Hampshire Bus Changes

Finally – First Hampshire has published the long-awaited changes to their BRT timetables and changes to the services around it.

Service E1: This service REPLACES the 86
Gosport Ferry – Whitworth Road – The Windsor Castle – Brockhurst – Tichbourne Way – BRT – Fareham Railway Station - Fareham Bus Station

Service E2: This service REPLACES the 82
Gosport Ferry – War Memorial Hospital – Anns Hill – Brockhurst – Holbrook – BRT – Fareham Railway Station - Fareham Bus Station

There are some items to note. There are several trips that will NOT  use the BRT, these will be running direct via the A32 from the bottom of the BRT to the Railway Station (via Western Way). There is no real indication why, although the BRT will be “closing it’s bus gates” at around 2300 each night. There will be EIGHT buses each way each hour serving the BRT during the off-peak, operating with High Quality, High Specification buses that have underseat-lighting, wood effect flooring, leather seats and free Wi-Fi.

There are added services operating on the peak hours by new First Hampshire service

X88 – Gosport – Stokes Bay – Rowner – Wych Lane – BRT – Fareham Rail Station – Fareham Bus Station

These services will replace current service 88 peak trips and will use the BRT from Wych Lane to Redland Lane. This diversion will only run on weekdays with a normal 88 operating on Saturday and Sunday. First Hampshire say that the 14 BRT specification vehicles for the E1 and E2 will not appear on the X88; but it would not surprise me if they make surprise appearances in the first few weeks to advertise the new X88 service.

Other First Hampshire Changes

There are other changes to accommodate the new BRT:

Service 83 will be extended and replaces Service 31 to Fareham College

This will run half-hourly during the day Gosport – Criterion – Albermale Avenue – Brockhurst – A32 – Fareham Bus Station – Fareham College.
The extension to the 83 will only run in an anti-clockwise loop around Fareham’s West End. This is the same loop that First Hampshire have experimented with in the peaks before, running direct to Fareham College before heading down to what was the Admiral Cunningham. The Frequency of the 83 will cut on its Gosport / Fareham section to Every 30 Minutes though.

Service 85 will run Every 20 Minutes Daytime; Every 40 Minutes Evenings; Every 30 Minutes Sundays

Other First Hampshire NON BRT changes

In preparation for the new Southampton – Fareham – Portsmouth services there are some changes to bring the 72 and 34 to their summer timetables before the changes to the 72.
The 34 will restart its Sunday hourly services  between Fareham – Stubbington and Cherque Farm (or Chark Farm to those of us that remember)

Has First Hampshire Missed a Trick?

With the new BRT services starting to run I would have hoped that First would consider a through service from Gosport to the Queen Alexandra Super Hospital in Portsmouth. Although First have had to make sure that the new purple buses are not going to cost the earth, you would have thought that at least one of the new services would have run through, even it was only at times that people could attend routine out-patients appointments.

First Hampshire have decided to replace the 57 with the X4, running via the M275 into Portsmouth all day long. This cuts another – albeit infrequent – direct service from Fareham to the bottom of the QA site for those making the long trip around the water. It is understandable that First Hampshire and Stagecoach in Portsmouth run their express service via the M275 from Gunwharf Quays to QA, but there are those that would prefer not to use the Gosport Ferry (at additional cost) are disadvantaged.

I wonder why First Hampshire did not run the E2 service limited stop calling at Cams Hill School, Portchester Precinct, Southampton Road Waterfront, Racecourse Lane and QA Hospital. It would probably add around 30 minutes to the round trip of the E2 and offer multiple interchanges with other First Hampshire services in Gosport (like Brockhurst) to reach the hospital. This would also show a bit of commitment from First Hampshire to the rest of the bigger scheme of the South Hampshire “Rapid Transit” of old!