Further to Evelyn Knowles’ Letter to the Editor, published through OnTheWight yesterday in relation to Southern Vectis timetable and fares, Matt Kitchin, General Manager for Southern Vectis responds. In his own words. Ed
I am not sure why Evelyn Knowles considers Ventnor is treated as the poor relation of the Southern Vectis network.
Ventnor well served
In comparison to many similar sized towns on the near mainland it is served rather well with buses at least every 30 minutes from early in the morning until gone 11pm (with night buses on Friday and Saturday nights) to neighbouring towns including Newport and Ryde.
The bus network runs 7 days per week, 365 days per year – provided entirely commercially, that is without public subsidy, where the cost of operation has to be covered by fares received.
Compare this service provision to similar sized towns just over the water on the north Island. For instance Alresford in Hampshire where buses finish running at 7pm and an infrequent Sunday and bank holiday service for similar fares with some journeys subsidised by the local authority.
Subsidence at Shanklin station
At the request of Island Line, buses are not currently serving Shanklin station forecourt due to subsidence in the bus turning area. This is a temporary measure whilst we await the repair of the turning area.
As soon as the repairs are carried out we intend to return to serving Shanklin station forecourt with the continued agreement of Island Line.
Extensive retiming to improve punctuality
The time available for connections between route 3 and Island Line at Shanklin station have changed as a result of an extensive retiming exercise undertaken to improve punctuality on route 3.
Given that route 3 runs at a 30 minute frequency and Island Line runs at an uneven 20/40 minute frequency the connections still exist but are never going to be perfect.
Connections from bus route 3 onto the busiest Island Line journeys which connects with the FastCat have changed with a slight reduction in waiting time in one direction and slight increase in waiting time in the other direction. In total there is a one minute increase in waiting time between connections for a return on these journeys.
Ventnor rail-link
The ‘rail-link’ bus fare between Ventnor and Shanklin rail station has changed from 6th May having been frozen at current rates for almost four years.
Over the same period, rail fares have risen by over 21% in our region based on data from the Office of Rail Regulation.
The standard single fares for bus travel from Ventnor to Shanklin and destinations across the Island remain as now, frozen since 2010. The price freeze is despite four years of cost increases.
In response to customer requests for better value tickets for the occasional traveller we introduced our ‘key’ smartcard in 2012 with multi-day ticket bundles giving unlimited travel from £3 per day valid across our network.
Sandown Sandhopper
The ‘Sandhopper’ shuttle bus from Sandown station to the town centre and seafront on Saturday’s referred to by Ms Knowles is provided this summer through funding from a number of parties, one of which is the Isle of Wight Council whose contribution has come from central government via the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.
Whilst the ‘Sandhopper’ service runs on Saturday’s only this year it is hoped that should the service be a success it can be expanded to cover more days of the week.
Matt Kitchin, General Manager, Southern Vectis
