Wightbus
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| Founded | 1970s |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Newport |
| Service area | Isle of Wight |
| Service type | School and public services on the Isle of Wight |
| Destinations | Whole of the Isle of Wight |
| Fleet | 27 |
| Web site | Wightbus homepage |
Wightbus is the other bus operator on the Isle of Wight, the main operator being Southern Vectis. It is owned by the Isle of Wight Council. Annually, Wightbus is used by over 1 million passengers.[1]
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[edit] History
The name 'Wightbus' is the trading name of the Isle of Wight Council's own bus fleet, and is a relatively recent term. Before 1997, the fleet was in a yellow livery, with 'County Bus' along the sides. The current name seems to reduce the perceived connection between the Council and the company. Exactly how closely tied the two remain is sometimes unclear.
[edit] Current operations
The main work Wightbus undertakes is on school journeys. As many settlements on the Island are small, while most are large enough to support at least one primary school, there are few state-run high schools (and even fewer private ones). Because of the Island's 3-tier school system, there are also middle schools, which are located in most towns but not in any of the many villages. Because of this, there is an extensive 'network' of school bus routes, all operated under contract from the Council, to get a few primary school pupils from remote areas to the nearest larger settlement, to transport middle school pupils between nearby towns, and to move large numbers of high school students, sometimes halfway across the County.
A few of these school routes are not available to the general public and operate with destinations such as 'School Bus' with no route number, however many are available for anyone to use, showing a route number and appearing in the Council's own Public Transport Handbook.
When these buses are not in use for school journeys, they may be used on the handful of normal routes the company runs in various locations. Some of these (notably the 16, which has a dedicated vehicle running in a modified Wightbus livery) are operated during school journey periods and so additional buses are required beyond those purely for school purposes.
In the period of Cowes Week, Wightbus run the "Sailbus", a free route linking the car parks and the main events of Cowes for visitors. This uses three spare buses - not working due to Cowes Week being in the school Summer holidays - to maintain a five minute frequency.
More recently, Southern Vectis have set up several new routes mirroring the Wightbus network, with some controversy over this.[2]
[edit] Regular routes
The public network[3] (as of 30 September 2007) is as follows:
| No. | Origin | Destination | via | Frequency (Mon-Sat daytime) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Totland | Freshwater | Colwell | 35 minutes | West Wight local service |
| 16 | Shanklin | St Lawrence | Upper Bonchurch & Ventnor | Every hour | Connects with trains to/from Sandown & Ryde (for Portsmouth ferry). Not to be confused with separate service 16 in Ryde area. |
| 20 | Ryde Transport Interchange | TESCO store | Ryde Town Centre | 40 minutes | Runs Mon-Fri only. |
| 21 | Knighton | Whitecross | Alverstone | Every Hour (Wightbus only) | Runs Mon-Fri only. Southern Vectis provide many additional journeys on this route |
| 22 | Sandown | Shanklin Sibden Hill | Shanklin Town Centre | Every Hour (Wightbus only) | Runs Mon-Fri only. Southern Vectis provide many additional journeys on this route |
| 30 | Cowes | Newport | Gurnard | 2 journeys per day (total) | Extra journeys on Southern Vectis route 30, which is now their number 28, but Wightbus hasn't changed their number to reflect this. |
| 31 | Ventnor | Bonchurch | Ventnor | 3 through journeys per day | Mon-Fri only |
| 33 | Ryde | Newport | Havenstreet | 7 journeys per day (total) | Most journeys operated by Southern Vectis |
| 35 | Newtown | Newport | Thorness Bay Holiday Centre | 1 journey per day | |
| 36 | Brighstone | Newport | Yafford & Chillerton | Three journeys per week | |
| 39 | Newport Bus Station | Newport Town Circular | Pan estate | Every hour | Additional buses provided by Southern Vectis |
| 52 | Carisbrooke Schools | Cowes | School times only | School days only | |
| T1 | Shanklin | Ryde Tesco | Bembridge | 1 Return trip Monday-Fridays | Run for the Tesco store |
| T2 | Newport | Ryde Tesco | East Cowes | 1 Return trip Monday-Fridays | Run for the Tesco store |
| T3 | Ventnor | Ryde Tesco | Sandown | 1 Return trip Monday-Fridays | Run for the Tesco store |
[edit] Subsidised Fares
Students under the age of 19, in full time education on the Isle of Wight only have to pay 50p for a single journey on any of the Island's buses or trains anywhere, at any time. This includes through journeys where all buses are run solely by one company.
As well as this, anyone living on the island who is over 60 or has a disability, will now be able to travel on the Island's buses for free, under the Government's scheme. The introduction of these subsidised fares has resulted in a boom in passengers using the buses.
[edit] External links
- Wightbus details on the Isle of Wight Council's website - iwight.com
- Wightbus website on Isle of Wight Council's website - iwight.co.uk
[edit] References
- ^ Wightbus profile
- ^ Southern Vectis buses on wightbus routes
- ^ Traveline Wightbus Timetables (enter "Wightbus" into "operator name" box and press "submit")
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