Many thanks to Stuart George from the IW Bus Users Group for sending through info about changes to some of Souther Vectis’ bus services which commence in a couple of weeks time. Ed
Southern Vectis have announced some changes to their bus services from Sunday 16th March.
In many parts of the Island there will be significant cuts to evening and Sunday services as a result of a reduction in council funding, but there are only minor changes to the buses in Ventnor.
Service 3 has some slight retimings and an additional early morning journey to Newport at 0615.
Service 6 loses some of its journeys between Ventnor and St.Lawrence so that there will just be a regular hourly service throughout the day.
Undercliff Route Rejected By Council
Southern Vectis had applied to the I.W. Council for permission to run buses along the Undercliff Drive between Niton and St.Lawrence but this has not been granted and, as a result, the first bus from Niton to Ventnor will not be until 10.00 instead of the present 06.32, with the last bus back leaving at 17.42 instead of the present 19.40.
Shanklin Rail Link Service 16
Unfortunately the Sunday journeys on the Shanklin Rail Link service 16, which have previously operated during the summer, have not been registered for operation this year and so it seems unlikely these will run unless the council decide at this late stage to provide funding.
This is particularly disappointing as Southern Vectis’ service 3 suffered from poor timekeeping last summer and also because they will be withdrawing service 6 from St.Lawrence from 20th April, leaving residents there with no Sunday bus service at all from that date.
If you would like to see the return of a Sunday service you should contact your local county councillor, Susan Scoccia (Ventnor West) or Jonathan Fitzgerald-Bond (Ventnor East).
School Services
There will also be changes to many school services. Southern Vectis will continue to operate services 58 and 67, they will operate new services 96 (to Carisbrooke) and 99 (to Medina) and will also be taking over the operation of services 121/123/126/130 from Wightbus.
