Solent Blue Line

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The Solent Blue Line logo.
The Solent Blue Line logo.

Solent Blue Line is a bus company operating in central Hampshire, England. It is based in Eastleigh. Originally by Southern Vectis in 1987 it is now owned by Go-Ahead Group.

Solent Blue Line is quite different where some routes are done under franchise agreements to various other Bus and Coach operators across central Hampshire. Marchwood Motorways operates and runs services 18, 18A, 19, 19A, 30, 31, 32 (not N32) and 32B from its Totton Depot in Salisbury Road. Brijan Tours operates peak journies of service 7, service 8 Mondays to Saturdays, in addition to operating and running service 17, from their Bishops Waltham Depot in Abbey Mill.

This company, originally a subsidiary of Southern Vectis, was purchased by Go-Ahead in 2005. Since late 2005, the management and head office functions of Solent Blue Line, Southern Vectis and Go-Ahead's existing Wilts & Dorset operation have been consolidated at Wilts & Dorset's Poole headquarters.

On 13 October 2006, Solent Blue Line acquired 1 brand new Volvo B7TL/Enviro 400 and was given fleet number 758. This vehicle was originally intended for Wilts and Dorset; evidence can be seen with regard to the interior livery all done in the Wilts and Dorset branding (the seats and the colouring of the passenger safety bars). This vehicle (758) entered service on November 9th 2006; its first journey being a Bluestar 1 to Winchester Bus Station at 15:10 from Southampton City Centre.

On October 24th 2006, Solent Blue Line aquired Marchwood Motorways (Southampton) Limited and Marchwood Motorways (Services) Limited (together, "Marchwood Buses") for £3.0m, with the assumption of £1.4m of net debt at completion.

Contents

[edit] Brands

Solent Blue Line services operate under a number of brand names:-

[edit] BlueStar

Premier routes are branded "BlueStar" and are a network of high quality bus services linking Southampton with surrounding towns and villages. The company uses its newest buses along with a small fleet of extensively refurbished older buses on Bluestar routes. In 2006 Solent Blue Line took delivery of a number of Mercedes-Benz Citaros for Bluestar.

Bluestar routes are:

Bluestar 8 and 9 services were launched on 2 April 2006 and replaced Solent Blue Line services X8, X9 and 38. The services are usually operated by Mercedes-Benz Citaros which carry branding specific to the routes.

[edit] Red Rocket

Red Rocket was launched on 3 September 2006 and is a high frequency network linking Eastleigh, Chandler’s Ford, Fryern Hill, Boyatt Wood, Hedge End and Hamble.

Its routes are:

  • A; Eastleigh - Hedge End - Hamble
New service from Eastleigh to Hedge End and replaced Solent Blue Line service 9 and 9A.
  • B: Eastleigh - Boyatt Wood
New service from Eastleigh to Boyatt Wood operating a loop via Shakespeare Road, Bosville, Broadlands Avenue, Ruskin Road and Twyford Road.
  • C: Eastleigh - Velmore Estate - Chandler's Ford - Fryern Hill
New service from Eastleigh to Fryern Hill and replaced Solent Blue Line service 44.

[edit] Solent Shuttle

Express coach link between Portsmouth and Southampton. This service was originally run by Southampton City Bus and later First in Hampshire and Dorset as services 727 and 747. It has had a number of other operators since, prior to the Solent Blue Line attempt it was branded as the Solent Clipper and run by Tellings-Golden Miller, they retained part of the original Southampton City Bus route numbers with the services becoming X27 and X47.

[edit] do the docks sitting down

Open top bus tours of Southampton docks. Uses open top buses from the New Forest Tour and debranded Wilts and Dorset Leyland Olympians.

[edit] The New Forest Tour

Open top bus tours using distinctively branded yellow and orange buses.

[edit] Standard Solent Blue Line services

  • 6/6A: Southampton - Hedge End - Boorley Green - Botley
  • 7/7A: Southampton - West End - Horton Heath - Bishops Waltham
  • 8: Eastleigh - Colden Common - Fair Oak - Hedge End - Botley - Swanmore - Bishops Waltham
  • 17 Bishops Waltham - Swanmore - Meon Valley - Petersfield
  • 18/18A/19/19A: Millbrook - Shirley - Southampton - Bitterne - Thornhill
Offers direct competition to First Hampshire and Dorset services 17/17A and 10/10A.
  • 29: Southampton - Hedge End - Botley - Boorley Green
New service between Southampton and Hedge End replacing Solent Blue Line service 9/9A.
  • 30: Southampton - Totton - West Totton - Woodlands - Cadnam
  • 31: Southampton - Totton - West Totton - Tatchbury - Cadnam
Fomerly a Wilts and Dorset service.
  • 32/32B: Southampton - Totton - Calmore
  • 36/36A: Hythe - Netley View - Dibden Purlieu - Hythe (Hythe Circular)
  • 37: Hythe - Netley View - Blackfield - Fawley - Calshot
  • 43: Eastleigh - Stoke Common - Fair Oak - Bishops Waltham - Swanmore
  • 44/44A: Eastleigh - Chandlers Ford - Hiltingbury - Valley Park - Southampton
  • 45: Eastleigh - Hiltingbury - South Millers Dale
  • 49/49A: Eastleigh - Boyatt Wood - County Hospital/Colden Common - Winchester

[edit] External links

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