Marchwood stranded: the Bluestar Bus cuts

The Bluestar bus network
as it stands. Multiple services
 cover central Southampton,
 whereas Marchwood and
the waterside have fewer.

As we all know, faithful readers, the internet isn't a very nice place and I don't plan to harp here about the cruel anonymity and opportunities for trolling that it presents. Yet, another thing it presents is the ability to bring issues to a company without filling out a tedious and forgettable customer complaints form. Everyone from Tesco to Solent University have a Facebook or Twitter page from which to spurt promotions and PR. The flip side is when clients of these companies feel they have been slighted. Nothing is formal on Facebook...

With my friends located everywhere from the next town, to Southampton and beyond, I often use the local bus, as I'm not one of those pricks driving around in a Corsa. Bluestar buses, formerly known as Solent Blue Line, run the majority of services around Southampton and the Waterside area, across the New Forest. They are also affiliated with Wilts and Dorset buses, routinely sharing their fleet following a merger some years ago.

Back in March, it was reported that Hampshire County Council was cutting the subsidies it paid to the local bus services by almost a quarter, two million pounds, as part of an austerity measure designed to tackle a £55 million hole in finances. We could follow a long line of blame and circumstance all the way back to the credit crunch, but as we all know, we're in tough economic times. Everyone is suffering. And in true movie dramatic style, sacrifices must be made!

A sample of angry, rude, but
 essentially fair and correct
complaints on the Bluestar FB.

What this boils down to on a local level is that Bluestar buses are cutting back their service at the end of October and as a company that is already largely criticised for high prices and less than prompt service, an outcry of anger and suitably rude remarks online has erupted. Though I think it is wrong that Bluestar should take all blame over money it simply hasn't got, the form of the cuts made are woefully unfair: Marchwood, a large village of almost six-thousand people down the road from my hometown of Totton, has taken another hit for the team, it's number 8 bus forgotten again by the bus company that already reduced what little Sunday service there was, holding a monopoly over the village's access after 7pm on weekdays too, buses necessary for hundreds of students, elderly people and commuters that are otherwise physically unable to leave and return unless they own a car or decide to walk for two hours down a long, dangerous, pavement-less main road. 

I did that once. It wasn't great.

Today, on Bluestar's website, a banner proclaims that the number 18 service is now up to every 7 minutes! Fancy that! A bus every seven minutes?! What is this? Bournemouth? Compare this to the complete cut of the number 8's evening and Sunday service and you get a sour taste in your mouth that isn't the Lidl pasta you just had for dinner. I am in no doubt that the 18 - running across the middle of Southampton and the most highly populated outskirts - does terrific business, easy money. But though all companies should be able to make a profit, I question whether Bluestar realise that they are also a public service. The council should also be under fire if they are responsible for stranding Marchwood's citizens with their decisions.

Now I'm no town planner or council pen-pusher, but if I was in control of the Bluestar network, I would simply even out the disproportion and either run the number 9 through Marchwood instead of simply bypassing (other passengers can live with being ten minutes later), or move over vehicles and drivers from the absurd intra-Totton or intra-Hythe routes that loop the same half a mile all day. There has to be a better option than simply no buses.

Still, what do I know? I only pay £4.60 return every day to travel five miles to university.

The company's boss Alex Carter stated back in March that Bluestar "...will do all we can to ensure that nobody is left abandoned".

If you say so.