Southern Vectis route 9

Southern Vectis route 9 is a bus route operated on the Isle of Wight by Southern Vectis between Newport and Ryde via Fairlee/Staplers, Wootton and Binstead. The general daytime frequency of the route is every 10 minutes in each direction and every 15 minutes in the evenings and on Sundays. Nightbuses are run on Friday and Saturday nights every hour. In 2007 Southern Vectis purchased seven Mercedes-Benz Citaros for use exclusively on route 9.

History

Prior to the network change in April 2006, the route number 9 was not used for any of Southern Vectis' routes. The journeys to Ryde from Newport via Staplers were covered by route 7 on the Island Explorer service. After running via the East and South of the island, buses served Yarmouth and then Newport. The round-the-island service was then completed by running from Newport to Ryde. Route 1 served the Fairlee route on its journey between Bembridge and Cowes (later Gurnard). This service ran via Binstead Estate on its route between Ryde and Newport.

When the route first started operation in its current form, Newport bus station was still in the process of being redeveloped so buses departed from Newport's temporary Litten Park bus stands, along with most other Southern Vectis bus routes. Now the bus station is in full operation, it departs from stand B, the only route to do so.

In mid-2007, after starting on Festival work, seven new Mercedes-Benz Citaro were put into service on the route. The route is a specific low-floor route. If one of the Citaros is off the road (fairly common as there are seven for a peak vehicle requirement (PVR) of seven), a low floor double-decker must substitute. If a high-floor vehicle gets onto the route, an investigation is launched.

On 30 September 2007, along with routes 1 and 3 buses were run all through the night every day of the week. This lasted until 16 March 2008 when, due to a drop in the subsidy levels paid to Southern Vectis by the Isle of Wight Council, buses through the night were restricted to only Fridays and Saturdays.

There is some talk of a frequency increase in 2009. There is enough demand to warrant this as buses on the route regularly run full, however, it would require two more Citaros, and Southern Vectis has to consider whether it would be worth it if the Isle of Wight Council further reduces subsidy. It was later confirmed in February 2008, when Southern Vectis registered its new timetable with the regional Traffic Commissioner that the route would be increased to run every 7-8 minutes from 5 April 2009.

Route

Currently (Winter 2008) the service runs directly to and from Newport bus station to Ryde Bus station with each bus either travelling via Fairlee or Staplers, alternating each time. Nightbuses are run on Friday and Saturday nights however only run via Fairlee.

When the route first started operation on 1 April 2006, a bus every half an hour continued from Ryde to Bembridge via Oakfield, Tesco and St Helens. This was stoped from 1 October 2006 when route 14 took on most of this route.

Services

External links

• Southern Vectis website - islandbuses.info
• Southern Vectis route list
• Southern Vectis route 9
• Full Timetable