limits for areas in Bournemouth. Morebus has expressed concern that this could result in some routes becoming unviable.
 

Mills444

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The bus see link https://bustimes.org/vehicles/blus-1000?date=2024-02-24

has been at Poole since at least the 20th of February but annoyingly only does 3 or 4 trips a day commonly in the last week at least only on a school bus from Wareham. I have only seen it at Poole depot so presumably based there, I don't know if the 3 weeks reported in the press is from now or from the 20th of February though.
 

nw1

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Does anyone on this forum know what services/vehicle numbers are operated from the (now) Eastleigh outstation?
i am guessing that at least parts of routes 2, 3, 5 and many of the school/college contracts are based at Eastleigh.

I can now partly answer this, as this week the Southampton/Eastleigh side appear to have re-instated showing working numbers in the front window of the vehicle, after a lengthy gap.

I have seen Exx working numbers (E=Eastleigh) on the 1, 2, 3 and 16. There are also SxxE and ExxS, which presumably mean workings which start at Empress Road (S=Southampton) and end at Eastleigh, and v.v. I've seen these on the 1, 2, 3 and 16.

(If the appearance on the 16 seems odd, it appears, in a small number of hours, to interwork with the 3).
 
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sam445

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I see morebus is starting to run the Highcliffe school A/B/C route today. I wonder what happened to Transpora.
 

nw1

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Look like many of the final ghosts of Covid are being put to rest at Bluestar:


We've got great news, from Sunday 14 April we are making several timetable improvements, offering increased frequencies and the return of the N1 night bus on Friday and Saturday nights. Full details below, our timetables will be available to view soon.

Improvements include a restoration of the pre-Covid 15-min frequency on the 1 Mon-Sat, and the 2 running 15-minutely on Sat as well as Mon-Fri.

I wonder where the extra vehicles for the 1 are being sourced from? It would presumably need around 2 extra vehicles to run a 15-minutely service.

During the middle of the day there are various vehicles in between school/college duties that could be used, but what of the peak times? Or is the plan just to run the 15-minutely service midday and drop back to 20-minutely round school/college times?
 
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James H

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Most of the GSC brands are offering discounted dayriders today for Earth Day - so for example on Morebus a zone ABC Dayrider is £4 instead of £10.50. You don't have to use it today - can buy now and activate within a year. Details and discount codes available on GSC brand websites.
 

nw1

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A few Bluestar observations post April 14th timetable change.

The main improvement is the 1 increasing to every 15 mins during the day. This means that it now needs 9 vehicles to operate rather than 7. There are 2 extra workings in the morning, one of which goes on to the 2 mid-morning, the other of which does college runs in the afternoon. There appears to have been a particular desire to increase frequency into Winchester in the morning peak.

Unfortunately there is still only a 20-min frequency in the evening peak, it would be nice to see the 15-min frequency brought back between 1700-1800, which they could probably do as the school/college vehicles should be available by that time.

Also notable is the return of single-deck operation to the 20 on Mon-Fri apart from some peak journeys, which has been double-deck since Dec. Perhaps this is (indirectly) where the additional double-deckers on the 1 have come from? Most vehicles on the 1 appear to be E400MMCs, perhaps some have come off the 2 which have in turn been replaced by older double deckers formerly on the 20.
 

WibbleWobble

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Also notable is the return of single-deck operation to the 20 on Mon-Fri apart from some peak journeys, which has been double-deck since Dec. Perhaps this is (indirectly) where the additional double-deckers on the 1 have come from? Most vehicles on the 1 appear to be E400MMCs, perhaps some have come off the 2 which have in turn been replaced by older double deckers formerly on the 20.
The 2 and 7 are in the process of being upgraded with new E400MMCs. There's some additional E200MMCs moving over from Poole (released by the new deckers there), which would account for the 20 going back to single deck.

I would imagine the deckers on the 20 was a stop gap until these new arrivals and movements occurred. Some of the B7TLs have already been shifted out, their place on the 19 being taken by the DOEs.
 

nw1

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The 2 and 7 are in the process of being upgraded with new E400MMCs. There's some additional E200MMCs moving over from Poole (released by the new deckers there), which would account for the 20 going back to single deck.

I would imagine the deckers on the 20 was a stop gap until these new arrivals and movements occurred. Some of the B7TLs have already been shifted out, their place on the 19 being taken by the DOEs.

Yes, I've started to notice the new E400MMCs on the 2 in particular, and the 7 to a lesser extent.

One working that reliably has a new vehicle is the 0910 journey on the 1 to Winchester and return, which then goes onto the 2.

Also noticed one of the ex-London vehicles (DOE 31) painted in Bluestar livery - presumably they'll be around for a while yet. They do seem to be mostly now on the 19, but not on Sats when the 19 is run with a mix of other double-deckers.

Also noticed - oddly - a DOE on the 20 this morning (normally single-deck) but on the other hand, an E200MMC on the 18 (which is normally double-deck). Looks like they have a slight shortage of double-deckers at the moment as I've seen the occasional single-decker on the 18 and 19, in particular, over the past week or so. (Which makes the DOE on the 20 odd).
 

Gloster

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At lunchtime today I caught a glimpse in Newport bus station of an unfamiliar red bus loading up on the 1 to Cowes. If I read it right as we passed it was Yutong U1100 (or 1000?) marked as belonging to Pelican Bus + Coach. Is this a trial for the introduction of electric buses?
 

GusB

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At lunchtime today I caught a glimpse in Newport bus station of an unfamiliar red bus loading up on the 1 to Cowes. If I read it right as we passed it was Yutong U1100 (or 1000?) marked as belonging to Pelican Bus + Coach. Is this a trial for the introduction of electric buses?
It'll be a U11DD demonstrator - it has been doing the rounds for a while now.
 

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