Go South Coast

[WibbleWobble]

I think it would be a good idea in the long term for Morebus to merge the 3 & 4 with the 13 & 13a, creating two mega routes linking Poole, Broadstone, Wimborne, Ferndown, Northbourne and Bournemouth. This harks back to the days of the 132/133 which ran the exact same route 20 years ago.

Traffic congestion would make the services incredibly unreliable, which is probably the reason why they were split in the first place. Both sets of routes have a number of congestion hotspots which would be harder to mitigate against with a very long route running via several main roads - going off the timetable, the 13/13a will have around 10 minutes at either end to aid recovery. Parley Crossroads is a particular problem. That's before you consider Northbourne, Canford Bottom and Fleetsbridge amongst others, then the effects of beach traffic.

It would also be harder to stitch together with the differing headways and the additional 3x variation.

 

[PTR 444]

Traffic congestion would make the services incredibly unreliable, which is probably the reason why they were split in the first place. Both sets of routes have a number of congestion hotspots which would be harder to mitigate against with a very long route running via several main roads - going off the timetable, the 13/13a will have around 10 minutes at either end to aid recovery. Parley Crossroads is a particular problem. That's before you consider Northbourne, Canford Bottom and Fleetsbridge amongst others, then the effects of beach traffic.

It would also be harder to stitch together with the differing headways and the additional 3x variation.

This could be resolved by giving the services a 5-10 minute mid-route layover in Wimborne (which might have to happen anyway to comply with driver hours) in addition to the ones at either end of the route. That gives the services some recovery time without inconveniencing existing passengers, while those wishing to travel further can just stay on the bus rather than having to change from a 3/4 to 13/13a and vice versa.

 

[baza585]

Traffic congestion would make the services incredibly unreliable, which is probably the reason why they were split in the first place. Both sets of routes have a number of congestion hotspots which would be harder to mitigate against with a very long route running via several main roads - going off the timetable, the 13/13a will have around 10 minutes at either end to aid recovery. Parley Crossroads is a particular problem. That's before you consider Northbourne, Canford Bottom and Fleetsbridge amongst others, then the effects of beach traffic.

It would also be harder to stitch together with the differing headways and the additional 3x variation.

Absolutely. There would be a relatively small cross Wimborne flow, and keeping the 13/a separate from the 3/4 would massively improve reliability.

 

[buscoaster]

With the new electric open tops on order for Swanage, does anyone know if More Bus has any taste for making the Jurassic Breezer (30) open top to help compete with First?

 

[OptareOlympus]

With the new electric open tops on order for Swanage, does anyone know if More Bus has any taste for making the Jurassic Breezer (30) open top to help compete with First?

1. There are no electric buses on order for Swanage. A bid for funding was prepared but there remains concerns over the weight and length of the proposed new buses.
2. The 30 vehicles also work Swanage schools so have to be closed top.
3. First haven't confirmed if the X50 will return this year.

 

[nw1]

There seem to be slightly less "exotic branded" Bluestar vehicles about compared to before Christmas. Still the "London" buses about, and the Morebus E200s are much in evidence but there seem to be slightly less in the way of Southern Vectis or Salisbury Reds branded vehicles. Is this actually the case or have I just managed to avoid seeing them?

The change to the 20 which occurred around the start of Dec, to mostly double-deckers with just a small number of exceptions, is still present, so obviously not a temporary thing to deal with Christmas crowds.

 

[EnviroExplorer]

There seem to be slightly less "exotic branded" Bluestar vehicles about compared to before Christmas. Still the "London" buses about, and the Morebus E200s are much in evidence but there seem to be slightly less in the way of Southern Vectis or Salisbury Reds branded vehicles. Is this actually the case or have I just managed to avoid seeing them?

The change to the 20 which occurred around the start of Dec, to mostly double-deckers with just a small number of exceptions, is still present, so obviously not a temporary thing to deal with Christmas crowds.

3 of Bluestar’s highest specification E400MMCs 1683-1685 have recently been swapped for 1632-1634 from More. Of these 1633 is blue whilst the other pair retain Unibus liveries.

The Morebus E200s are now taking their turns through the paintshop with 2 of the 8 done so far.

The Salisbury Reds E400s have all returned home, having been swapped for their ex London DOE class ADL/Optare Olympus vehicles. Bluestar now operate all of these at Go South Coast besides one clinging on at Swindon. Rumour has it a few of these will be repainted blue, but I’m not the right person to know for sure.

 

[nw1]

3 of Bluestar’s highest specification E400MMCs 1683-1685 have recently been swapped for 1632-1634 from More. Of these 1633 is blue whilst the other pair retain Unibus liveries.

The Morebus E200s are now taking their turns through the paintshop with 2 of the 8 done so far.

The Salisbury Reds E400s have all returned home, having been swapped for their ex London DOE class ADL/Optare Olympus vehicles. Bluestar now operate all of these at Go South Coast besides one clinging on at Swindon. Rumour has it a few of these will be repainted blue, but I’m not the right person to know for sure.

Ah ok, thanks. I had thought also that the "London" vehicles were less in number, before I saw a seriously large number yesterday mostly on the 19. Haven't yet seen either of the Unibus examples. Also haven't seen the Damory vehicle for a while (or perhaps it's been repainted), though it seemed to be regularly out before Christmas.

 

[Titfield]

Picture of Wilts and Dorset Bristol VR BFX 666T Fleet Number 4413 in the Go South Coast garage at Kings Road West Swanage 31 January 2024.

 

[nw1]

Perhaps this is rather speculative, but it's been on the news this week that the Itchen Bridge will be closed for 8 weeks in July-August.

This is obviously going to have a big impact on Bluestar services in the Woolston area. Wonder if anyone is party to any plans?

 

[PTR 444]

Perhaps this is rather speculative, but it's been on the news this week that the Itchen Bridge will be closed for 8 weeks in July-August.

This is obviously going to have a big impact on Bluestar services in the Woolston area. Wonder if anyone is party to any plans?

What contingency plans have been used whenever the Itchen Bridge has been closed in previous times? I’m guessing some routes must have been completely redrawn, as it would be silly to send all buses to Woolston via Peartree Avenue when they could serve other areas closer to Bitterne (Harefield, Thornhill etc) first, reducing the diversion journey time impact for passengers from those suburbs.

 

[OptareOlympus]

3 of Bluestar’s highest specification E400MMCs 1683-1685 have recently been swapped for 1632-1634 from More. Of these 1633 is blue whilst the other pair retain Unibus liveries.

Swapped to enable all journeys on morebus 13 to be operated by table fitted deckers when the frequency increases later in February.

 

[Towers]

Southern Vectis’ new buses have software that immediately switches off the engine if the door is opened or the bus knelt when the handbrake is on. All well and good, but sometimes when people are getting off the engine has to be restarted after only a few seconds (less than five at times). Is this really as environmentally friendly as it is claimed? And what about the wear and tear on the engine and starter-motor? (Note: I am strongly in favour of anything that will help the environment, but get annoyed by things that are more to give an image of being environmentally friendly than actually doing anything.)

Stop-start tech on a bus is utter nonsense; as you rightly say it hammers the mechanical components as well as providing a frankly awful travelling environment on board, with lights relentlessly dimming/flickering and even more rattling than normal every time the thing restarts. I presume it’s a gimmic that allows the manufacturers to reduce their quoted emissions figures by some proportion? I believe that’s how it works with cars?

 

[nw1]

What contingency plans have been used whenever the Itchen Bridge has been closed in previous times? I’m guessing some routes must have been completely redrawn, as it would be silly to send all buses to Woolston via Peartree Avenue when they could serve other areas closer to Bitterne (Harefield, Thornhill etc) first, reducing the diversion journey time impact for passengers from those suburbs.

I can't remember it being closed before, certainly not for this time scale.

I would guess the 13 would run direct to Harefield via Bitterne and some kind of temporary route would serve Peartree and Merry Oak (i.e. 10 and 13 routes) on a circular routing, e.g. City Centre - Bitterne - Spring Road - Merry Oak - Radstock Road - Peartree Avenue - Bitterne - City Centre.

As for the 7, 17 and 19, presumably they will just be diverted the long way round and operate on a somewhat reduced frequency to avoid needing more vehicles.

Swapped to enable all journeys on morebus 13 to be operated by table fitted deckers when the frequency increases later in February.

Which Bluestar routes will lose them in that case? The "top spec" E400 MMCs operate on the 1 (mostly branded specifically for the 1) but they also appear on a few journeys on the 2, and a few (presumably Totton based) appear on the 9. On other routes I think they just appear as substitutions.

 

[PTR 444]

I can't remember it being closed before, certainly not for this time scale.

I would guess the 13 would run direct to Harefield via Bitterne and some kind of temporary route would serve Peartree and Merry Oak (i.e. 10 and 13 routes) on a circular routing, e.g. City Centre - Bitterne - Spring Road - Merry Oak - Radstock Road - Peartree Avenue - Bitterne - City Centre.

As for the 7, 17 and 19, presumably they will just be diverted the long way round and operate on a somewhat reduced frequency to avoid needing more vehicles.

I would think it would be more likely that the 17 diverts via Peartree Avenue to maintain a frequent link to Woolston via the quickest possible route. I could see the 13 and 19 being combined into a single service running City - Bitterne - Harefield - Thornhill - Kathleen Road - Woolston. The 7 (eastern section) or 10 could be temporarily withdrawn as there probably wouldn’t be much point in having two separate routes between Bitterne and Sholing.

 

[nw1]

I would think it would be more likely that the 17 diverts via Peartree Avenue to maintain a frequent link to Woolston via the quickest possible route. I could see the 13 and 19 being combined into a single service running City - Bitterne - Harefield - Thornhill - Kathleen Road - Woolston. The 7 (eastern section) or 10 could be temporarily withdrawn as there probably wouldn’t be much point in having two separate routes between Bitterne and Sholing.

Yes, didn't think of that - the diverted 17 (and 7/19?) would go via Peartree anyway so no need for a separate service. I could probably see the 7 diverting that way too, and the 10 temporarily disappearing as so many other buses would serve Peartree. Not sure about Merry Oak, but presumably one of the diverted routes will go that way.

It will require very significant re-diagramming of vehicles, I suspect, and the typical interworking patterns will have to change. One might hope the bridge won't be closed until schools and colleges break up.

On another matter I've noticed that since Christmas a few of the diagrams for Bluestar have changed once more, it seems to happen very frequently even without timetable changes.

In particular it seems quite common for one or two buses to go onto the 10/13/14/20 in between morning and afternoon college runs, but some of the exact diagrams changed at the October half term and changed again over Christmas. Wonder why they are changing so often?

 

[PTR 444]

Yes, didn't think of that - the diverted 17 (and 7/19?) would go via Peartree anyway so no need for a separate service. I could probably see the 7 diverting that way too, and the 10 temporarily disappearing as so many other buses would serve Peartree. Not sure about Merry Oak, but presumably one of the diverted routes will go that way.

It will require very significant re-diagramming of vehicles, I suspect, and the typical interworking patterns will have to change.

I would think that the 15 could divert via Merry Oak, since it would be the quickest route to Netley if it missed out Woolston. Not sure how much demand there is from Woolston to Netley/Hamble, or any of the other termini on routes 7/10/13/19 for that matter.

 

[nw1]

I would think that the 15 could divert via Merry Oak, since it would be the quickest route to Netley if it missed out Woolston. Not sure how much demand there is from Woolston to Netley/Hamble, or any of the other termini on routes 7/10/13/19 for that matter.

Difficult to say, is Woolston seen as a go-to area for "local" shopping from the east side? There isn't that much there for shopping though I think there are one or two large-ish supermarkets.

 

[341o2]

There seem to be slightly less "exotic branded" Bluestar vehicles about compared to before Christmas. Still the "London" buses about, and the Morebus E200s are much in evidence but there seem to be slightly less in the way of Southern Vectis or Salisbury Reds branded vehicles. Is this actually the case or have I just managed to avoid seeing them?

The change to the 20 which occurred around the start of Dec, to mostly double-deckers with just a small number of exceptions, is still present, so obviously not a temporary thing to deal with Christmas crowds.

I note today, that the Southern Vectis vehicles are largely confined to school and college Bluestar routes, (two are on route 15), and the former London vehicles have blinds rather than digital displays, so how many routes can they work, but they do seem mostly to be on route 19? You can still see a trace of the London motif on the side under the Bluestar logo, at least on the bus that I saw.

Morebus still have some Salisbury Reds, Unibuses, and two Breezers being regularly in use on ordinary routes. Also, 366 Thunderbolt has been used during January, currently working route 10 as I type this.

 

[nw1]

I note today, that the Southern Vectis vehicles are largely confined to school and college Bluestar routes, (two are on route 15), and the former London vehicles have blinds rather than digital displays, so how many routes can they work, but they do seem mostly to be on route 19? You can still see a trace of the London motif on the side under the Bluestar logo, at least on the bus that I saw.

Morebus still have some Salisbury Reds, Unibuses, and two Breezers being regularly in use on ordinary routes. Also, 366 Thunderbolt has been used during January, currently working route 10 as I type this.

The Southern Vectis examples on the 15 are the single-deck OmniCities which seem to appear on quite a few of the routes, though mostly the 10, 13, 14, 15 and 20. The SV double-decker(s?) are more elusive though.

One of the 15 diagrams seems to swap with other routes in the middle of the day, with the vehicle on the 1200 and subsequent journeys formerly on 13s and 14s. According to Bustimes this is consistent, not a one-off. (Before Christmas the 1200 was also a swap, but from the 20).
Meanwhile the 15 vehicle on the 1030 (and previous journeys) swaps onto 10/13/14s starting with the 1425 (14).

More generally this group of routes seem to have more unpredictable diagramming (more swaps) than when they were first introduced almost a year ago.

The London vehicles seem to be predominantly on the 19 though they are also often on the 20 and occasionally the 7. Don't think I've seen them on any other routes.
The Go North East buses seem to be a bit rarer these days (they formerly operated most 19 journeys) though they still appear on a small number of diagrams each day.

 

[341o2]

There was a London Red on route 14 31/01/24, today route 19 appears to 100% worked by them.
I believe the Go Northeast Volvos were transferred from Morebus, who still has four, but none of these have been used this year

 

[OptareOlympus]

Morebus still have some Salisbury Reds, Unibuses, and two Breezers being regularly in use on ordinary routes. Also, 366 Thunderbolt has been used during January, currently working route 10 as I type ththis.

If you mean the two Purbeck Breezers that are in Poole, those are Swanage depot workings. Swanage buses and drivers work journeys on the 26 and 60 during the winter.

 

[nw1]

There was a London Red on route 14 31/01/24, today route 19 appears to 100% worked by them.
I believe the Go Northeast Volvos were transferred from Morebus, who still has four, but none of these have been used this year

Ah, on the 14, interesting and very unusual.

EDIT: looking at bustimes, this was a replacement for a single-decker, not one of the regularly diagrammed double-decker workings. I wonder if the bus did display the route number 14 and the destination or whether the blinds were blank and a cardboard "14 HEDGE END" notice displayed, which used to be common practice in this situation?

 

[341o2]

If you mean the two Purbeck Breezers that are in Poole, those are Swanage depot workings. Swanage buses and drivers work journeys on the 26 and 60 during the winter.

I mean Beach Breezers 1404 - 1408, all out today currently working 8, 16, 5/a, 1b

 

[OptareOlympus]

I mean Beach Breezers 1404 - 1408, all out today currently working 8, 16, 5/a, 1b

They are still part of the all year round fleet and are going to remain so for some years to come.

 

[EnviroExplorer]

If bustimes.org is to be believed, the Excelsior liveried Enviro 400 MMC numbered 11 has been in use at More on Bournemouth routes today. Anyone able to confirm or deny?

 

[341o2]

They are still part of the all year round fleet and are going to remain so for some years to come.

I am basing my comment following a discussion with a Morebus driver who stated that it was their policy to try and keep branded buses to the appropriate routes, but would rather run anything available rather than have no bus at all and let passengers down.

 

[Jamesbus80]

Ah, on the 14, interesting and very unusual.

EDIT: looking at bustimes, this was a replacement for a single-decker, not one of the regularly diagrammed double-decker workings. I wonder if the bus did display the route number 14 and the destination or whether the blinds were blank and a cardboard "14 HEDGE END" notice displayed, which used to be common practice in this situation?

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

 

[nw1]

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

Ah ok - thanks for confirming!

 

[thameslink2000]

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

I believe so. As I saw a DOE on the 1 in Newport Bus Station a few months ago scrolling through various Southampton/Salisbury/Swindon destinations to find Cowes 1.