Six Month Report

Bournemouth's biggest bus shake up in its histroy is just around the corner.

And it’s now six months (just over) since Transdev bought Yellow Buses. What’s been happening, has it performed well… and what’s the prognosis?

The prognosis is promising. No longer constrained by its public duty under Bournemouth council ownership, a new management has proposed a sustainable, new network which, in less than a week’s time, promises to address many of the weaknesses in the current Yellow Buses timetable. It puts the company back on the map with, for the first time, sensible, co-ordinated, clockface frequencies between main centres and a core commercial network, numbered 1 to 6, using a more modern fleet of now easy access buses – albeit with some considerable secondhand imports. It seizes the initiative in the vital Somerford - Christchurch - Bournemouth - Poole corridor, where Yellow Buses has hitherto increasingly been seen as the also-ran, next to Wilts & Dorset.

Fares are much simpler, too, with the maximum single fare now 20p cheaper though, of course, with a coarser structure, some will lose out. Time-consuming top up cards are withdrawn to assist in punctual running.

The brighter primrose livery now common in the town may not be to everyone’s taste when compared to the more mustard predecessor, but Transdev’s been true to its word in keeping the base colour as yellow. Not that it had any choice. And there’s a new strapline to rival the days when Yellow Buses was linked with the BSO.

The printed timetables are excellent, clear and user-friendly – ideal, in fact, for visitors. Better, perhaps, than W&D’s, and that’s saying something.

Then there are the objectives set by Bournemouth council, most of which are met, at least for the time being.

But (and there’s always one of those!), the network’s not as easily understood as its passengers would like. Some frequencies are reduced. Passengers don't yet understand that Transdev Yellow Buses is commercially motivated. Even so, it’s a creditable attempt to get things right, a step forward. A hotchpotch of second-hand Darts is still no match for W&D’s more Volvos and especially the Citaros. No new purchases is, perhaps, disappointing, given that that Bournemouth stated that one reason for Yellow Buses’ sale was to inject previously unthinkable new vehicles into the fleet, unattainable under the previous régime. But the aimed-for total conversion to SLF operation within a year is laudable.

And the staff? Pre-sale, drivers’ morale was low, especially with the continued threat from W&D. With W&D’s retrenchment, a new management seen to be active, a new image, buses and network, drivers are feeling more comfortable.

Has Transdev got it right? If measured by activity in terms of Blazefield and French visitors to the town, it should have.