With less than a week before Newport Road (the graben) in Ventnor is closed for at least two weeks, Southern Vectis (SV) have finally updated their website to show what will be happening with the bus routes in and out of the town.
OnTheWight has been chasing Southern Vectis for weeks for details of the plans, being told last Friday by the General Manager, “I believe it was agreed this morning, so should have details published on Monday”. It was only when we looked today (Tuesday), did we see the timetable had been updated.
Headline changes
Trying to pick your way through the Southern Vectis timetables is extremely confusing. Below is our observations, headlines include:
- SV will be inventing a new bus route – the 3X
- There will be no direct route from Ventnor to Ryde, Shanklin or Sandown, etc
- The roads that you travel by the bus from Newport to Ventnor will be widely different from the return journey from Ventnor to Newport
Ventnor and Bonchurch
For those living or working in Ventnor town or Bonchurch, the situation becomes quite tricky to get your head around.
A shuttle bus to and from Newport Bus Station, named the 3X service, will be running every two hours (see timetable).
The southbound 3X route into Ventnor from Newport travels via Rookley and Whitwell, taking around 40 minutes (faster than currently).
However, the northbound 3X route out of Ventnor towards Newport will go via Whitwell, Niton, Chale and Rookley, taking around 60 minutes.
Although the 3X runs every two hours, on the alternate hour Route 6 travels to and from Ventnor and Newport (via Chale etc). Effectively it means there is a bus every hour between Ventnor and Newport.
Ventnor to Ryde (and vice versa)
From 24th June, if you want to travel to Ryde from Ventnor (lower) Southern Vectis suggest the fastest option is to take the 3X to Newport (via Niton, Chale, Rookley – 60 mins) and switch to another route to Ryde, such as Route 9, which runs roughly every ten minutes and takes another 20 minutes.
Ventnor to Shanklin/Sandown/Brading (and vice versa)
In order to get to Shanklin, Sandown, or Brading from Ventnor (and vice versa), one option is to take the bus to Ocean View Road, then, if able, walk past the graben into Upper Ventnor to catch the Route 3 (one footway across the graben is being kept open).
However, those less mobile will have to take the northbound 3X to Rookley (via Niton and Chale), get off the bus, cross the road and catch the southbound Route 3 from Rookley.
Looking at the timetables, the window of time to make that change in Rookley varies considerably from just 1 minute to 2-3 minutes – and that’s assuming the buses are running on time.
Once on the Route 3 heading towards Shanklin, another option would be to disembark in Godshill and catch the Route 2 bus. This avoids having to travel down into Upper Ventnor and back again [Thanks to OnTheWight reader, Rhos yr Alarch, for that time-savings suggestion].
Upper Ventnor
Once the graben is closed, residents in Upper Ventnor will still be served by the Route 3 bus, for buses in either direction, but they won’t be able to get down into Ventnor Town on the Route 3 bus.
As it does at the moment, the Route 3 will head through Wroxall into Upper Ventnor, but then only go as far as the Free School, turn around in Downlands Crescent and head back out via Wroxall onwards to either Ryde or Newport.
Stops at York Road and Steephill Down Road will not be served. To travel by bus into Ventnor Town centre, passengers would need to travel by Route 3 to Rookley, and change onto the southbound 3X service into Ventnor.
Residents losing bus service
As is well known, Ventnor has quite a few hills and many older residents rely on the bus service to get them into the town centre shopping area and home again.
With the changes to the bus routes, residents who usually catch the Route 3 from Trinity Church or Ventnor Library into the town centre will be able to use the 3X (every two hours), but they won’t be able to travel back home again by bus, as the 3X will travel up Spring Hill after leaving Ventnor Boots.
No.31 bus route
From 18th June, the No. 31 bus has been extended by Ventnor Town Council to provide four journeys on Tuesdays and Fridays, as well Saturdays, between St Lawrence and Bonchurch, via Ventnor Boots.
The journeys start at 9.45am from Boots and run hourly until 12.45pm on each of the days above.
£2 fare
As we understand it, the £2 flat fare will run across the 3X and 3 routes, i.e if you want to get to Shanklin from Ventnor you pay £2 even though you are using two buses.
Whether this works for those travelling to Ryde from Ventnor via 3X and 9 is not clear. We’ll see what we can find out.
Passengers will not be able to tap on and tap on off the 3X route shuttle.
School buses
Route 63 will operate from and to Upper Ventnor. Students who usually catch this bus in the mornings from Lower Ventnor will need to catch the Route 3X shuttle and change buses in Newport Bus Station. In the afternoon, students for Lower Ventnor will need to get to Newport Bus Station either on Route 63 or on foot to catch Route 6 at 1545 from there, as there is no Route 3X shuttle at this time.
Route 200 (school term ticket holders only) will extend from and to Lower Ventnor to collect any Route 202 students (see Route 202 below). Students who use the Whitwell Chapel stop should board at Whitwell Church.
Route 202 (school term ticket holders only) will operate as far as Upper Ventnor where it will turn, and continue straight to Carisbrooke College and Christ the King. Students from Lower Ventnor should board Route 200 that will start from Trinity Church at 0728, then Ventnor Boots 0730 and Whitwell Church 0740 where it will continue its normal route to Carisbrooke College and Christ the King. The afternoon bus will operate the reverse of the morning journey.
Route 212 (school term ticket holders only) – the morning journey will start at Ventnor Boots at 0724, then Trinity Church 0726, then Whitwell Church 0736, then Niton at the usual time of 0741 but at Rectory Road not Church Street, then operate via a diversion (Chale, Rookley, Godshill) to The Bay CE School, Sandown. Students from Upper Ventnor and Wroxall will be picked up by a separate Route 212 vehicle at normal times. In the afternoon, there will be 2 vehicles at the school – one vehicle will follow the reverse of the journey described to Ventnor, and the other will serve Upper Ventnor / Wroxall only.
Route 214 (school term ticket holders only) – the morning journey will start from Whitwell Church at 0735, then Niton Rectory Road at 0740, then it will operate via a diversion (Chale, Rookley, Godshill) to Island Free School. Bierley / Kingates will not be served – students should use stops in Niton instead. In the afternoon, the journey will divert from Island Free School via Godshill to Whitwell, then drop off as reverse of above morning journey.
Routes 71, 72, 73 and 215 serving Island Free School are unaffected by the closure
School students attending Wroxall Primary School who would usually use Route 3 – a special shuttle will operate to the timetable below:
Mon- Fri – AM journey
Ventnor Trinity Church 0715
Ventnor Boots 0720
Whitwell Church 0730
Niton Rectory Road 0735
Chale Green 0745
Rookley Village Green 0755
Godshill Hollies 0800
Wroxall Church 0805
(also to Upper Ventnor on request)Mon – Fri – PM journey
Wroxall Church 1515
Godshill Griffin 1520
Whitwell Chapel 1535
Ventnor Trinity Church 1545
Ventnor Boots 1550
Don’t take it out on the bus drivers
A polite reminder that the bus drivers will be also inconvenienced and having to put up with these confusing changes.
If you are frustrated or angry about the changes, please do not take it out on the drivers, they are just following instructions.
3X timetable
You can view the 3X timetable on the Southern Vectis website or see below.
Article edit
1.30pm 19th Jun 2024 – Added extra info about Route 6 and Route 2
