Last month the Isle of Wight Bus and Rail Users Group (IWBRUG) met for their twice yearly public meeting that welcomes representatives from Southern Vectis, Island Line and the Isle of Wight council (IWC).
The meeting was live streamed to members of IWBRUG who couldn’t attend and below is an update on the latest news from Southern Vectis. A report on the latest from Island Line to follow.
Commuters still below pre-Covid levels
Richard Tyldsley (pictured below), the General Manager of Southern Vectis reported that passenger numbers on the Isle of Wight bus service are still largely positive since his last update in the summer of 2023. More people are using the buses than pre-Covid, with leisure passengers up, but commuters still below pre-Covid levels.
The number of passengers using concessionary fares is still depressed but rising, to around the mid to late 80 per cent of travellers, compared to pre Covid times.
General service delivery going well
Richard reported that although there were some reliability issues with the red buses on loan from the Mainland, general service delivery is going well across the Island, and in fact, they have more drivers than they need.
There have been some teething issues for the seven new buses for Route 1, but they’re now working fine and Richard says they’ve had very positive feedback from customers.
New electric buses
As reported by News OnTheWight in December 2023, Southern Vectis has worked with the Isle of Wight council on a bid for new electric buses.
Although the information sent to the press at the time stated there would be a mix of single and double deckers, Richard confirmed that it would be double deckers only, on Routes 1, 5 and 9.
He explained that the Department for Transport pay 75 per cent of the difference of new diesel buses. They hope to find out in March whether the bid was successful and if it is, the buses could be in operation by early 2025.
Summer timetable
The new Summer timetable would be announced in May and Richard claimed there should not be any negative news in relation to the changes.
He added that they’d applied to increase service on Route 5 but were awaiting sign off from IWC.
Diversions
In relation to the Bonchurch landslip, Richard reported that it’s looking likely that it’ll be several weeks, before more news about the road is known.
Therefore, Southern Vectis will be re-registering all timetable data for the website and app. At the moment the website is still showing a through-route on Leeson Road, although buses are actually heading into Ventnor and back again the same way (via Upper Ventnor and Wroxall).
All tablets used by drivers on the buses are being upgraded to run on android, meaning transactions will be faster than currently.
Modernised buses for West Wight
The West Wight can expect some ‘new’ buses this year. Richard explained they are six or seven years old, but are Euro6 buses replacing the Euro3 buses, so better for the environment.
They will also feature high back seats and tables in them – “a more premium offer for the West Wight” – in the hopes of engaging the market more than they have in the past.
The £2 fare cap
In relation to the £2 fare cap, as reported by News OnTheWight, the Government announced at the end of last year that they were extending the scheme to the end of 2024. Richard explained that the DfT scheme that has been published is for the first half of this year, and Southern Vectis have signed up until the end of June this year. He said that at some point the DfT will come back to the company to say they want to extend for another six months.
Richard said he believed it was a very good scheme has had a positive impact, as well as helping those dealing with the cost of living crisis. He said discussions were ongoing and even if the cap was raised to £2.50, he believed it would still be welcomed by bus companies and the public.
How it works
The scheme works by the Government giving the private company back the difference between the £2 paid by the customer and what they would have paid had there not been a fare cap.
Richard ended his presentation by explaining that the bus company is looking at how things would work when the scheme comes to an end.
Announcement system being fixed
Questions from members of the public at the end of the meeting included Diana Conyers from Ryde Town Council reporting that the announcement system on many buses is not working properly.
Richard said they were aware of the issue and explained that the bus company had been let down by their supplier. He said 3G was coming to an end soon and the supplier had failed to do the upgrade in time. The announcement system can’t update passengers without a connection to the information, so when they can’t connect, they just stop working. He said it would be fixed in the next week or so (that was mid-January), but reminded those attending the meeting that not all buses are fitted with the announcement system.
Pre-9.30am concessions
Diana also raised concerns about older passengers needing to travel to hospital appointments before their concessionary passes kick in at 9.30am. She explained that whereas before the £2 per journey cap you could buy a transfer ticket that included a change, with the £2 cap she believed passengers had to pay the £2 for each journey.
Richard explained that if a journey which required a change was previously less than £4, it should remain less than £4. Passengers just need to ask for a through ticket and be charged the relevant amount (£3.80 or similar).
Diana went on to say that she felt older passengers needing to get to early appointments at the hospital were at a disadvantage
Last bus from Fishbourne ferry terminal
Another bus user at the meeting spoke about the connectivity of Route 9 at Fishbourne. She explained that as a foot passenger, having been first off the late vehicle ferry, she raced up through the terminal only to see the taillights of the last bus at top of slope.
She said it had been discussed at a Wightlink Users Forum and the Port Manager had been made aware. With this being the last bus to Ryde from the ferry terminal, she suggested some form of communication between the ferry captain to find out how many people were relying on the bus and having that relayed to the bus driver, so they knew to wait for passengers.
Richard said he would look into it as, “We are sending the bus down there to collect ferry passengers.”
Wroxall to Shanklin in 10 mins
Debbie from Wroxall wished to express her thanks to all the bus drivers on Route 3, adding that since its reroute due to the closure of Leeson Road, it now only takes her ten minutes to get to Shanklin, so she has been using the bus much more, as well as connecting with Island Line and using that more too.
Debbie wanted to know whether Southern Vectis would be analysing data for the number of people getting on and off at particular stops to see how bus movements are changing and maybe adapting the timetable/route accordingly.
Richard replied that although they have access to lots of data, analysing it is another thing. He mentioned collecting data from passengers who tap on and tap off, as well as speaking speaking to drivers.
Bus shelter ‘seating’
Iris from Ryde raised a subject that has been discussed at these meetings before.
She suffers with a bad back and welcomes the chance to sit down whilst waiting for a bus (which she does regularly at Ryde bus station).
Iris has found that the ‘shelf’ seating in the new shelters are too tall for her to rest on and added there were no benches to sit on in the station.
Richard confirmed that bus shelters are the responsibility of Isle of Wight and it was something they were aware of and are looking into.
Rail update
Look out for our update about Island Line due out next week.
The next IWBRUG meeting takes place in July 2024 – we’ll let you know the exact date nearer the time. Meetings are held at Newport Methodist Church, Quay Street.
