Council helps increase in bus travel

A new network of routes and the bringing in of unlimited free travel for over 60s has produced a major increase in bus usage for Southern Vectis – with the company praising the Isle of Wight Council for its role in the improvement.

Following the purchase of Southern Vectis by the Go-Ahead Group in July 2005, the business has been refocused on providing a frequent, fast, simple and comprehensive network of routes across the Island. Information provision has also been improved, and fares and ticketing simplified.

Working in close partnership with the council, the introduction of free travel for over 60s has been extended to remove any time restrictions, and an innovative 50p flat fare for Island students introduced.

The result of the revitalised network and close partnership with the council has been dramatic, with an increase in passengers journeys of 12 per cent in April rising to 16 per cent in May, compared to last year.

Journeys made by over 60s showed year on year increases of 85 per cent for April, rising to 120 per cent in May.

Councillor Ian Ward, the council’s cabinet member for environment, planning and transport, said: “We have a strong partnership between the bus operator and the local council, which is delivering real improvement to public transport, and achieving dramatic increases in usage. The new network has clearly brought more passengers onto buses - people are voting with their feet and that is the ultimate accolade.”

Alan White, general manager at Southern Vectis, praised the council for its commitment to the development of public transport. He said: “Their foresight in allowing over 60s unlimited travel and in offering affordable travel to students was an enabling factor allowing us to increase frequencies as much as we have.

“The partnership with the council has now created the upward spiral of increasing bus usage, and we are now planning further frequency increases in the autumn as a result”.

This autumn Southern Vectis plans to close all remaining headway gaps at peak times across its core network, and to increase frequencies on its Ryde to Newport and Ryde to Shanklin core corridors.

l Southern Vectis is the main operator of buses on the Isle of Wight and is owned by The Go-Ahead Group. It operates 90 buses and coaches on the Island, employing 260 staff and operating 5.6million miles per annum.