Go South Coast

[miklcct]

rather than locals

Why don't you focus on the local instead? In contrast, London Buses have their route numbers remain unchanged over a century.

Changing numbers unnecessarily will cause confusion. This has happened in Shenzhen where decades-old numbers are being changed to a new numbering system, and some of the new numbers are strikingly similar to other routes in the old numbering system causing massive confusion.

The 12 as a coastal route has a long history in Bournemouth. I can imagine the confusion it brings when someone boards a route 12 bus in Bournemouth wanting Boscombe Pier.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Why don't you focus on the local instead? In contrast, London Buses have their route numbers remain unchanged over a century.

Changing numbers unnecessarily will cause confusion. This has happened in Shenzhen where decades-old numbers are being changed to a new numbering system, and some of the new numbers are strikingly similar to other routes in the old numbering system causing massive confusion.

The 12 as a coastal route has a long history in Bournemouth. I can imagine the confusion it brings when someone boards a route 12 bus in Bournemouth wanting Boscombe Pier.

How many locals do you think use a service that doesn’t run for much of the time.

Do you not think that it may be massively and disproportionately used by tourists?

 

[M803UYA]

The 12 as a coastal route has a long history in Bournemouth. I can imagine the confusion it brings when someone boards a route 12 bus in Bournemouth wanting Boscombe Pier.

From 2008 for 10 years there was no service 12. Reasoning being that the convertible open toppers Yellow Buses had made more money with their tops on as closed top double decks, than they ever did with the roofs removed. Open top services were of no interest to the then management team, who were the last ones to make a profit. Only under the final management team were open top buses returned to the historic route - I was one of the few who counselled against the move as we'd been offered open top DAF/Presidents from The Original Tour in London. There was something devised during 2017 as a means of giving these loaned vehicles work to do - but it didn't make any money as predicted.

 

[WibbleWobble]

Why don't you focus on the local instead? In contrast, London Buses have their route numbers remain unchanged over a century.

Changing numbers unnecessarily will cause confusion. This has happened in Shenzhen where decades-old numbers are being changed to a new numbering system, and some of the new numbers are strikingly similar to other routes in the old numbering system causing massive confusion.

The 12 as a coastal route has a long history in Bournemouth. I can imagine the confusion it brings when someone boards a route 12 bus in Bournemouth wanting Boscombe Pier.

Thing is, you don't see duplicated route numbers on the TfL network these days. The only duplication is on cross-boundary services such as those serving Heathrow Airport.

Some of the route numbers in the BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) area had to change - not only because some instances run very near each other (the Poole and Bournemouth 6s are only about a mile apart), but because this was one of the requirements of the Enhanced Partnerships as stipulated by the government. They are fine where instances are many miles apart (take the several instances in Hampshire, for example, which are in towns separated by many miles), but not really best suited to a single network.

 

[baza585]

Go South Coast proving yet again why they are one of the better operators about. Introducing an emergency network. Pretty much nailing that first time and then taking time to see how that has bedded in before making sensible tweaks to it.

I imagine the same will happen with Bluestar later in the year.

You clearly don't use their services.

Bluestar 18 is an omnishambles and has been for some considerable time. Bluestar 17 is little better, while the ex London e400 sheds with the whiff of South London weed they have brought in are woefully unreliable.

Beyond the hype and self congratulatory press releases, it isn't so good.

 

[miklcct]

You clearly don't use their services.

Bluestar 18 is an omnishambles and has been for some considerable time. Bluestar 17 is little better, while the ex London e400 sheds with the whiff of South London weed they have brought in are woefully unreliable.

Beyond the hype and self congratulatory press releases, it isn't so good.

I used their services in the past and it was clearly much better than Yellow Buses which the bus frequently didn't turn up with the live tracking not working at all on a half-hourly service (3x). And Go South Coast had cheaper fares as well.

 

[nw1]

Has anyone heard anymore about Bluestars move into Empress Road?

Not sure but today I noticed that none of the Bluestar Eastleigh depot buses I saw or used were displaying working numbers (i.e. Exx). Totton buses were showing Txx numbers, though. Not sure if that was related to the move (will Empress Road workings end up with Sxx numbers when the move is done?) or just coincidence though - sometimes the odd bus doesn't have the working number displayed but today there seemed to be more than usual.

 

[Beemax]

Empress Road now has Bluestar logos and apparently they were due to move in this weekend.

 

[Simon75]

Is Empress Road an additional depot , or is it replacing others?

 

[Beemax]

Most of the Empress road vehicles were previously stationed at Barton Park in Eastleigh. Barton Park is an industrial estate which in recent weeks has had buses parked all over the place. I think there will still be maintenance/ refurbishment facilities at BP, but not so many buses based there.

 

[Surreyman]

Is Empress Road an additional deposit, or is it replacing others ,?

As far as I can tell from bustimes and a chat with a driver, it looks like nearly all of Eastleighs Bluestar operations have moved into Empress road, apparently all Unilink operations are still based at Eastleigh.
On bustimes the depot code has changed to SO (bar any vehicle which happened to be off the road today).
I am unsure about where the School/College routes operation is based, most of these were marked SO, today, again not sure about the new 'ZOO' route.
Totton depot operation appears to be unchanged.
I make the new PVR out of Empress road to be @76 + school routes if based, Also it appears that route 4 is still operated by both Totton & Empress road.
If bustimes is to be believed, then Empress road now operates routes 1, 2, 3, 4(part) 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18,19, 20, QC, 36, + some/all of the school routes.
Empress roads allocation is 27 single deck, made up of 14 E200MMC, 8 ex Swindon Versa, 5 Scania single deck & 1 (out of service). Volvo B7RLE.
There are at least 59 double deckers, made up of 46 E40D (all models)+ 13 B7TL/Plaxton.
2 B7TL East Lancs & 17 Scania deckers(2 types)may be allocated or may still be at Eastleigh?
Would be very happy for someone with more inside knowledge to correct or update!!

 

[WibbleWobble]

Eastleigh is now an outstation of Southampton - there are some buses that start at Southampton and finish at Eastleigh, and vice versa.

Unilink moves this weekend.

 

[nw1]

I saw an 18 with an "S8xx" working number today as evidence of the move.

All other buses once again lacked working numbers, though.

Incidentally are any workings/diagrams changing as a result of the move? There appear to be no timetable changes. I did notice a double-decker on the 20 today, unusual for a schoolday, but that might just have been a one-off.

 

[M803UYA]

Incidentally are any workings/diagrams changing as a result of the move? There appear to be no timetable changes. I did notice a double-decker on the 20 today, unusual for a schoolday, but that might just have been a one-off.

Whilst the timetables themselves haven't changed, it is highly likely the vehicle schedules and driver duties/rosters would have been adjusted to take account of the difference in travelling time between Eastleigh against Southampton. So behind the scenes there'll have been a lot of work after First withdrew their operations to set this up and negotiate said duties/rosters with the trade union.

 

[Surreyman]

Eastleigh is now an outstation of Southampton - there are some buses that start at Southampton and finish at Eastleigh, and vice versa.

Unilink moves this weekend.

Thanks for this info.
Am I right in thinking that Eastleigh was 'modernised' - offices/engineering facilities in the last 2 years?

 

[341o2]

One other route due to be revised on the 27th is the C32/33, which is admittedly not within the BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) area.
I understand it will become a fixed route, with Sway PC negotiating a minibus hire to cover the roaming section.
However, cynics are saying that passengers have been warned to "use it or lose it", and reduced numbers could lead to total withdrawal.

The Optare painted yellow for the service, latterly ran without any advertising, and now appears to be withdrawn.

Will the new buses due for delivery result in all Morebus services being run by Morebus vehicles? I am used to the New Forest tour buses being used out of season.
The other day, a Damory vehicle was working the 5/A, Salisbury Reds usually on the 33 and 38 - one was recently on the 119. A Bluestar vehicle allocated to Lymington on the X1/2, and Unibuses just about everywhere.

 

[nw1]

Have noticed one or two other apparent differences this week on Bluestar due perhaps to the move to Empress Road.

Main one I've noticed is that the 1710 short on the 1 from Chandlers Ford to Southampton has been a single decker ("Breathe" - E200 I think) on two consecutive days, formerly this was an older double-decker off, I believe, a college run. This suggests that this short is now booked for a single-decker; it used to work back the 1755 to Winchester so not sure if it still does this or now does something else.

 

[Surreyman]

Have noticed one or two other apparent differences this week on Bluestar due perhaps to the move to Empress Road.

Main one I've noticed is that the 1710 short on the 1 from Chandlers Ford to Southampton has been a single decker ("Breathe" - E200 I think) on two consecutive days, formerly this was an older double-decker off, I believe, a college run. This suggests that this short is now booked for a single-decker; it used to work back the 1755 to Winchester so not sure if it still does this or now does something else.

Pre the City Reds takeover, there was a definite effort to keep as many buses as possible working into Southampton Euro 6 compliant, meaning that the older Scanias/B7TLs mainly worked on School/college runs and also route 5 which doesn't go into Southampton, this policy seems to continues but of course is not 100%.
Public money was spent upgrading the newer (post 2008) Scania 'deckers and the older E400s to Euro 6.
The takeover has seen an influx of ex London B7TLs/ex Swindon Versas/ex London E400s and older Scania/Volvo singles, none of which are Euro 6.
Southampton didn't go through with an LEZ but much was made of the fact that the bus fleets had been upgraded (other First subsidiaries are benefitting from cascaded Southampton vehicles which were upgraded).
Would guess that when Bournemouth gets it's new E400MMCs, Bluestar will get some E200MMCs cascaded from M1 to replace the Versas & Scania singles.

 

[Dorsetbus]

Pre the City Reds takeover, there was a definite effort to keep as many buses as possible working into Southampton Euro 6 compliant, meaning that the older Scanias/B7TLs mainly worked on School/college runs and also route 5 which doesn't go into Southampton, this policy seems to continues but of course is not 100%.
Public money was spent upgrading the newer (post 2008) Scania 'deckers and the older E400s to Euro 6.
The takeover has seen an influx of ex London B7TLs/ex Swindon Versas/ex London E400s and older Scania/Volvo singles, none of which are Euro 6.
Southampton didn't go through with an LEZ but much was made of the fact that the bus fleets had been upgraded (other First subsidiaries are benefitting from cascaded Southampton vehicles which were upgraded).

Would guess that when Bournemouth gets it's new E400MMCs, Bluestar will get some E200MMCs cascaded from M1 to replace the Versas & Scania singles.

All the e200's are staying.

 

[baza585]

All the e200's are staying.

Wow. Care to elaborate?

I realise there's some tat to get rid of in more. Volvo saloons To Bluestar for the Waterside services maybe. I don't like the 12 plates as much as the 54 plates, but they would be much more refined on the 9 route than the e200s currently on there.......

 

[341o2]

Are there running numbers allocated to Go South Coast vehicles? I also have never seen a running board - the laminated printout of a particular duty - on a Go south coast vehicle. thanks

 

[WibbleWobble]

Are there running numbers allocated to Go South Coast vehicles? I also have never seen a running board - the laminated printout of a particular duty - on a Go south coast vehicle. thanks

Running numbers are allocated - they appear on the front dash of vehicles at some depots. Drivers do have duty cards, and as they use Ticketer then the duties are also loaded into the machines.

 

[nw1]

Running numbers are allocated - they appear on the front dash of vehicles at some depots. Drivers do have duty cards, and as they use Ticketer then the duties are also loaded into the machines.

I've noticed Empress Road has been slow to roll these out. Formerly they were present on services out of Eastleigh (Exx) but the Sxx equivalents for Empress Road are only appearing on some routes, specifically the 7, 18 and 19, it seems.

 

[Surreyman]

Have heard whispers that some ex London 'DOEs' (E400/Optare Olympus '58/'09 reg) are due to transfer to South Coast. (Moderators please note, I do not have a readily quotable source but I have heard this from more than one place).
Numbers not known, As the vehicles have dual doors and are Euro 6, Bluestar would seem a likely destination.

 

[chopperman21]

Have heard whispers that some ex London 'DOEs' (E400/Optare Olympus '58/'09 reg) are due to transfer to South Coast. (Moderators please note, I do not have a readily quotable source but I have heard this from more than one place).
Numbers not known, As the vehicles have dual doors and are Euro 6, Bluestar would seem a likely destination.

The reliable source maybe Andrew Wickham who tweeted yesterday, saying they are 'borrowing' them for the Isle of Wight Festival

 

[fgwrich]

The reliable source maybe Andrew Wickham who tweeted yesterday, saying they are 'borrowing' them for the Isle of Wight Festival

It would make some degree of sense if they do stay at GSC, I think they are the only other Go-Ahead division that operates the Optare Olympus?

 

[Surreyman]

It would make some degree of sense if they do stay at GSC, I think they are the only other Go-Ahead division that operates the Optare Olympus?

Although around 13 years old, they are Euro 6, could be a low cost short term way of upgrading?

 

[Surreyman]

Bustimes is showing 5 all-Scania ex London (RATP) double decks working out of Poole, 3 are in the new pale yellow 'beeline' livery for Greater Manchester, one is in white the other in red, some at least are ex Stephensons - south Essex, all are converted to single door, a caption to one of the photos states '13 of these are on loan to Morebus' before moving to Manchester.
Can anyone provide more info??

 

[Cesarcollie]

Bustimes is showing 5 all-Scania ex London (RATP) double decks working out of Poole, 3 are in the new pale yellow 'beeline' livery for Greater Manchester, one is in white the other in red, some at least are ex Stephensons - south Essex, all are converted to single door, a caption to one of the photos states '13 of these are on loan to Morebus' before moving to Manchester.
Can anyone provide more info??

Stephensons in their dealer capacity are supplying a batch of 20 such vehicles to Go North West for the start of franchising in Manchester in September, converted to single door and in Bee Network yellow. 13 of these are going via Go South Coast for the summer to assist with seasonal service enhancement.

 

[E-Rail]

At least 20 of the morebus e200s are also going to Manchester in September.