Southampton, First departure.

Saturday 18th February 2023 saw the final day of operations by First Bus in Southampton, it removed the last vestiges of what had been Southampton Corporation Transport, admittedly now in a very sorry state. The occasion begs the question, does Southampton get the bus service it deserves?

Can the foundations of Saturday the 18th be found back in deregulation or even earlier. The council in Southampton has ebbed and flowed in its support for public transport and the associated infrastructure. In early 1970s to great fanfare, a major bus priority scheme was introduced from the eastern edge of the city all the way to Six Dials, just a short distance from the city centre. This turned out to be the last major support for public transport by the council and today all that remains of this scheme are a few traffic light priority measures. Subsequent attempts to introduce bus lanes or priority schemes have meet with resistance from council members. Only the bus gate at the cenotaph and a short stretch of the Avenue shows any initiative by the council to accommodate buses. In recent decades the city centre has undergone major redevelopment, however no provision was made for a central bus station, but 16,450 parking spaces were created, 6790 of those managed directly by the council. The metrics used by the council in their transport policy, place the city as the cheapest place to park compared to other in the table.    

The Corporation invested heavily in new buses at the end of WW2 after which a gap occurred until the mid-sixty’s and continued with Atlanteans to facilitate OMO operations, this left an aging fleet at the time of deregulation and ultimately for the staff buyout.

An unfortunate set of circumstances within the transport department management structure at a vital point just ahead of deregulation helped exacerbate the situation. Mr Armstrong had retired as general manager and Bill Lewis was promoted into the post. He became a vocal opponent to bus deregulation and resigned from the general managers post. John Owen was traffic manager, he would shortly take up the post of general manager of Thamesdown, in so doing would remain with the local authority operator until retirement. Regrettably, other managers intrusted with planning for deregulation took their knowledge and formed a company to compete with their former employer, in so doing laid the foundations for what is now Bluestar. All of this left the council company in a weak position at deregulation and the decision to sale off the operation to an employee lead buyout proved eventually misguided. Insufficient funding and misguided expansion resulted in a vote to accept an offer for the business from First Bus. 

  

Initially First Bus appeared to have little enthusiasm for the business they purchased, in part this due to their desire for rapid expansion nationally. Gradually larger swathes of the city found itself without any bus service, despite many of the districts being densely populated and previously supporting a high frequency service. There was no attempt made by the council to rectify the situation and as a consequence the situation remains unchanged today. It has only been in recent years that First Bus has made any attempt to revitalise passenger numbers with a local branding for the network. However, rather than attempt to develop a more comprehensive network, they chose instead to compete with Bluestar on already well-established routes, something Bluestar themselves are guilty of. The council only supports the X12 between City Centre and Shirley, the X11 between Lordshill and the City Centre, and the three Bitterne Hoppas. Over the tenure of First Bus in Southampton the population has grown by 50,000, but passenger growth has been a mere 9% across all operators.   

The laissez faire attitude of the council towards public transport looks set to continue. Their future transport policy until 2040 gives greater weight towards walking and cycling, unless you believe their ‘aspiration’ to introduce a mass transit system. Those of us old enough will remember the 1970s headlines and graphics in the local paper proudly showing off the monorail that would run through the city centre. Grandiose statements by politicians are for their own desire create a legacy not benefit those they represent. However, there could be a bright future on the horizon in the form of Go Ahead Bluestar. Up until now Bluestar has worked hard to sustain its network and invest in their fleet, with no opposition this could be a great opportunity for both the operator and passengers in the city, provided no one ask the city council for support.    

Omnibusworld    

When the ships come in.

All aboard that's going ashore ~ Southampton cruise movements.

Yet another opportunity to look at the mass movement of passengers through the SOC area and one which is less obvious. For family reasons, during the summer of 2017 I have spent a great deal of time in Southampton, more than at any time since moving away thirty-one years ago. To make the most of this opportunity I planned, wherever possible, to coordinate these visits with days when there were major cruise ship movements.

Departing from bay 1 at Victoria Coach Station on Queen Mary 2 passenger transfer, Princess Coaches MA17 YJB, Scania K410EB4.

Southampton is Europe's largest 'turnaround' cruise ship port with 27.7% of the market, creating 11,000 (2014 figures) jobs in the south east region, with the total cruise ship industry estimated to be worth £1 billon to the UK economy. The city is home to the headquarters of Carnival UK, ultimate owners of P&O and Cunard. In 2016, 462 cruise ships and 1.8m passengers passed through the port. There is also an increasing market for the city from ships that call in as day visitors, giving the opportunity for shore excursions to Stonehenge, Salisbury, Winchester etc, whilst the city appears popular for shopping. The majority of ships whether on turnaround or visit arrive around 7am and depart between 4pm and 7pm the same day. 

Princess Coaches' drivers tend to use Mayflower Park for layovers. Front coach is DB09 PAB, Scania K340EB4 with Irizar C49Ft body. An unidentified cruise ship is moored in berth 101.

For many years the majority of local passenger and crew transfers were operated by Marchwood Motorways and this continued for quite some period after the Go-Ahead takeover. Passengers were shuttled between the various berths in both the eastern and western docks, and Southampton Central railway station, whilst the crew had a dedicated bus stop in Castle Way (the flag is still on the pole). This year the majority of local crew transfers were carried out by Princess Coaches using the coach bay in Harbour Parade as a terminus. This is also the location used for passengers making shore visits to the city centre. Various operators appear on passenger shuttles, by far the most prolific being Morton's of Little London, Basingstoke, using their fleet of three axial Volvo B9TL with either East Lancs of Optare Olympus CH61/39F bodies, ideally suited for this type of mass movement. Solent Coaches of Ringwood do local transfers using a pickup point in Castle Way between West Street and St Michael's Street, denoted by an 'A' board placed on the pavement. Solent Coaches regularly use three axial Neoplans and Volvos with Van Hool bodies, and these can often be found later in Hill Lane, operating King Edward VI school contracts.

Photographed 'resting' in the Herbert Walker Avenue coach bay, Solent Coaches Volvo B10M-62/Plaxton C52F body. New in 1997 to Eassons, Southampton. Previous registrations, DAZ5054 and WNR 63.

Other regular contract services include P&O crew transfers for those staff joining or leaving the ship in Southampton, and are operated by City Circle from Hayes in Middlesex. By far the largest operator into the port in terms of passenger numbers, vehicle size and fleet utilisation is Eavesway of Wigan. A familiar sight on the motorways of Britain, with their Van Hool TD921s, they have cornered the market in scheduled transfer services for all major cruise lines and ports. On behalf of Carnival Lines they operate four routes into Southampton: (a) Scotland and the North West, Glasgow, (03.30 departure, £138 return), via various pickup points, Blackpool, Liverpool, Stoke to Birmingham (10.15 departure, £75 return); (b) North East and Yorkshire, Newcastle (05.00 departure, £124 return), via Hull, Leeds, Northampton to Cherwell Valley Services (11am departure, £68 return); (c) North Wales, Bangor (05.15 depart, £115 return), via Abergele, to Chester (07.15 depart, £92 return), and finally (d) South Wales, Pont Abraham (07.45 depart, £92 return), via Cardiff to Swindon (12.00 depart, £72 return). Each service arrives into Southampton between 2.30pm and 3pm.

Resting between crew transfers in Herbert Walker Avenue, back to back City Circle coaches - a Neoplan and YT15 AUY, Scania K410EB6 with Irizar i6 C53Ft body.

The best time to view the comings and goings is between 2pm and 4pm on days when several ships are in port. This however will require a reasonable amount of walking and some luck, as four port gates are used, one in, one out for the eastern dock, one by Mayflower Park in the western dock and a second one near the Novotel. The distance between the furthest east and west is just under a mile. Sun is also a problem at all the gates, so try for an overcast day and, if you like coaches, you will love Southampton.

Returning to port from the Harbour Parade terminus, Morton's of Basingstoke Volvo B9TL with Optare Olympus H61/39F body. New to Imperial, Southall, London as YJ11 EMV.

A regular operator into the port is Crawley Luxury (Brown), West Sussex. BU14 SZK Mercedes Benz Tourismo. New to Chiltern Travel in 2014, exiting the dock gate onto Platform Road after dropping off at Queen Mary 2. The Queen Mary 2 is 149,215 tonnes, has 1253 crew and carries a maximum of 2695 passengers. 

All hands to the pump on busy days, First Bus Hampshire & Dorset Dennis Trident with East Lancs H49/30F body. New to First Bristol in 2000. Turning onto Town Quay after completing a city centre shuttle.

Unusual performer, Eavesway Travel Van Hool TDX21A CH52/5Ft, in an all over wrap for Nissan, laying over in Herbert Walker Avenue.

National Express Group, Clarkes of London. Mercedes Benz Tourismo C49Ft, new in 2010. Behind is P&O Azura, 115,055 tonnes with 900 cabins, 1226 crew and able to carry 3597 passengers.

Something of a rarity in private hire fleets, Acklams, Beverley YX16 NWH, Volvo B11RT with Plaxton Elite-i CH69/3Ft body turning into Town Quay.

Solent Coaches, Ringwood, 5505 ML, Neoplan N2216/3SHDL C61Ft. New in 2012 to Bennett, Uxbridge as MJ62 OMT. Entering Mayflower Roundabout returning excursion passengers to the ship.

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