History of Southern Vectis

The Southern Vectis Omnibus Co. was formed in 1929 when the Southern Railway united with Vectis Bus Company to form the Southern Vectis Omnibus Co. Prior to this, the Vectis Bus Company ran single deck buses in a circular route from Newport, Shanklin, Sandown, Ryde, then back to Newport. Since its formation, Southern Vectis has usually stayed in the ownership of large national concerns and after 1970 was a part of the state-owned National Bus Company. In 1986 with privatisation the bus company was bought by its management team and has stayed independent until 2005, when it was bought by the Go-Ahead Group bus and rail company along with Solent Blue Line. Since late 2005, the company has had the same directors as Solent Blue Line, and Go-Ahead's Wilts & Dorset operations, as part of the Go South Coast division.

Services

Previous networks

Most double-deck buses ran in route-specific liveries, such as "Route Rouge" (mainly red), and "Island Explorer" (pale blue). It was not unusual to see a vehicle operating the 'wrong' route. Island Explorer routes took a circular route around the island from Ryde, down across the south coast of the island and up to Yarmouth, then travelling to Newport and finally back to Ryde.

Complicating matters, some journeys on routes such as the 3, 7B and 8, as well as entire routes in themselves, such as the 13, 22 and 24, were sub-contracted to Wightbus, who have their own, mainly white livery. The remaining routes were mainly run by single-deck buses.

Open-top tours

The first open top bus services began in the 1950s in Shanklin. The roof was removed from a few of their older AEC Regent double deck buses. Year on year the open top buses grew in popularity and through the 1960s routes were extended. More routes started at Ryde and at Yarmouth to Alum Bay and the Needles. Gradually older buses featuring engines at the front of the vehicle were replaced with newer vehicles with the engine at the rear. Full power steering and automatic gears were later added to ease driving on routes using smaller, bendier roads, notably The Needles Tour. Liveries have also developed over time. During the early days a mainly creamy white livery was used. This has later changed to an apple green, a vivid "Battenburg" pattern of lime green and purple and more recently a sunshine orange. In 2007, Southern Vectis rebranded its open top tours to Island Breezers and a new livery of two-tone blue with an orange sunburst was adopted.

All open top routes were numbered in the 40-series. The following open-top services were operated:

*"The Downs Tour" 41, a route previously operated by Westbrook Travel as service 44, and before major changes were made to the route, as service 88.

*"The Needles Tour" 42, whose only major changes have been the replacement of open-platformed rear-boarding vehicles with front entry enclosed ones in the late 1990s, and the changing of the route from a normal there-and-back route to a circular service in the early part of 2000.

*"The Sandown Bay Tour" 43 which had for a year been run under Southern Vectis' trade name 'The Village Bus Company', and before that as Service 44 "Shanklin's Pony". The change in number also signalled a slight change in route, as service 44 had been a there-and-back with a small loop in Shanklin to take in the Old Village, whereas service 43 runs from Shanklin to Sandown via a different road to that on which it returns.

After the renumbering of the Downs Tour, service 44 became, a once-a-day connector route between Ryde, Brading, Yaverland and Sandown to continue at the Sandown Bay Tour. These continued until the start of the March 2008 timetable. Service 12 included an open-Top journey, renumbered 45 in 2005. Again, it continued as the Sandown Bay Tour, and was withdrawn in 2008.

Service 7B included one open-Top journey from Ryde to Totland, from where it continued as The Needles Tour. Service 7A included an open-Top journey from Yarmouth, (as the last Needles Tour of the day) to Newport. In 2006, the route was diverted to run via Calbourne and Chessell in both directions, and is now route 46. Service 47 was the other "Needles Tour" bus, which ran between Newport and Yarmouth via Thorness Bay Holiday Camp and Newtown, although, since 2005, it has not served Newtown itself due to a new bridge restriction. Unlike the Sandown Bay Tour connectors, these still operate.

Current network

The current Southern Vectis network came into operation on 1 April 2006 along with the new logo and livery. It initially involved 10 key routes, 9 of which started from Newport, the hub of the network. A further route 11 was later expanded making a current total of eleven major bus routes. The new network has so far proved a success, with passenger numbers increasing by 45%, one of the highest inceases in the UK. This has led to a 60% increase in us services across the island and 24-hour services to most towns for a small period. There are now 219 drivers instead of 126 drivers in summer 2005. Southern Vectis drivers cover more than 78,000 miles a week compared to 55,000. [Isle of Wight County Press - number 6106] However, following a dispute over pay, it was claimed that on occasions drivers spent five and a half hours behind the wheel without a break,cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6262968.stm|title=BBC News - "Island bus drivers vote to strike"|publisher=www.bbc.co.uk|accessdate=2008-10-11] although this is the legal limit.

A lot of the growth has come through concessionary travel for the over 60's. This has since led to problems with the amount Southern Vectis receive for this travel being significantly reduced, resulting in some service cuts and fare rises.

Liveries

There are many different liveries that Southern Vectis buses have worn. The buses had traditionally been painted green, but from 1990, a new livery of "cream and mushroom" was introduced (pictured to the left). Interestingly, the style of the bus stops continued to reflect this livery until the 2006 service changes. The network change around 2001/2 saw a new series of liveries introduced. Single deck buses were fairly standardised in a "Oxford Blue and Stripes" dark blue livery, sporting orange, red and yellow squiggly lines along their sides. As mentioned earlier Island Explorer and Route Rouge liveries were also introduced for the companies double deck buses. From 2005, new Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer single-deck buses arrived in a precursor to the current livery, with many copies of the previous company logo disintegrating into a standard green towards the rear of the bus.

Since April 2006, most buses have been painted with a new livery of two shades of green. It also consists of a newly designed logo and the new slogan "The Island's Buses".cite web|url=http://www.southbus.co.uk/profiles/svoc.htm|title=Southbus - Southern Vectis company profile|publisher=www.southbus.co.uk|accessdate=2008-10-11] The company's 7 B7TLs in the fleet were the first to be re-sprayed to this, all from the old Island Explorer livery which they were delivered in in 2002. Prior to full completion of the new two-tone livery, the B7TLs were temporarily used for services with just a lime green livery.cite web|url=http://southhantsbus.fotopic.net/p28607796.html|title=Southern England Bus Photographs - Southern Vectis Volvo B7TLs|publisher=www.southhantsbus.fotopic.net|accessdate=2008-07-16] There are some exceptions to this new livery. The open-top tours have a blue and orange livery, with "Island Breezers" branding. Coaches and driver training vehicles also carry a number of different liveries. Three of the UVG Darts are still in the "Oxford Blue and Stripes" livery.

Fleet

Southern Vectis has used a wide variety of buses forming its fleet. The first double deck buses were used in 1936, prior to this the island's roads were deemed not suitable for anything more than single deck buses. In late 2002, the company bought the first low-floor buses for the Isle of Wight with 7 Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs and a single Plaxton Mini Pointer bodied Dennis Dart. This has later been added to through the purchase of 16 more Plaxton Mini Pointer bodied Dennis Darts, 7 Mercedes-Benz Citaros, and most recently twenty eight new Scania OmniCity buses. Prior to these, Volvo Olympians, Leyland Olympians and Bristol VRTs were common in the fleet. The oldest buses are currently three Bristol VRTs used for open-top services.

References

External links

* [http://www.islandbuses.info Southern Vectis Official Website]