Lymington update

The picturesque, coastal town of Lymington, on the border of the New Forest, is one place that is suffering from bus subsidy cuts and rising operational costs. I posted about the everyday services back in April 2011, when both the weather and bus services were far sunnier...

The latest breaking news is that Lymington bus station is the latest Go South Coast bus station to be closed. With only 4 scheduled hourly departures Mon-Sat, and being located in a prime location in the centre of Lymington high street, it seems a sensible decision to close the bus station. Early indications are that buses will turn around, and sit out of service at Lymington depot, next to Lymington town railway station. The scene last week was of an Olympian-fest, with Wilts & Dorset's BlueStar livered DAF 1663 (W163RFX) mixing up the scene. Like some of the railway closures, it will be interesting to see if in 20 or 30 years time, the closure of these bus stations is seen as a sensible decision. No date (that I can find) has been announced for the closure, yet.

Hands up if you thought the two-hourly frequency of the 56/56A would last when it became BlueStar 6? I certainly didn't - it had all the feeling of a service reduction. They originally were playing around with a short Southampton-Rushington trip to keep up the half-hourly frequency across some of the route, but now it is just down to one an hour. The three BlueStar livered Spectras are supplemented by a couple of Solos, which do the honours. This is 1665 (W165RFX), arriving in Lymington from Southampton. The destination is already set for the return journey.

The 119 was the next to be cut - the half hourly frequency to Pennington, was reduced to hourly, with the route extended to New Milton to cover service withdrawals there. The PVR is now two Solos rather than three (I believe) that covered the initial workings. This is 2675 (V675FEL), arriving in Lymington.

Breaking the trend, it is expected the X1 and X2 will see investment at some point of 2013, with the Scania Omncitys on the X3 cascaded to Lymington. These will replace DAF SB250/Optare Spectras and Volvo B7TLs. 1670 (Y199FEL) heads of to Bournemouth - a journey it has completed countless times before.

Rumour has it that at least some of the existing convertible Volvo B7TLs will move to Southern Vectis to replace the Leyland and Volvo Olympians next year on the Breezer services. This still has to be confirmed, I must stress. Here, 1826 (HF05GGJ) arrived in Lymington on an X1.

If an outside looks at Lymington's fleetlist, they will see a large allocation of Leyland Olympians. I must stress these seldom see service work. They often operate the Wednesdays only 118 to Ringwood, or sometimes sneak onto the X1, X2 or 6 - but these sightings are extremely rare. The Olympians tend to simply operate school work, or the Brockenhurst College services. Here is former Southern Vectis 4736 (K736ODL) heading through Lymington high street, somewhat catching me off guard as it heads through the town out of service.

The last service route operated by Lymington depot is the 112 to Beaulieu and Hythe. Again, due to subsidy cuts, the Mon-Sat 112 was cut to Tue/Thur/Sat, and most journeys curtailed at Beaulieu. This is the only arrival in Hythe - getting into the coastal town at about 2.30pm. I'm very glad the 112 still operates, and it is good to see that the funding is used to preserve bus services. The 112 bus operates the Ringwood-Christchurch 176 on Mon/Wed/Fri, and it is very important these communities still have their respective services, rather than them being cut altogether. 3662 (V662DFX) is pictured in Hythe yesterday, as I messed up the photo when I visited Lymington last week!

My only slight criticism of Go South Coast is that they don't seem willing to develop the network in the New Forest area. The BlueStar 6 had a complete rebrand, yet they still (2 years later) occasionally operate it with Wilts & Dorset livered buses. Intiatives such as First's X4 have shown already how patronage can grow, with appropriate branding. 

Furthermore, the New Forest (I assume) sees higher ridership levels in the summer - this is where their fantastic New Forest Tour is an excellent example of how a brand new route can be developed over the years (there are Red, Green AND Blue routes this year!). Remember the Bristol VRs started the service in 2004 (I think) - and look how well this route has grown. Even my idea of a "New Milton and Barton on Sea Breezer" is in operation this year, as the Blue New Forest Tour connects these two towns with Lymington, Burley and Brockenhurst.

Finally, Hythe and Ringwood do not have access to the main train line - now I know the Hythe rail-link failed to generate revenue in years gone by, but possibly a summer only Hythe - Brockenhurst - Burley - Ringwood, Hythe - Lyndhurst - Brockenhurst - Lymington, or Ringwood - Lyndhurst - Brockenhurst - Lymington service could generate money. If it carried on through September, it would also help ease the loads on BlueStar route 6 early in the academic year at Brockenhurst college. 

Ah well, what do I know? Better men and women than me probably know the answers!