Many thanks to Stuart George of the IW Bus Users Group for his summary of how transport to and from Ventnor will be affected over the Christmas and New Year period.
Bus services through Ventnor over the Christmas & New Year period will again be improved this year. Normal services will run on all days except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Monday 28th December, and New Years Day.
Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve normal services will run on all routes with the last bus from Ryde to Ventnor at 2325, continuing from Ventnor at 0013 to Newport.
The last bus from Newport to Ventnor will be at 2345, continuing from Ventnor at 0010 to Shanklin & Ryde. Island Line trains will finish earlier than usual, with the last train from Ryde to Shanklin at 2008.
Christmas Day
This year there will again be buses on Christmas Day, and the service will be extended to run until 2300 on Christmas night. Service 3, between Ryde & Newport, will run hourly through Ventnor between 0900 & 1900, then at 2100 & 2300, with an additional early journey from Ventnor to Ryde at 0800. No other buses or trains will run in the local area, although there will also be buses between Newport, Cowes & Ryde.
Boxing Day (updated)
Boxing Day bus services will be considerably improved this year with normal Sunday services on all Southern Vectis routes, including service 6. A normal Saturday service will run on the Wightbus Rail Link route 16 even though there will be no Island Line trains running. There will be no service on Wightbus route 31.
New Year’s Day
On Monday 28th December & on New Year’s Day a Sunday service will run on all Island bus routes. On New Year’s Day Island Line will operate a special hourly service from 0800 to connect with Wightlink ferries at Ryde Pier.
Wightbus
Wightbus services 16 & 31 will not run between Christmas Day & 28th December or on New Years Day but there will be a normal service from Tuesday 29th to Thursday 31st December.
Nightbuses
Nightbuses will not run on Christmas or Boxing Day nights, but will run additionally on New Years Eve night. They will not run on the night following New Years Day, but will run again on the night of Saturday 2nd January.
Sunday 20th December
Finally there are some alterations to bus timetables from Sunday 20th December. In the Ventnor area, service 3 will run 10 minutes later in the evenings and the last nightbuses back to Ventnor will run one hour earlier than at present, at 0325 from Ryde & 0335 from Newport.
Further information on Southern Vectis bus services can be found at Islandbuses. Island Line train information is at Island Line.
