More (bus company): Difference between revisions

More bus is a bus company in England covering the Poole & Bournemouth areas as well as Blandford, Christchurch, Corfe Mullen, Dorchester, Ferndown, Lymington, New Milton, Ringwood, Swanage, Verwood, Wareham, West Moors & Wimborne. Its local headquarters is in Poole, Dorset but it is owned by the Go-Ahead Group, a major UK transport group.

More bus is a sub-brand of Wilts & Dorset and is the operating name for bus services in the Poole & Bournemouth area.

More was originally launched in December 2004 as part of £4 million investment. 'More' replaced services 101 to 105 between Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch and services 155, 156 and 157 between Poole and Canford Heath. The service was originally due to launch in October 2004 but due to a driver shortage this was postponed until December 2004. The service launched with 30 Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban single-deck buses. 'More' buses carry a livery of mostly dark blue with red at the back; the original 30 also carry slogans such as "looks like a bus, works like a dream". All 'more' buses are air-conditioned.

Such was the success of the 'more' services it was decided that the frequency on the m1 and m2 routes was to be increased and the m1 extended to the Castlepoint shopping centre on the outskirts of Bournemouth from the Bournemouth Travel Interchange (the railway station). With only 30 'more' branded buses in the fleet at the time, the 'more' branded routes to Canford Heath were discontinued, with the 'm' dropped from the route number and standard liveried vehicles used. For these routes to become 'more' route again a batch of Mercedes-Benz Citaros were ordered. The original 'more' buses were going to be Citaros, but it was thought that Volvo would offer a quicker delivery time. Further changes to the routes occurred on 25 May 2008, with the m2 being withdrawn from Burton (transfered to Route X12 which was later withdrawn also) and Somerford to terminate at Boscombe.

In August 2008, Wilts & Dorset (using the 'more' brand) sponsored the Bournemouth Air Show. There was a large amount of publicity surrounding the event, with the company's name appearing in numerous places. In March 2008, one of the 'more' buses was repainted in a special blue advertising livery to promote the event. Advertising boards appeared in many places, and in around mid-August signs for the event were stuck to most Wilts & Dorset vehicles, as well as many fellow Go South Coast company Bluestar buses. The other sponsor for the event was Bournemouth based Excelsior coaches.^[1]

During 2010 the "More" brand was refreshed with every bus being repainted in a slightly brighter, simpler version of the previous livery,^[2] each highlighting a good reason for using the "More" Buses for Example "morefrequent" is applied to W&D 119 HF54 HGM.

In May 2011 routes m5 and m6 were once again dropped from the 'more' brand and renumbered as routes 5 and 6.

In January 2012 a minor timetable revision saw the evening buses being reduced slightly in frequency resulting in a half-hourly frequency between Castlepoint / Southbourne and Bournemouth, and quarter-hourly between Bournemouth and Poole.^[3]

In June 2012 Wilts & Dorset announced a £5.5 million investment in 36 Volvo Wright Eclipse 2 buses to be used on m1/m2 routes whilst the previous 38 Volvo Wright Eclipse Urban buses & Mercedes-Benz Citaros would be cascaded onto other services replacing older buses (including Bluestar). Also at this time, Routes 8 & 9 became part of the 'More' brand.

In July 2012 it was announced that Wilts & Dorset bus services in and around the Poole & Bournemouth would be changing to more, whilst in and around the Salisbury & Amsbury areas would be branded as Salisbury Reds.

In September 2012, Routes 3 & 4 joined the 'More' brand.

30th May 2008 saw the More 'Nightbus' sub-brand launched with the m1's operating every half hour between Poole Bus Station and Charminster (Five Ways) and the m2's operating every half hour between Bournemouth Square and Iford Roundabout on Friday and Saturday nights.

During June 2010, the m1 nightbus was extended beyond the Five Ways to the Broadway Tavern another few minutes up Charminster Road. May 2011 saw the m2 nightbus route changed beyond Pokesdown to serve Southbourne (Fisherman's Walk).

9 January 2012 saw these 'Nightbus' sub-brand renumbered 'N1' and 'N2', but with the timetable remaining the same and the same 'More' fleet being used.^[4]

In June 2012, a new nightbus route, the N3, was launched connecting Bournemouth to Bournemouth University. Also, all three services started operating on Thursday nights, in addition to Friday and Saturday nights.

February 21st 2013 saw the withdrawl of the Thursday Night services.

The 'More' routes are usually operated only by 'More' livered buses. (Routes 8&9 have their own special route branded version of the More Livery.)

• m1: Poole - Lower Parkstone - Westbourne - Bournemouth - Charminster - Castlepoint
• m2: Poole - Upper Parkstone - Westbourne - Bournemouth - Boscombe - Southbourne

• Routes 3&4: Poole - Broadstone - Wimborne

- 3: Poole - Broadstone - Corfe Mullen - Wimborne

Operates every half hour during the daytimes Monday to Saturday and runs direct via Broadstone Way between Poole and Broadstone and continues to Wimborne via Corfe Mullen

- 4: Poole - Oakdale - Creekmoor - Waterloo Estate - Broadstone - Merley - Wimborne

Operates every 15 mins between Poole & Broadstone with half hourly extensions to Wimborne via Merley during the daytimes Monday to Saturday. During evenings and Sundays, Route 4 runs either via Merley or Corfe Mullen as Route 3 does not run.

• Routes 8&9: Poole Circular

- 8: Poole - Hamworthy - Turlin Moor - Upton - Creekmoor - Poole

Circular service running clockwise around Holes Bay. Some journeys in the evening and on Sundays terminate at Turlin Moor and do not serve Upton or Creekmoor.

- 9: Poole - Creekmoor - Upton - Turlin Moor - Hamworthy - Poole

Circular service running anti-clockwise around Holes Bay, along the reverse of the route of service 8. Some journeys in the evening and on Sundays start at Turlin Moor and do not serve Creekmoor or Upton.

• N1: Poole - Lower Parkstone - Westbourne - Bournemouth - Charminster
• N2: Bournemouth - Boscome - Southbourne
• N3: Bournemouth - Charminster - Bournemouth University

Each route runs every 30 minutes on Friday & Saturday nights (except Good Friday and Christmas)

In 2009 Wilts and Dorset rebranded their Swanage routes as the 'Purbeck Breezers' by purchasing 12 brand new Optare double decks (Visionaires Open-top/Convertibles & Closed-Top Olympus's). These routes are:

• 40: Swanage - Kingston - Corfe Castle - Wareham - Upton - Poole
• 44: Swanage - Harman's Cross - Corfe Castle - Worth Matravers
• 50: Swanage - Ulwell - Studland - across the entrance of Poole Harbour on the Sandbanks Ferry - Sandbanks - Compton Acres (stops nearby) - Canford Cliffs - Branksome Chine - Westbourne - Bournemouth Square - Bournemouth Railway Station/Interchange.

The Optare Olympus's are branded for Route 40. The permanent open-top Optare Visionaires are branded for Route 50 which typically operate on Route 50 all year round (unless the weather prevents them from running). The convertible Optare Visionaires are in general Purbeck Breezer branding and converted to Open-Top use for Route 50 during the summer months. All of the buses are fitted with a Ferry Lift allowing them to be interchangeable (as it is not uncommon during the winter months to see a Route 40 branded bus on Route 50).

• Poole Town Service via Falkland Square, Poole Quay and Baiter Park

This is a frequent bus service linking Poole town centre and the hospital with the Old Town and the Quay. It is partially funded by a government grant as part of an initiative to encourage greater use of local bus services in the Borough of Poole. The service also receives sponsorship from the Dolphin Shopping Centre and Poole Town Centre Management. Prior to the introduction of Route ONE it was not possible to travel between the Bus Station and the Railway Station entrance by bus, nor was there a bus service between the hospital and Poole Old Town and Baiter Park. The service operates every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday usually utilising two Route ONE liveried Optare Solo SR's. The 50p fare allows passengers to hop on and off as many times as they like in a day.

These services operate in the Bournemouth & Poole areas (with the exception of Route 38) and see a mix of 'More' and 'Wilts & Dorset' livered buses. Some routes are operated by Damory Coaches with their own livered buses.

• 5: Poole - Canford Heath - Tollerford Road
• 6: Poole - Canford Heath - Tower Park

• 7A: Talbot View - Upper Parkstone - Sea View - Tower Park
• 7B: Bloxworth Estate - Upper Parkstone - Sea View - Tower Park

Operated by Damory Coaches in a special livered 'Route7' Optare Solo.

• 11: Poole - Foxholes Estate - Alderney - Bear Cross - Kinson

Operated by Damory Coaches Monday to Friday and only runs between Poole and Bear Wood. Sunday & Bank Holiday journeys are operated by 'More'. Service does not operate on Saturdays.

• 13: Bournemouth - Ferndown - Colehill - Wimborne/Merley

• 14: Poole - Sea View - Alderney - Bourne Estate - Wallisdown - West Howe - Kinson
• 16: Poole - Sea View - Alderney - Bourne Estate - Bournemouth Square

Both routes operate every half hour Monday to Saturday daytimes, thus giving a frequency of every 15 minutes between Poole & Bourne Estate.

• 15: Poole - Upper Parkstone - Wallisdown - Winton - Moordown - Castlepoint - Royal Bournemouth Hospital

• 32 Poole - Oakdale - Fleetsbridge Tesco - Broadstone - Merley - Kinson - Red Hill - Slades Farm - Winton - Bournemouth

• 38: Ringwood – St Leonards - Ferndown Town Centre - Ferndown Heatherlands Estate

• 52: Poole - Lilliput - Compton Acres - Canford Cliffs - Sandbanks

• 128: Poole - Sterte - Fleetsbridge Tesco - Creekmoor - Upton Country Park - Upton (Dacombe Drive)

Three round trips Monday to Saturday. Service 128 originally started in 1998 running 3 days a week between Ashington near Merley and Poole Bus Station. It was funded by the Borough of Poole with a special grant for the provision of rural bus services. The service number was later used for another Borough of Poole funded service between Poole Bus Station and Tesco Fleetbridge which started on the 28 August 2005 replacing part of service 129. The route was later extended to Upton Country Park running via Wimborne Road, Oakdale and along Northmead Drive in Creekmoor. Its route was altered on 4 June 2006 to include Sterte, all of Creekmoor Lane and then along Beachbank Avenue and Longmeadow Lane in Creekmoor. On 2 January 2007, this service was altered again to serve Fleetsbridge Tesco and also extended to go past Upton Country Park and serve Dacombe Drive, Meadows Drive and Palmerston Road. Through Sterte and Beachbank Avenue and Longmeadow Lane in Creekmoor the 128 is a replacement for services that used to run up to every 15 minutes. The service is financially supported by Borough of Poole Transportation Services and operated by Damory Coaches.

• 152: Poole - Hamworthy - Rockley Park

Operated by Damory Coaches.

Frequent cross county routes to other towns and cities

• X1: Bournemouth - Lymington via Bournemouth & Christchurch Hospitals, Christchurch, Highcliffe, Barton-On-Sea, New Milton, Milford-On-Sea & Everton
• X2: Bournemouth - Lymington via Bournemouth & Christchurch Hospitals, Christchurch, Highcliffe, Walkford, New Milton, Hordle & Pennington

Each route has an hourly frequency during Monday to Saturday daytimes, thus providing a half hourly frequency between Bournemouth & Lymington (along slightly different routes between Highcliffe & New Milton and New Milton & Lymington). Route X1 runs every 2 hours on a Sunday while the X2 does not run. No service during the evenings.

• X3: Bournemouth - Boscombe - Bournemouth Hospital - Ringwood - Fordingbridge - Salisbury

Operated with branded "Wilts & Dorset Route X3" Scania OmniCity double deckers. Operates half-hourly along the direct A338 road during Monday to Saturday daytimes, hourly on Sundays and a few journeys in the evenings.

• X6: Poole - Alderney - Bear Cross - Ferndown - West Moors - Verwood - Ringwood - Bournemouth Hospital - Bournemouth

Formed by the merger of Routes 36 (Bournemouth - Verwood) (Mon-Sat), 36A (Bournemouth - Verwood - Ferndown) (Sundays & Bank Holidays only) and 37 (Poole - Ferndown - Verwood)(Mon-Sat) into one route with the June 3rd 2012 network changes. Operates an hourly service on Monday to Saturday linking these locations (however, some journeys do not serve operate between Ringwood and Bournemouth, requiring the passenger to change buses at Ringwood to/from the X3). Three buses run on Sundays between Bournemouth and Ferndown only.

• X8: Poole - Blandford via Sturminster Marshall

Hourly service, Monday - Saturday. 4 journeys on Sunday. Sunday buses via Lytchett Matravers

• X43: Swanage - Weymouth via Wareham, Wool and Lulworth Cove.

New route introduced in July 2010 to run during the summer holiday period. Originally, Four journeys a day, run jointly by Wilts & Dorset and First Hampshire & Dorset with the support of Dorset County Council.^[5]

The summer of 2011 saw Damory Coaches replace First on the route with First running their own commercial version of the X43 between Weymouth & Monkey World^[6]. Damory Coaches ran all the journeys on this route during the summer of 2012^[7]. Currently awaiting news on if it will return for the Summer of 2013.

Buses in Blandford, Dorchester, New Milton, Sherborne, The New Forest and other towns & villages in Dorset

• 112: Lymington - Lower Buckland - Beaulieu - Hythe.

This service only runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with one journey per day from Hythe to Lymington (there in the morning and back in the afternoon), with the other 2 or 3 services only going as far as Beaulieu.

• 118: Lymington - Everton - Hordle - New Milton - Bransgore - Ringwood

This service runs only one return journey on Wednesdays (Lymington to Ringwood AM, Ringwood to Lymington PM).

• 119: Lymington - Pennington - Everton - Hordle - New Milton

Non-Peak hourly Monday to Saturday service.

• 175: Christchurch - Ringwood via Burton, Bransgore, Sopley & Burley

Infrequency journeys on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays along with additional schooldays only journeys.

• 191: New Milton - Chatsworth Park - New Milton

Other rural services are operated by Damory Coaches and a full list can be found by clicking here

More Bus operates four routes on behalf of Bournemouth University, having secured a second five year contract to do so during summer 2009. Since 11 January 2010, these routes have been branded as 'The Bus for Bournemouth University' or 'The Bus for BU' with buses appearing in the institution's primary corporate colours of white and pink.

From 2004, when the university contract originally transferred to Wilts & Dorset from Yellow Buses, until the end of 2009 services were branded as Unilinx and operated by a mixed fleet of double-deck buses (Optare Spectras and brand-new Volvo B7TL ELC Myllennium Vyking convertibles) painted in a modified version of the 'more' livery. Unilinx-branded buses were also a common sight on non-Unilinx services, especially on service 152 (laterly the 52) where ELC Myllennium Vyking buses ran open top throughout the summer.

In 2009, when the university contract was renewed, eight buses of which six are Scania Enviro 400 double decker buses are used on the U1, U2 and U4 routes and a Scania Solar single deck bus for the U3 route were purchased new along with an ex-London articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaro bus was introduced to route U1 on 10 January 2010, primarily running a shuttle service to boost capacity between Talbot Campus and the student residences at Lansdowne. It is believed to be the first such bus in service on the South Coast, and initially had its route number and destination 'blinds' as part of its livery, including a misspelling of 'Cranbourne' [sic] as this bus was used exclusively between Talbot Campus and Cranborne House. For the 2012-2013 academic year, a second articulated bus has been acquired, and the U1, U2 and U4 bus routes can see the articulated buses, the shuttle between Talbot and Lansdowne being re-routed to serve the new Dorchester House halls of residence as well as the other Lansdowne halls. All of the buses apart from the ex-London articulated bus were purchased new and arrived in January 2010 pushing out the Volvo B7TL's, which were then cascaded back into the Wilts & Dorset fleet after being re-painted into the latest livery. Outside of term times, BU-branded buses can often be seen running other More bus routes across the Poole and Bournemouth areas.

Routes operated are:

• U1: Talbot Campus - Southbourne via Cemetery Junction, Cranborne & Dorchester Houses, Springbourne, Boscombe, Pokesdown & Southbourne.

Operates every 15 minutes between Talbot Campus and Cranborne & Dorchester Houses

• Journeys operating between Talbot Campus and Southbourne operate via Cranborne House and Lansdowne in both directions
• Journeys operating between Talbot Campus and Cranborne & Dorchester Houses operate in a loop from Cemetery Junction via Wellington Road, Dorchester House, Lansdowne & Cranborne House back to Cemetery Junction. (This journey is typically operated by the Bendybus)

Runs during University holidays with a revised timetable

• U2: Talbot Campus - Poole Seldown Bridge via Wallisdown, Alder Hills, Branksome Roundabout, Lower Parkstone and Park Gates.

Operates every 30mins.

• U3: Talbot Campus - Lansdowne/Lyme Regis House via Ensbury Park, Winton, Charminster, Queens Park, Springbourne and Bournemouth Railway Station (Dorchester House).

Operates every hour.

• U4: Westbourne - Talbot Campus via Bourne Avenue and Glenferness Road.

Operates 3 times a day.

• m5: Poole - Canford Heath - Tollerford Road via Oakdale

From 4 June 2006, m5 was rerouted along Wimborne Road instead of via Park Gates

• m6: Poole - Canford Heath - Tower Park via Oakdale
• m7: Poole - Canford Heath - Nuffield Industrial Estate via Oakdale

The m7 was dropped as part of the Poole route restructuring from 4 June 2006. Service on m5 and m6 increased as a result and a while later, lost their more branding and became standard routes during the changes of May 1st 2011.

• 8: Poole - Upton via Oakdale & Creekmoor
• 9: Poole - Turlin Moor via Hamworthy

Merged and turned into a circular service (both ways) and joined the 'More' brand on June 3rd 2012. ^[8]

• 3: Poole - Broadstone - Wimborne/Leigh Park

The Wimborne Flyer, also known as service 3, replaced the Poole to Wimborne section of service 132 after the major restructuring of Poole services in June 2006. It runs four times an hour Monday to Saturday. The service differs from the old service 132 by taking a direct route between Poole and Broadstone, using a faster route through Merley and extending the service from Wimborne Square to the Leigh Park estate. The service when launched was almost exclusively operated by Mercedes-Benz Citaros in the new standard Wilts & Dorset livery, though 'more' Citaros and Wright Eclipse Urbans were also seen.

Local residents criticised the change of route, specifically through Merley where the buses took a narrower but more direct road through the estate. Some criticism has also been aimed at the Citaro buses after a number of accidents, including buses demolishing walls while trying to pass each other on a narrow road ^[9] and tearing hanging baskets from walls in Wimborne Square while turning.^[10] Following numerous complaints, Wilts & Dorset rerouted the service through Merley from 29 October 2006, reverting back to part of the old 132 route through Merley Gardens.^[11]

From 6 April 2008 two out of the four buses per hour started to run via Corfe Mullen rather than Merley with all services also stopping at Broadstone Broadway. Services to and from Leigh Park only run during the morning and evening peak. With the Wimborne Flyer now covering the section of route between Broadstone and Corfe Mullen, most service 4 journeys started to terminate at Broadstone.

As part of the 2012 June 3rd network changes, the 3 was withdrawn and was merged with Route 4 extended beyond Broadstone to Wimborne either via Merley or Corfe Mullen. After many complaints, Route 4X was introduced between Poole & Broadstone/Merley via the old Route 3 during the morning and evening rush-hour towards the end of June 2012 ^[12]. Towards the end of July 2012 however, it was announced that Route 3 would be re-instated ^[13][14] and that both routes 3 & 4 would join the more brand.^[15]

• Wilts & Dorset
• Salisbury Reds Buses
• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

• Official website
• The Stonehenge Tour website
• The Salisbury Reds website