Bluestar (bus company)

Past Logos

Solent Blue Line logo used between 1987 and 2003

Solent Blue Line logo used between 2003 and 2008

Preserved Solent Blue Line branded Bristol VR

Solent Blue Line was formed by Southern Vectis in May 1987 to compete with Southampton Citybus on some of its major routes with some Bristol VRTs.[3]

In October 1987 Solent Blue Line purchased the Hants & Sussex[4] business from Basil Williams and the Eastleigh and Southampton routes which had previously been part of Hants & Dorset, from Stagecoach in Hampshire. This expanded the fleet from 16 to 115 buses. New buses began to be purchased with Leyland Olympians for the Southampton to Winchester service and minibuses for the Eastleigh to Winchester service. Some services were operated under franchise by Brijan Tours and Marchwood Motorways.[5]

From here the network expanded until in 2003 the network underwent a change, involving a new name and the launch of the Bluestar brand soon after, as a name for their premier services[6] with Bluestar services one and two launching in 2004,[7] the three and four service launching a year later[8] and the Waterside services eight and nine having fully launched by 2006.[9]

In July 2005 Solent Blue Line was included in the sale of Southern Vectis to the Go-Ahead Group[10][11] and subsequently the head office functions of the company were consolidated with those of the other Go South Coast companies, Southern Vectis and Wilts & Dorset, in Poole. In October 2006, Solent Blue Line purchased Marchwood Motorways[12][13][14][15]

After the withdrawal of the Red Rocket brand on 25 February 2008, most of the company's services began to run under the Bluestar brand. The fleet has recently undergone several updates, including the introduction of a smartcard system called the key,[16] the introduction of free Wi-Fi internet to all buses,[17][18] and USB charging points.[17] In June 2017, all Bluestar and Unilink buses accept contactless payment, as part of a £1.6m investment from Hampshire County Council.[19][20]

Bluestar has also been one of the test sites for new air filter technology which removes and captures particulates from the atmosphere.[21] A test has been done in September 2018 for 100 days and has claimed to have cleaned 3.2 million cubic metres. It is planned that these will be fitted onto buses nationwide on Go Ahead's buses.[22] To accompany this, they have also installed solar panels onto the roof of the test bus to see if the filter can be made to run on its own power. 16 more buses have been installed with solar panels to reduce maintenance costs and fuel consumption. There are 6 buses with the air filter, including the original with the prototype air filter installed on ADL Enviro200 MMC types, wearing the Bluestar "breathe" branding.[23]

In November 2022, First Hampshire & Dorset announced the intention to withdraw their Southampton-based operations.[24] This took place on 19 February 2023 with Bluestar adding six replacement routes to its network.[25] Bluestar thus gained a monopoly in Southampton, servicing the areas where the former company operated.[26]

• 
  Solent Blue Line branded Wright Cadet bodied VDL SB120 in May 2008
• 
  Leyland Olympian in revised Solent Blue Line livery in January 2007

The company itself holds the original name of Solent Blue Line, however none of the buses it operates currently use this branding, the last few buses using this branding was incorporated into the Bluestar network in 2008.[27] As a result, a number of sub brands are used for the company's bus services.

Bluestar

Mercedes-Benz Citaro and East Lancs Lolyne in Bluestar Livery in August 2010.

The Bluestar service was originally launched in 2004 running the main routes with destinations outside of Southampton. However, since 2008 the service has become the main brand for the company with the vast majority of the bus routes running under it. Most of these services terminate in or pass through Southampton City Centre, with the exception of school/college contract services which may start in the suburbs of the city or may not reach the city limits, and a few services such as service 5 (Boyatt Wood to Romsey via Eastleigh) thus not going near the city centre.[28]

QuayConnect

QuayConnect bus approaching Southampton Central Station in November 2018

The QuayConnect shuttle service runs a service around the city of Southampton, stopping at Southampton Central railway station, Westquay Shopping Centre and Town Quay, for the Hythe Ferry and the Red Funnel ferries to the Isle of Wight.[29] The service was started as City-Link, under the previous operator, Enterprise, but the operation was taken over by Bluestar on 28 September 2008. The first two buses used on the service were Dennis Darts inherited from Enterprise, and were repainted in a new two-tone blue livery with the interiors re branded. In May 2016 the service was re-branded as QuayConnect with a new red and white livery featuring the newest Red Jet which came into service for Red Funnel shortly after. Originally the service was free to use for all passengers, but a change in May 2014 saw fares introduced for all except Red Funnel ticket holders. The frequency of the service was also cut down to every 30 minutes, but with a duplicate bus running on some morning services and a 15-minute frequency between 4-7pm, or when local events take place in Southampton or the Isle of Wight, such as Cowes Week or Bestival.[30] The service was upgraded with an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City in November 2018.[31]

Northern Counties Palatine bodied Volvo Olympian in Beep! Bus livery in September 2008

Competition between Black Velvet and Bluestar began when the latter commenced its Beep! Bus service between Eastleigh, Boyatt Wood, Velmore and Southampton on 8 October 2008 which operated in direct competition with the rival Black Velvet B service operating on the same route and timetabled three minutes behind those of the Beep bus.[43]

The service was initially registered as a Wilts & Dorset route to begin on 15 September 2008 with VOSA, but this was later cancelled and replaced with an identical Bluestar registration.[44] The service began a full week before its registration date to match the start date of Black Velvet's service, but was unable to take fares and so operated as a free service until their start date a week later. Normal fares were slightly lower than Black Velvet's on some journeys but local journeys were more expensive.[43]

Black Velvet's former managing director Phil Stockley claimed that Bluestar was being aggressive and attempted to "squeeze them out" with its new Beep buses.[45] Bluestar operations director Andrew Wickham said that the decision was "a business decision pure and simple", adding that they "are not scared of competition" but Velvet were "deliberately creaming off" some of their passengers.[45]

The rival Black Velvet service ended on 10 January 2009 because of low passenger numbers.[46] However Black Velvet's managing director said that he would instead target Bluestar's more profitable services with them introducing the route 500, which would run off a similar direction to its former route B, though it would serve Chestnut Avenue before heading to Southampton; as well as the Fair Oak flyer to run between Eastleigh and Fair Oak.[47] Bluestar then announced their intention to withdraw Beep! Bus from 22 February 2009, citing similar reasons to Black Velvet.[48]

Black Velvet then undercut Bluestar in its bid for two college services between Eastleigh, Hiltingbury and Chandler's Ford and was awarded the contract on 19 February 2009. Bluestar operations director in response, said they would not be responding to it, claiming there was not enough passengers for one bus service let alone two.[49]

In May 2009, the MP for Eastleigh Chris Huhne accused Bluestar's behaviour of being appalling and called for new laws to allow the local authorities to regulate bus companies.[50] Later in July 2009, he asked for an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour of Bluestar against Velvet's over their implementation and subsequent removal of extra services, which operated between Eastleigh and Fair Oak, to rival Velvet's service, the Fair Oak Flyer.[51] The latter service which commenced earlier in 2009 ran 55 trips per day. However, Black Velvet claimed the service became unviable when Bluestar increased the frequency on its competing route and later cancelled its service on 23 May 2009.[50]

The competition warring between Bluestar and Black Velvet later came to an end in March 2010 when Bluestar announced frequency cuts to its route 3 between Hedge End and Botley and made a deal with the latter to run a service to fill in the axed time slot with both of them accepting each other's tickets on the same route corridor. Eastleigh Borough council was working with both companies to negotiate this deal.[52]

• In March 2007 whilst being used as a rail-replacement bus a double-decker member of the Red Rocket fleet drove under a low bridge at Barnham causing the top to be ripped off, in addition to minor damage to the bridge.[53] It is now with Southern Vectis as an open-topper. A similar incident occurred at Romsey in May 2015, when a double-decker bus had its roof removed after colliding with a railway bridge[54]
• On 22 March 2011, a car drove into the front right of a Bluestar bus on route 2 between Southampton and Fair Oak, resulting in a single fatality of the car driver, and injuries to the car passenger, the bus driver was treated for shock. Only one passenger of the 10 on board the bus were treated for minor injuries.[55][56]
• At around 16:30 on 7 February 2012, a Marchwood Motorways Mercedes-Benz Citaro caught fire on Calmore Roundabout, Totton. The bus was being driven Not In Service by a mechanic at the time - there were no injuries but the bus was destroyed.[57] A similar incident occurred on 9 October 2020 at around 17:30 with an East Lancs Omnidekka bodied Scania N94UD on the M27, heading towards Fareham. The smoke from the fire could be seen from as far as the Isle of Wight.[58][59]
• On 3 April 2012, two buses on service 18 collided at the junction of Little Lances Hill and Peartree Avenue in Bitterne. The leading bus had to brake sharply to avoid another vehicle and the second bus ran into the back of it. Three passengers were slightly injured.[60]

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

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