The 56-day notice period for the Gosport-Fareham BRT closes on Sunday, so today is the last possible date by which First Hampshire should have submitted its registrations. For Eclipse is due to begin on 22nd April 2012. To date, we only have indicative routes and no timetable information.
Eclipse is the biggest public transport news for Gosport & Fareham since the opening (and subsequent closure) of the peninsular railway line south of Fareham to Gosport. Indeed, there have been some considerable battles with and injunctions from local NIMBYs (or should that be Nimbies?) who have been clutching at straws, bats and badgers in a vain attempt to see off the scheme. Actually, 70 per cent of residents back it. Phase 1 Eclipse eventually won the day and will run along part of the former rail alignment. It’s nevertheless been a hard road for the scheme’s promoters.
Going back over 10 years—and talked about since the early 1980s—this all started as a potential light rail project that would link Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth. This would’ve impacted considerably on the bus. First Hampshire’s peninsular network revolves around the Gosport ferry for Portsmouth. Rucks of passengers descend upon Gosport each day for the short passage across the harbour. For those unfamiliar, the ferry is for foot passengers and bicyclists only, hence the supremacy of the bus as a means of connecting the Gosport estates to the ferry terminal and on to Portsmouth.
LRT would’ve significantly quickened the Portsmouth journey time (and reduced the need for time-consuming bus connections either side of the ferry). Not surprisingly, its stumbling block was funding. It was thrown out in 2004 and attempts by promoters Hampshire council failed to come up with a creditable reduced cost alternative that might subsequently exclude the impressively expensive Gosport-Portsmouth tunnel. Campaigners and NIMBYs nevertheless continued to press for a tram-based solution, or nothing at all. Some Luddites even wanted a relief road along the route.
14 new Volvo B7RLEs are under construction at Wrightbus and will be drip delivered in the coming weeks. This shot from a First Facebook page has no logos as yet. In spite of a general First livery refresh that sees the abandonment of the willow leaf, the planned Eclipse beige willow will, apparently, remain
The final government funding requirement for the tram was £170mil. Inflate that to 2012 prices and you’ll be talking of about, what, £210mil. The busway came in about a tenth of the cost and will deliver substantially similar benefits.
What we will have in April is by far the most pragmatic solution. There remain the BRT naysayers who complain that the peninsular BRT go nowhere fast, that it simply links the two neighbours of Gosport & Fareham. They argue it will have little impact on overall congestion amelioration on the dreaded parallel A32, as people from Gosport will still need to travel by car beyond Fareham to get out. And I’m sure they will but just consider the runaway success of the Cambridge busway—and the extra investment announced by Stagecoach for it, this week Less than six months after opening, Stagecoach plans to increase the frequency from 10 to every 7½ minutes with no fewer than eight additional buses.
Gosport’s BRT may not be guided (like Cambridge) but the critical thing is that it’s dedicated. As I’ve said before, give the industry the roadspace and it will easily demonstrate growth. If you pardon the pun, I can see nothing other than a bright future for Eclipse. The future’s purple.
14 comments:
I guess this is it - published late yesterday on the Western Traffic Area page:
" PH0006159/313 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Registration Accepted
Starting Point: Gosport Ferry
Finish Point: Fareham Bus Station
Via: Bridgemary
Service Number: E1
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 22-APR-2012
Other Details: Daily "
From Forester
Well done to all concerned!
I say Good luck to this scheme, and hopeful it will also be a run away success.
For some unknown reason many people believe public transport schemes are all doomed to fail.
Cambridge works, Ferrytoll and ingilston P&R has worked.
From todays VOSA:
First Bus to operate 387 Poole Bus Station to Lytchett Matravers from 16 April. But only Monday to Friday!
From Forester
Such an opportunity for First. So the best they can do is offer an 11 year old bus design...
I,like many others,just mourn the missed opportunity of cross-platform connections at Fareham railway station into a lovely new tram,for a rapid smooth run down to Gosport...and beyond !
However,seeing as how First 'lost' the Croydon Tramlink contract for basically being First,let's see how they manage with this.How long is the contract for Eclipse ?
"Such an opportunity for First. So the best they can do is offer an 11 year old bus design..."
Yawn, what a stupid and pointless post. I won't both pointing out how very wrong this is.
"How long is the contract for Eclipse ?"
The services are provided commercially and not under contract.
"Such an opportunity for First. So the best they can do is offer an 11 year old bus design..."
Right - so you're criticising them for buying an 11-year old design.
That design that just happens to have had a facelift in the past few years...
...is one of the (IMO, the) best models on the market currently...
...will still be brand new buses, of a look never seen before in their area...
...with quality interiors.
What unbelievable comment.
You say it's an 11 year old bus design, but the B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban came out in 2003. So in your daft statement, you must be including the B7L/Wright Eclipse Metro - which isn't the technically the same design.
So, if they can't buy the Wright Eclipse as you don't like it, what other full size single deckers could they buy...
Hmm, the Enviro300? That's 11 years old too, so we can't buy that.
The Scania OmniCity...? Well, that dates from 1996 so is sixteen years old. Nope, can't buy that.
The Citaro....? Well, that's 15 years old so we can't buy that either.
So - to fit in with your demands - they can't actually buy any suitable buses for the new service.
Or shall we just stop the First bashing and utterly ridiculous comments?
A lost opportunity for ftr Streetcars?
Think about it !!!! You wont get bendy buses/streetcar/ftr in/out of Fareham Bus Station !
The highly-specified, 6 year old Wright bodied B7RLE's on Fastrack in Kent still look good; BRT that works and continues to demonstrate growth and modal shift. Another example of the bus industry just getting on with it and delivering high quality services
What are they using for all the park and ride sites around Weymouth and Dorchester for the Olympics - will it be these bendy buses/streetcar/ftr???
Forester
The concerning thing about this is that the busway hasn't even been finished yet. At a few of the vantage points along the route there is still quite a bit of work going on. They will have to pull the stops out to get services running in the next two months.
Personally I would put money on a phased launch rather than a big bang launch.
"Think about it !!!! You wont get bendy buses/streetcar/ftr in/out of Fareham Bus Station !"
Oh really, done it have you? What utter cobblers.
In answer to the last post, yes it has been tried and it doesn't work, for a start it's a drive in reverse out bus station and secondly having 15 metres of bus seriously impinges on the space behind for other services to pass.
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