The Maritime Festival Bus Services

The first Southampton Maritime Festival took place on Sunday 5^th and Monday 6^th May 2013. A lot of planning went into the event as talked about in the previous blog. The operation to get all the buses ready for the event started a few days before with getting the two Guy Arab buses (64 & 71) out of their winter store somewhere in deepest darkest Hampshire and move them closer to Southampton ready for the event. Also planned to take place around the event was both M.O.Ts of the Guy Arabs (64 & 71). 64’s M.O.T was to be done before the event therefore after coming out of store 64 went to Winchester for its usual pre-M.O.T checks and then on Friday 2^nd May the trip to the M.O.T station was done. The M.O.T station used is I Mservices at Romsey. We normally take most of our buses over there and always get a good service. Thankfully there were no major problems and 64 gained its M.O.T for another year.

The day had come and drivers and staff made their way to mini Portswood (also somewhere in deepest darkest Hampshire). The first services from Dock Gate 4 were not till 10:30 to Ocean Village and 10:45 for City Centre. This gave us enough time to get 1 – JOW 499E, 64 – FTR 511, 71 – LOW 217 & 133 – TTR 167H down to Dock Gate 4 where the Maritime Festival was taking place. All were started successfully and just after 9:45am all the buses left the yard to head into Southampton and do a day’s work. 1 – JOW 499E trip was something unusual as it only returned to the road last year after being off the road for 20 years therefore it has not been in service in Southampton in over 20 years.

                                                             (Buses outside Dock Gate 4)

Just after 10:20am buses started to arrive at Dock Gate 4 with a visiting bus being the first bus to arrive; that being 417 - UOU 417H from our friends at Friends of King Alfred Buses. Shortly afterwards our buses started to arrive and 133 did an early run to make sure everything was ok on the route and pick up quite a few people along the route. We were also joined by PB Bus Marketing who brought along 1368 - SRU 981 & 401 - KOW 909F. 64 set off to Ocean Village and brought back quite a few visitors for the Maritime Festival. 64’s claim to fame is that in 1976 she carried Southampton Football Club team around the City after they had won the F.A Cup.  

 

As the morning went on buses were coming back from the City Centre route full so more buses were added to the service to pick up the crowds. By lunchtime the crowds were quieting down and the 30 minute frequency was back in operation. The Ocean Village route was being operated with 1368 – SRU 981 itself just returned from the paint shop after undergoing restoration.  No. 1 was needed at lunchtime to take Dunkirk Veterans to The Royal Southampton Yacht Club in Ocean Village where the Veterans would have lunch. The original plan was to use 64 but due to a low walkway on the quayside by the Ocean Terminal this could not happen therefore No. 1 did the job. The Veterans were successfully dropped off and picked up just after 3pm.

                                                  (No. 1 in Ocean Village droping off Dunkirk Veterans)

Around 4pm a Lancaster bomber flew over the event, soon as this was finished the crowds were pouring out of the event and we were filling buses up and getting the crowds back to the car parks and train station. After around 4:30pm the Ocean Village route was taken off as no one required the route. A few runs to Ocean Village were done later on when the demand picked up. By 7pm on the Sunday most of the crowds had gone and we started to park the buses up and a special temporary bus depot was set up in the docks as the event was over two days.

                                                                            (Docks Bus Depot)

Bank Holiday Monday was very busy in the morning with at one stage people being left at the bus stop as so many people were using the free bus service, extra buses were put on as like Sunday to meet demand. Once the demand was met the 30 minute service was back. 64 was enjoying its short trips to Ocean Village picking up people and also carrying people who wanted a short ride on the open top bus. 64 also did a few trips on the City Centre route along with 71. It was not planned for them to be used on the City Centre route due to their age. With the beautiful weather 71 was not needed and was used as a static display.

Again like the Sunday, around 4pm the crowds started heading home and therefore buses were being filled and taking people back into the City Centre for their onward journey. A few Ocean Village service were taken off as the demand was not needed for the route. As the buses were not staying in the Docks therefore at 5:30pm buses started to return home.

(133 outside SeaCity Museum)

 

The whole event was a huge success with visitors coming from far and wide. The bus services were well used and only a few problems were experienced along the way. With over 1600 people carried throughout the event this was something we never thought would happen and if you did travel with us over the Maritime Festival we hope you enjoyed your trip.