Bright in their modern lime livery, Travelguest’s buses seem younger than they actually are. Note the Dorset Sprinter brandingIn the 1990s, fast services, rather than the traditional ‘limited stop’ but meandering X17 & X27, came into their own, as W&D launched the X5 running via the M27 and A338 spur road, primarily to compete with the western end of Stagecoach’s short-lived Brighton to Bournemouth express service. The X5 was revamped by Go South Coast with three ex-Oxford coaches, providing an hourly service between Southampton & Bournemouth but that failed, as did a later 300 service just between Ringwood & Southampton provided by Black Velvet under contract to Hampshire council.
Hence the announcement by small Bournemouth based operator Travelguest that from 5th September 2009 they intended to launch a four times a day service over this corridor. As you might imagine, this caused something of a stir.
Note the queue of passengers awaiting the X55. This loading is not untypical but with large swathes of open countryside, even passengers of this magnitude cannot always guarantee a good return. At least Travelguest's overheads are lower.
The stage was set for failure when Travelguest’s attempt to run a four times daily Bournemouth to Weymouth service 274 during the school summer holiday ceased operation after just one week, with the operator stating on its website that fares revenue hadn’t even covered fuel costs. The true reason is the refusal of at least one local authority to reimburse concessionary passes on this ‘tourist’ service.
With the 274 not running, proprietor Paul Guest and his one full time driver were able to spend time promoting the Bournemouth to Ringwood X55, and connecting Southampton X5. The result has been what appears to be a successful first six weeks. The service requires one all day bus, plus another that fits around a school contract. Three ex-Cardiff Bus Leyland Lynxes in a bright lime livery form the available fleet, and they are ideal for the route, giving a decent ride but also offering reasonable accessibility to the mainly elderly, pass-holding clientele.
Observations reveal buses regularly operating at least half full, no doubt helped by the good autumn weather and, assuming that the revenue & reimbursements are sufficient to ensure the future of the service, Paul Guest certainly seems to have found a niche where others have failed.
We welcome back Mystery Contributor and thank him for this contribution to Omnibuses
Upon Velvet withdrawing from the Ringwood-Suthamptons, W&D won the tender from Hampshire council, providing two return journeys on the 35. The journey time via Lyndhurst is 57 minutes compared to Travelguest's 39 minutes direct.
10 comments:
"W&D won the tender from Hampshire council, providing two return journeys on the 35. The journey time via Lyndhurst is 57 minutes compared to Travelguest's 39 minutes direct"
The 35 's 57 minutes is only from Southampton. For some unfathomable reason it extends to 64 the other way, the 7 estra time allowance between Rushington and Millbrok ( just west of Southampton.
And those with a long memory will also recall Shamrock and Rambler operating the "Town Tracker" between Weymouth, Bournemouth and Southampton. I think this was about 1988 !
Marc Reddy
Indeed Marc - I well recall the 11m Tigers brought in specially for these services, when Geoffrey Hilditch was running S&R immediately after it's sale by NBC to Drawlane/British Bus (or whatever they were called that week). A particular feature of Town Tracker was an early attempt to provide a service to Bournemouth (Hurn) Airport.
I notice the wheelchair user looks like he is turning away in dismay...wonder why ?
Anonymous wrote,"I notice the wheelchair user looks like he is turning away in dismay...wonder why ?". Obviously because the buses are LF not SLF. :D If that is a knock against the operator, well I think he would be hard-pressed to get to Southampton without encountering the problem somewhere en route. As for the service, I have used it several times. The buses may be elderly, but they are clean, keep reasonably to time, and are always at their stand well before departure to receive passengers.
The last cannot be said with certainty about larger companies; some drivers drivers only arriving at departure time or after.
I hope the firm continues to do well.
So...is this the same Travelguest that just got "done" by the Traffic Commissioner over maintenance issues?
Anonymous wrote "So...is this the same Travelguest that just got "done" by the Traffic Commissioner over maintenance issues?"
Yes, but only got a warning, but at same time were got a fourth vehicle allowed
Interesting that X55 in Bournemouth Square shows the destination as Southampton, when, AAUI, that service is only registered as far as Ringwood. Does that mean that the 'connecting service' is actually the same bus?
If that's permitted, and given the destination shown, plus the through ticketing, then doesn't it rather show up the 50km rule as somewhat meaningless? Apart from removing a digit from the service number this looks, operationally, like a single journey. (I'll wager that the free travel permits get recounted at Ringwood, though -- perhaps that what makes it viable where others have failed!)
Best of luck to them though.
That queue was more than likely to be on a Tuesday morning by looking at the OAP's. More than half of these would be waiting for the X3 to Salisbury which is a low-floor bus. The wheelchair user would not be likely to continue waiting there after looking through the doors of the Lynx otherwise.
Looking back at these comments it makes me laugh, when people are quick to scorn (inc wanna be operators). Sad that we say such things about those who would get up off their backside's and 'try' something, often with little resources. Instead of sitting at your computer critisizing and being an 'armchair stratigist'. I'm always available should you have the balls to talk to me face to face, not that i have to explain anything to those who would do me down.
Paul (Travelguest)
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