Late August & Early September 2023 Service Changes

The next week or so will see a whole host of changes to bus services across our area, partly as a result of Surrey County Council tendering which sees Diamond South East lose much of their local stage carriage network, as partly as a result of commercial decisions by operators. The details of these are …

2023 Surrey Tender Results

This year's Surrey County Council tender results are set to see a dramatic decrease in the stage carriage operations of Rotala PLC division Diamond South East, with local independents Carlone Limited, Falcon and White Bus being the beneficiaries. Outside of the north west Surrey area, both Go-Ahead Group and Stagecoach South have retained all bar …

Surrey consultation results in

Back in November we reported the launch of a consultation by Surrey County Council (SCC) into the future of supported - and some commercial - services in the county, which welcomed feedback on proposals until January of this year. You can read our post from the time by clicking here. The intentions, following the consultation …

Southdown acquired by Go-Ahead Group

The 'Southdown' name is traditionally associated with former green and cream coloured bus and coach operations along the south coast of England, spanning from Portsmouth in the west through to Eastbourne in the east. Post deregulation, these operations largely passed to Stagecoach and the 'Southdown' name was phased out (although for a time, a reference …

£2 cap operator and route exclusions

UPDATE: The scheme has now been extended for a further three months through April and May to Friday 30th June 2023, with all but one of the below operators now confirmed to be continuing to participate (Mole Valley Connect DRT still unable to confirm despite just one day to go…). Operators who didn't take part …

£2 bus fare cap operators (partially!) announced

The government has this morning published a list of bus operators who will be taking part in the upcoming scheme that caps single bus fares in England (outside of London) at a maximum price of £2 per journey between 1st January and 31st March. Such a list is necessary because participation by operators is voluntary …

Arriva & Dickson to be replaced by White Bus?

On Tuesday, a report was presented to the Surrey County Council (SCC) cabinet regarding this year's retendering of several bus services, which consists of the following 20 routes effective from Sunday 2nd September... Arriva Kent & Surrey 81: Woking to Barnsbury (2 morning trips) 437: Woking to West Byfleet/Brooklands 462: Woking to Guildford (via Burpham) …

Pegasi Spreading Their Wings

Following the two recent waves of changes to the Abellio Surrey business in such close succession, I thought that I would write an article about the former 'Ride Pegasus!' school bus vehicles, given 14 of the 22 went to Abellio when the scheme ended. As I write this we are just seven weeks from implementation …