The rapid decline of Bournemouth’s Yellow Buses network

[SouthEastBuses]

Morebus will also be running routes 18, 33 and 36 from Saturday:

We will be running extra routes

Following Yellow Buses entering administration, we will be running extra bus routes from Saturday 6 August...

www.morebus.co.uk

*****UPDATE***** we are now pleased to advise that morebus will also start running routes 18, 33 & 36 from Saturday 6th August!

Route 18 - Bournemouth to Broadstone via Westbourne, Upper Parkstone, Dale Valley Road, Canford Heath, Waterloo Estate & Hillbourne up to every Hour Monday to Saturday

Route 33 - Bournemouth to Christchurch via East Cliff, Boscombe, Littledown, Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Southbourne, Broadway & Kings Avenue up to Hourly on Monday to Saturday

Route 36 - Talbot View Estate to Kinson via Bourne Valley, Bournemouth, Glenferness Avenue, Fern Barrow, Wallisdown, Turbary Park Avenue & Anchor Road up to Hourly Monday to Saturday

Good to see most of the old Yellow Buses network being taken over by morebus, but I wonder, where will morebus get the extra buses required to operate the routes? Will the current YB fleet move to morebus as a result?

 

[d70g]

Obviously only temporary, but with more now having three duplicate route numberings - the 4, 5 and 6 - has any other operator ever run duplicate numberings in the same area?

 

[Western Sunset]

Be interesting to see what vehicles are on my route (6) tomorrow. Will they be coloured blue or yellow?

 

[BenS123]

Morebus will also be running routes 18, 33 and 36 from Saturday:

We will be running extra routes

Following Yellow Buses entering administration, we will be running extra bus routes from Saturday 6 August...

www.morebus.co.uk

Good to see most of the old Yellow Buses network being taken over by morebus, but I wonder, where will morebus get the extra buses required to operate the routes? Will the current YB fleet move to morebus as a result?

Morebus have ordered 15 new Enviro 400 MMC buses "We have moved additional vehicles to the area, in order to provide the service needed - including 15 brand new Euro 6, low emissions buses" (quote taken from the link above)

https://bustimes.org/operators/morebus/vehicles shows 1687-1693 have been delivered so far and are brand new. It also appears some Salisbury Reds and Bluestar buses have been transferred

 

[richard13]

The sale phase seems to have now finished and we move into vehicles and depot allocations and then reworking routes and operations to make the most of the acquisitions. Morebus literally replacing Yellow Buses routes on emergency timetables makes a lot of sense both from the public and operations perspectives. One may expect some integration fairly quickly in conjunction with school and University term starts, but how comprehensive that will be so soon remains to be seen. Further work will no doubt follow as passenger loadings get known and research into required journeys becomes more obvious. Tap and Cap data makes it easier once you get on top of analysing all that data. With a bit more time publicising service revisions gets much easier.

Xelabus currently run a significant number of education contracts and a collection of contract bus routes. However Hampshire are reviewing the cost effectiveness of their contract bus services and Xelabus are likely to lose a significant amount of work, thus freeing up vehicles for Bournemouth contract work.

In terms of the biggest town with a monopoly operator, then Greater Bristol (West of England) must be a candidate. It has over 1 million people and First run everything apart from a collection of contract routes (from First and councils), run by a number of different companies including HCT and Stagecoach West. First are not unknown to sub contract whole routes or sets of journeys to other local companies like Abus to reduce their investment in vehicles or staff. Faresaver run routes into Bath from Wiltshire, Newport Bus across the Severn Bridge and Stagecoach from Gloucestershire, but they are very small scale compared to the local routes. Towns like Portsmouth have both First and Stagecoach, but all 4 of Stagecoach routes come in from Havant with only the shorts on the 21 as town services. It all depends on definitions.

 

[Joe Paxton]

[...]
Good to see most of the old Yellow Buses network being taken over by morebus, but I wonder, where will morebus get the extra buses required to operate the routes? Will the current YB fleet move to morebus as a result?

Andrew Wickham, MD of Go South Coast which includes Morebus, says no:

twitter.com/AndrewWickhamGo/status/1555651212493602818

We won’t be using any former Yellow Buses vehicles - we have enough of our own at least for the time being.

As BenS123 notes in his post upthread, Morebus have some new buses that were delivered early, and others they've moved from out of the area - presumably borrowed from other Go South Coast operators.

The YB fleet will presumably end up being bought, perhaps by multiple purchasers.

Be interesting to see what vehicles are on my route (6) tomorrow. Will they be coloured blue or yellow?

Might even be red, if borrowed from Salisbury Reds... but they won't be yellow.

 

[BenS123]

I do expect the main strain on morebus' fleet will be in September when their school routes restart

Also, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-62440326 states that over 100 Yellow drivers have made the move to morebus, here are some quotes from Morebus' MD, Andrew Wickham:
"We're delighted by the response we've seen from former Yellow Buses drivers who wish to join the Morebus team"
"With drivers and buses in place, we are ready to take to the roads of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch on routes that would otherwise have no service."

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council said they have "worked hard" to support Milsted Langdon (the administrators) throughout and are "saddened and disappointed" there was no buyer.

Edit: a tweet from Andrew Wickham says "we also have enough buses" - https://twitter.com/AndrewWickhamGo/status/1555658328650424325?s=20&t=Sa6WMLA16rQkTf4L16FJqg

 

[Mal]

Obviously only temporary, but with more now having three duplicate route numberings - the 4, 5 and 6 - has any other operator ever run duplicate numberings in the same area?

Chester. There are 3 route 1s! 1 Chester - Wrexham, (Arriva) 1 & 1A Chester - Blacon Circle (Arriva) and 1 Chester - Liverpool (Stagecoach).

 

[SouthEastBuses]

I suppose that will mean the buses for the YB routes will be the UniBus HF66/HW67/HF69 E400MMCs, as they are being replaced by the HJ22 batch of MMCs

 

[PTR 444]

Obviously only temporary, but with more now having three duplicate route numberings - the 4, 5 and 6 - has any other operator ever run duplicate numberings in the same area?

Stagecoach in Hampshire have several duplicate numbers spread across various towns. For example, Winchester, Andover, Basingstoke and the Blackwater Valley conurbation all have a route 1, 3, 4 and 5 operated by the same company division.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Obviously only temporary, but with more now having three duplicate route numberings - the 4, 5 and 6 - has any other operator ever run duplicate numberings in the same area?

Winchester - both Stagecoach and Bluestar run a 1 but on completely different routes:

Stagecoach 1 goes from Winnall to Stanmore via Winchester Town Centre

Bluestar 1 goes from Winchester to Southampton


Also Southampton. Both First and Bluestar have a 2 but on completely different routes:

First 2 Southampton to Millbrook

Bluestar 2 Southampton to Fair Oak & Eastleigh

 

[BenS123]

Is this the only operator to have 2 routes of the same number though (in 3 cases)? Bearing in mind they're both the same operator

 

[PTR 444]

Chester. There are 3 route 1s! 1 Chester - Wrexham, (Arriva) 1 & 1A Chester - Blacon Circle (Arriva) and 1 Chester - Liverpool (Stagecoach).

Winchester - both Stagecoach and Bluestar run a 1 but on completely different routes:

Stagecoach 1 goes from Winnall to Stanmore via Winchester Town Centre

Bluestar 1 goes from Winchester to Southampton


Also Southampton. Both First and Bluestar have a 2 but on completely different routes:

First 2 Southampton to Millbrook

Bluestar 2 Southampton to Fair Oak & Eastleigh

These examples aren’t operated by the same operator though, which is what I think the question was asking. Such examples must be rare within a single town/city although operators with local networks in multiple separate settlements probably have a few, such as my Stagecoach Hampshire example mentioned above.

 

[Western Sunset]

So I might have a newish bus on my route (6) tomorrow, from the former rattle n' roll...

 

[Man of Kent]

Chester. There are 3 route 1s! 1 Chester - Wrexham, (Arriva) 1 & 1A Chester - Blacon Circle (Arriva) and 1 Chester - Liverpool (Stagecoach).

It's better than that, as Stagecoach also participate on the Blacon Pointer route 1, and at one stage, Arriva also ran on the Liverpool route.

 

[aliceh]

Quick look on Bustimes shows a fair proportion are the 'old' (ie not the 22-plate) unibus E400mmcs, along with some of the E200mmcs and a couple of 58-plate Scania deckers. All in more or unibus livery so far, although there's a Salisbury Reds livery vehicle showing on the 8/9 over in Hamworthy.

 

[90sWereBetter]

I should imagine a fair bit of the Yellow Buses fleet will be snapped up secondhand, particularly the E400MMCs and B5TLs/B9TLs. Given their current drive for midlife secondhand vehicles, First might well be interested in some purchases, though whether they will is another thing entirely!

Looking at the fleetlist, probably everything bar the B7TLs and the oldest E200s will probably find new homes fairly quickly.

 

[Western Sunset]

Nothing very exciting on route 6 this morning; just a More double-decker. The individual buses aren't appearing on their website route map yet though.

More have been busy yesterday; the former Yellow timetables at the bus stops now show the new More services; albeit still in the Yellow holders

 

[richard13]

Some random bits

"Morebus were probably prepared" - Yes, if you spotted the pdf file names on the original website news article then Buster Bear had become a Grizzly Bear project. The map was originally called the Grizzly Network. The preview timetables are for routes GB1, GB2, etc. with from August, but no specific date. The timetable file names also have the date 2022 07 22 and version 3 in them. The map was subsequently renamed. The corresponding files from the main menu have normal file names, but the YB replacement map isn't there.

As a normal marketing arrangement, you would expect the new routes to have vehicles in the new operators livery to advertise the fact. Bought in vehicles in random liveries would be used on their existing network. Thus as Alice reports, More/Unibus vehicles in Christchurch and Salisbury Reds in Poole. Are there any Blue or Green buses (Bluestar or Damory, Southern Vectis) about?

The Bournemouth Echo reports that Morebus recruited over 100 drivers from Yellow's yesterday. They needed 63 for todays planned run out, hence also taking on the 18, 33, 36 as announced around 3pm yesterday. The new drivers were apparently quite enthusiastic about joining and enjoying the £3000 bonus and a pay rise, plus redundancy pay but with continuous employment.

Company Confusion: Yellow Bus Holdings Ltd is owned by the 3 directors. That then owned Bournemouth Transport Ltd (trading as Yellow Buses) and Yellow Coaches Ltd. It was only Bournemouth Transport Ltd that went into administration. If I have got this right, Yellow Coaches Ltd ran newer stuff such as school work, Megabus M3 plus private hire and Bournemouth Transport ran the traditional stuff as Yellow Buses, the depot and contracts including the National Express one. Yellow Coaches Ltd, including brand name has gone to the Xelagroup in a separate deal by the directors. The administrators have sold from Bournemouth Transport the depot lease, staff and coach contracts to National Express with the bus vehicles and staff made redundant.

Yellow Buses' buses. I am not sure if they were leased or on finance. Any leased will be returned to the dealer for reuse. Any owned or financed will be sold by the administrators to raise funds to pay creditors. Morebus would not use Yellow Buses vehicles until repainted for choice and there could be brand use issues. The Yellow Coaches brand name was sold and they might choose to use Yellow Buses name in the future.

 

[James H]

The individual buses aren't appearing on their website route map yet though.

They are appearing but on the pages belonging to the corresponding original Morebus route number - eg:


(image shows map with vehicles on Bournemouth route 4 plotted on the same map as Poole route 4)

 

[Western Sunset]

The buses on route 6 I've seen are 1192 (HF58 GZG) and 1825 (HF05 GGE). Timekeeping appears to be very good; buses were waiting time at my stop.

PS You're right; the ex-Yellow route 6 buses are appearing on the More route 6 website map too. Presumably, some tweaking will be required next week to sort it out.

 

[Surreyman]

A quick analysis of 'bustimes' in the last half -hour shows a current vehicle run-out on the ex Yellow routes of of 36, 15 s/deck, 21 D/deck (including routes 18 & 33), obviously this may vary slightly during the day. If bustimes is to be believed all are operating from 'Bournemouth' depot except for 18 & 33 listed as 'Poole.'
I note that Bournemouth(Southcote Rd) has an operating licence for 65 vehicles and before the demise of Yellow Buses had an allocation of @ 56 + or -.
The brief snapshot showed the following:
Routes 1,1a,1b - 6 d/deck, 7 s/d.
Route 2 - 2 d/deck, 1 s/deck
Route 4 - 2 d/deck, 1 s/deck
Route 5/5a - 6 d/deck.
Route 6/6a - 4 d/deck.
Route 18 - 2 s/deck.
Route 33 - 1 s/deck.
Route 36 - 1 s/deck.
(that would have changed very quickly with interworking, just an indicator).

 

[aliceh]

"Morebus were probably prepared" - Yes, if you spotted the pdf file names on the original website news article then Buster Bear had become a Grizzly Bear project. The map was originally called the Grizzly Network. The preview timetables are for routes GB1, GB2, etc. with from August, but no specific date. The timetable file names also have the date 2022 07 22 and version 3 in them. The map was subsequently renamed. The corresponding files from the main menu have normal file names, but the YB replacement map isn't there.

The PDF for the map shows it was created on the 13th July, and the timetable PDFs on the 12th July. So there's been quite some preparation!

 

[Gareth1980]

What Routes did More Bournemouth Depot operate pre today.

I am Guessing the Unibus but unsure of rest as when I look at Bus Times seems every pre existing route was Poole?

 

[Mal]

It's better than that, as Stagecoach also participate on the Blacon Pointer route 1, and at one stage, Arriva also ran on the Liverpool route.

Oops! I forgot that!

 

[AB93]

As a normal marketing arrangement, you would expect the new routes to have vehicles in the new operators livery to advertise the fact. Bought in vehicles in random liveries would be used on their existing network. Thus as Alice reports, More/Unibus vehicles in Christchurch and Salisbury Reds in Poole. Are there any Blue or Green buses (Bluestar or Damory, Southern Vectis) about?

With the usual caveats of bustimes relying on the correct fleet number being set on the ticket machine, there looks to be a pair of Salisbury Red E200s on the 33,
18 has a pair of m1/m2 E200MMCs on it at present. 36 has a 200MMC and a Volvo B7RLE.

Bluestar buses on the loose I can see (non-exhaustive) are:
1003 - Scania OmniDekka on the 1a.
1256 - Enviro400 on the 5a (think I read on here that these were sparingly used by Bluestar due to unreliability?).
2746 - 18 Enviro200MMC on the 2.
2748 - 18 Enviro200MMC on the 4.
2749 - 18 Enviro200MMC on the 1.
Plus two Bluestar E400s on the X1 for good measure...!

A quick analysis of 'bustimes' in the last half -hour shows a current vehicle run-out on the ex Yellow routes of of 36, 15 s/deck, 21 D/deck (including routes 18 & 33), obviously this may vary slightly during the day. If bustimes is to be believed all are operating from 'Bournemouth' depot except for 18 & 33 listed as 'Poole.'
I note that Bournemouth(Southcote Rd) has an operating licence for 65 vehicles and before the demise of Yellow Buses had an allocation of @ 56 + or -.

Seem to be a lot of deckers on the m1/m2 as well, including at least six of the new 22-plate Uni buses.

 

[BenS123]

Just saw this Enviro200 MMC operating the former Yellow Buses tendered route 18

 

[SSmith2009]

I should imagine a fair bit of the Yellow Buses fleet will be snapped up secondhand, particularly the E400MMCs and B5TLs/B9TLs. Given their current drive for midlife secondhand vehicles, First might well be interested in some purchases, though whether they will is another thing entirely!

Looking at the fleetlist, probably everything bar the B7TLs and the oldest E200s will probably find new homes fairly quickly.

I was thinking maybe Rotala might have a sniff around for their latest purchase of Midland Classic to get more diamond livered buses into the new fleet

They'll be snapped up pretty quick no doubt

 

[Flange Squeal]

‘The Bus Shop’ (the sales arm of Mistral) are advertising Enviro 400MMCs SN65 OHZ/OJA/OJB as “finance returns”.

Imminently available with bids/expressions of interest now invited.

Further details by calling 07800999545 or direct to [email protected]

Images and video are for general guidance only (taken approximately 7 months ago).

Three available (SN65 OHZ/SN65 OJA/SN65 OJB)

2015/65 plate Euro 6 ADL Enviro 400 (80 seat) non belted but with high back leather seating (grey & blue).

SN65 OHZ

Video Presentation from Mistral Group - Powered by CitNOW.

video.citnow.com

These will be finance returns following cessation of operations by Yellow Buses and whilst we will look to facilitate viewings and inspections where possible, vehicle location and movement is subject to change at short notice due to a number of variables so please do check in the first instance.

The Bus Shop

Imminently available with bids/expressions of interest now invited. Further details by calling 07800999545 or direct to [email protected] Images and video are for general guidance only (taken...

www.facebook.com

 

[MotCO]

‘The Bus Shop’ (the sales arm of Mistral) are advertising Enviro 400MMCs SN65 OHZ/OJA/OJB as “finance returns”.

The Bus Shop

Imminently available with bids/expressions of interest now invited. Further details by calling 07800999545 or direct to [email protected] Images and video are for general guidance only (taken...

www.facebook.com

There are also at least 4 Wright Geminis shown in the video - are they at Mistral's premises or still in Bournmeouth?