Southern Vectis route 8
Encyclopedia
Southern Vectis route 8 is a bus service operated on the Isle of Wight
by Southern Vectis
between Newport
and Ryde
. The route travels via Pan Estate, Robin Hill, Arreton
, Winford
, Lake
, Sandown
, Yaverland
, Bembridge
, St Helens
, Nettlestone
, Seaview
and Pondwell
. The general daytime frequency of the route is every hour each direction. Double-decker bus
es are normally used to operate the route.
There are several points of tourist interest along the route, including Robin Hill, Amazon World, Isle of Wight Zoo
, Dinosaur Isle
and Whitecliff Bay
By 2001, changes to a road layout in Havenstreet
forced Island Explorer route 7 and 7A to be diverted between Newport and Ryde via Wootton, over the route of Service 1
. This is turn caused route 1 to be diverted between the two towns via Fairlee over the route of service 8. Route 8 was therefore withdrawn between Ryde and Newport, but was extended to Ryde Tesco, reverting to being a local service between there and Seaview
via the town centre, run with single deck buses in the Oxford Blue and stripes "squiggly lines" livery.
It was only after the network revision in 2006 when the route number was moved to part of its current route (Newport to Sandown), taking on some of the old route 2B previously operating under the Route Rouge
branding. The previous route 8 is now restored partly to run between Ryde to Seaview. Route 3
now serves the Tesco store.
was still being redeveloped, so buses departed from Newport's temporary Litten Park bus stands, along with most other Southern Vectis bus routes. Once the bus station was completed and in full operation, it began to depart from stand A.
Nightbuses were run hourly on route 8 as service N8 on Friday and Saturday nights until 30 September 2007, when 24-hour buses were introduced and the last bus was at 01:00 from Sandown and 00:35 from Newport. With a drop in local government subsidy, the route suffered slightly losing some early morning journeys and its last bus in each direction.
On reaching Sandown, every other bus used to turn into a route 22 and continued to serve Perowne Way and Shanklin
, which removed the need for Southern Vectis to send a dedicated bus to the area to operate the service. However from 30 August 2009, due to a significant cut in payments for concessionary travel by the Isle of Wight Council, the route was withdrawn from Southern Vectis' network and taken over by Wightbus.
and was extended through Yaverland
and Bembridge
. From here it now continues to St Helens and then via Nettlestone
and Seaview
to Ryde on the former route 16, similar to the route run by Southern Vectis between 2001 and 2006 numbered 8. Previously for many years, ending in 1996 route 8 ran from Ryde to Shanklin via Pondwell, Nettlestone and Bembridge, so the latest changes in some measure restore this former route 8 in its Ryde to Lake section. Until September 2010 the route ran at a half-hourly frequency, with the route just described altenating with one that ran via Tesco Store and Oakfield
between St Helens and Ryde.
The precise routing of the section from Bembridge to Seaview has lately been the cause of some controversy, with local residents in two areas wanting to have the service run through their locality. The problem initially started when the former route 16 was extended to Bembridge and buses ceased to travel through Pondwell, instead leaving Ryde and travelling along Seaview Duver. Local residents stated that it was too far to walk to the nearest bus stop the service then served from Pondwell. When route 8 took over the routing buses were once again re-routed to include Pondwell on the journey through to Seaview. However this then meant Seaview Duver was left without a service. As well as local residents losing out, businesses too became worried about the loss of custom the changes could result in. Although residents have said their preferred option would be to alternate the route between the two locations, operations manager Marc Morgan-Huws has stated this would not be commercially viable, and it would further complicate the routing variants.
Since the start of the amended route, the 8 hasn't served the centre of Seaview. The 16 was run with short single-deckers, whereas the 8 needs double-deckers to cope with loadings elsewhere on the route. As a result, after Southern Vectis agreed with the Isle of Wight Council the new routing for the service around Seaview, the council was meant to paint yellow lines at the junction of Church Street and Madeira Road. However, this still has not happened, and buses only travel as far as Somerset Road, missing out the central Seaview stop in Ryde Road.
A short-term diversion on the route occurred from 26 January to 30 June 2010. Furrlongs in Pan Estate was closed, meaning buses could not serve the area. The diversion for route 8 was Coppins Bridge, Snooks Hill and Staplers Road to rejoin the normal route, which operated in both directions. Over February and March 2010, numerous sets of roadworks along the length of service 8, including at Apse Heath and Whitecliff Bay, caused delays and affected reliability of the service.
From 5 September 2010, the general daytime frequency of the route was reduced from half-hourly to hourly as part of cost cutting measures as part of reductions in payments for unprofitable routes by the Isle of Wight Council, with route revisions as described above.
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
by Southern Vectis
Southern Vectis
The Southern Vectis Omnibus Company Limited is the dominant bus operator on the Isle of Wight. It was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group in 2005 and is a part of the company's Go South Coast division. The firm employs 299 staff, with 105 single deck, double deck and open-top buses and coaches...
between Newport
Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...
and Ryde
Ryde
Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...
. The route travels via Pan Estate, Robin Hill, Arreton
Arreton
Arreton is a village and civil parish in the central eastern part of the Isle of Wight, England. It is about 3 miles south east of Newport.-Name:The settlement has had different names and different spellings over the years...
, Winford
Winford, Isle of Wight
Winford is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight, that since the 1950s and in particular in the late 1970s has seen considerable housing development. The local shop in Forest Road closed some time ago, but tourist attractions with gift shops are situated nearby....
, Lake
Lake, Isle of Wight
Lake is a village and civil parish located on Sandown Bay, on the Isle of Wight, England.Lake is named after the Old English "Lacu" referring to the creek that ran along what is now Scotchells Brook, which is between the Isle of Wight Airport and the Morrisons Superstore and the Spithead Industrial...
, Sandown
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort town and civil parish on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, neighbouring the town of Shanklin to the south. Sandown Bay is the name of the bay off the English Channel which both towns share, and it is notable for its long stretch of easily accessible...
, Yaverland
Yaverland
Yaverland is a village on the Isle of Wight, just north of Sandown. It has about 200 houses. About 1/3 of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of Yaverlandia and a pterosaur, Caulkicephalus...
, Bembridge
Bembridge
Bembridge is an affluent village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to claims by residents that Bembridge is the largest village in England, and occasional claims that it is...
, St Helens
St Helens, Isle of Wight
St. Helens is a village and civil parish located on the eastern side of the Isle of Wight. The village is based around village greens. This is claimed to be the largest in England but some say the Village Green is the second largest. The greens are often used for cricket matches during the summer...
, Nettlestone
Nettlestone
Nettlestone is a village on the Isle of Wight, England about 4 miles south east of Ryde. It is listed in the Domesday Book and was established c.1086...
, Seaview
Seaview, Isle of Wight
Seaview is a small Edwardian resort located on the north-eastern corner of the Isle of Wight, overlooking the Solent.The village is popular with tourists and is only a 15-minute drive from the town of Ryde, where most tourists reach the island by ferry or hovercraft...
and Pondwell
Pondwell
Pondwell is an area of the Isle of Wight between Nettlestone and Ryde . The houses are arranged to the south east of a crossroads known as Bullen Cross, which features a vintage electricity junction box from a 19th century local power generating company...
. The general daytime frequency of the route is every hour each direction. Double-decker bus
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...
es are normally used to operate the route.
There are several points of tourist interest along the route, including Robin Hill, Amazon World, Isle of Wight Zoo
Isle of Wight Zoo
The Isle of Wight Zoo, also known as the Isle of Wight Tiger and Lemur Sanctuary, is housed inside a fort on the coastline of Sandown. It is currently home to the biggest collection of tigers in the United Kingdom.-Past:...
, Dinosaur Isle
Dinosaur Isle
Dinosaur Isle is a purpose-built dinosaur museum located on the Isle of Wight in southern England.The museum was designed by Isle of Wight architects Rainey Petrie Johns in the shape of a giant pterosaur. It claims to be the first custom-built dinosaur museum in Europe...
and Whitecliff Bay
Whitecliff Bay
Whitecliff Bay is a sandy bay near the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight, England about 2 miles south-west of Bembridge and just to the north of Culver Down. It is a tourist site , has a popular beach with two hundred metres of sand and shingle, and minimal facilities including 2 cafes...
Route 8 before April 2006
For many years until 1992 service 8 ran between Ryde and Shanklin via Bembridge. In latter years it was extended to Godshill and then variously on to Newport, or back to Ryde via Robin Hill and Havenstreet. In 1993 service 8 was continued as a summer-only service via Robin Hill, but thereafter was assigned to the Haylands-Ryde-Seaview route. For 1999 only this was extended to Newport via Wootton New Road and Fairlee along the route of former service 10.By 2001, changes to a road layout in Havenstreet
Havenstreet
Havenstreet is a village on the Isle of Wight, located about 2 miles southwest of Ryde.The Isle of Wight Steam Railway Museum is in Havenstreet, along with a station. Every year, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway runs a "Santa Express" train from Wootton to Havenstreet, which is a centre of...
forced Island Explorer route 7 and 7A to be diverted between Newport and Ryde via Wootton, over the route of Service 1
Southern Vectis route 1
Southern Vectis route 1 is a bus service operated by Southern Vectis between Cowes and Newport on the Isle of Wight. The daytime frequency of the route is every 7-8 minutes. There are two route variants between Northwood and Cowes Pontoon, running either via Cowes Round House or Cowes Park and Ride...
. This is turn caused route 1 to be diverted between the two towns via Fairlee over the route of service 8. Route 8 was therefore withdrawn between Ryde and Newport, but was extended to Ryde Tesco, reverting to being a local service between there and Seaview
Seaview, Isle of Wight
Seaview is a small Edwardian resort located on the north-eastern corner of the Isle of Wight, overlooking the Solent.The village is popular with tourists and is only a 15-minute drive from the town of Ryde, where most tourists reach the island by ferry or hovercraft...
via the town centre, run with single deck buses in the Oxford Blue and stripes "squiggly lines" livery.
It was only after the network revision in 2006 when the route number was moved to part of its current route (Newport to Sandown), taking on some of the old route 2B previously operating under the Route Rouge
Route Rouge
Route Rouge was the name of a network of bus services operated by Southern Vectis on the Isle of Wight. For details on these routes, please see the individual articles for:*Routes 2 & 2B*Routes 3, 3A and 3B...
branding. The previous route 8 is now restored partly to run between Ryde to Seaview. Route 3
Southern Vectis route 3
Southern Vectis route 3 is a bus service operated on the Isle of Wight by Southern Vectis between Newport, Ventnor and Ryde. It also runs via Rookley, Godshill and Brading. The general daytime frequency of the route is every half-hour each direction, although in the evenings and on Sundays fewer...
now serves the Tesco store.
April 2006 - December 2009
When the route first started operation in April 2006 between Newport and Sandown, Newport bus stationNewport (Isle of Wight) bus station
Newport bus station, on the Isle of Wight is located at Orchard Street in Newport town centre. Recent redevelopment has seen the former 1960s-built South Street bus station demolished, to make way for a new row of shops, and the current facility built behind that site...
was still being redeveloped, so buses departed from Newport's temporary Litten Park bus stands, along with most other Southern Vectis bus routes. Once the bus station was completed and in full operation, it began to depart from stand A.
Nightbuses were run hourly on route 8 as service N8 on Friday and Saturday nights until 30 September 2007, when 24-hour buses were introduced and the last bus was at 01:00 from Sandown and 00:35 from Newport. With a drop in local government subsidy, the route suffered slightly losing some early morning journeys and its last bus in each direction.
On reaching Sandown, every other bus used to turn into a route 22 and continued to serve Perowne Way and Shanklin
Shanklin
Shanklin is a popular seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on the east coast's Sandown Bay. The sandy beach, its Old Village and a wooded ravine, Shanklin Chine, are its main attractions. The esplanade along the beach is occupied by hotels and restaurants for the...
, which removed the need for Southern Vectis to send a dedicated bus to the area to operate the service. However from 30 August 2009, due to a significant cut in payments for concessionary travel by the Isle of Wight Council, the route was withdrawn from Southern Vectis' network and taken over by Wightbus.
Current route
From 20 December 2009, as part of further cost-cutting measures the route was amalgamated with route 10Southern Vectis route 10
Southern Vectis route 10 was a bus service operated on the Isle of Wight by Southern Vectis between Newport and Sandown. It also ran via Brading, St Helens, Bembridge, Whitecliff Bay and Yaverland. The general daytime frequency of the route was every hour in each direction...
and was extended through Yaverland
Yaverland
Yaverland is a village on the Isle of Wight, just north of Sandown. It has about 200 houses. About 1/3 of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of Yaverlandia and a pterosaur, Caulkicephalus...
and Bembridge
Bembridge
Bembridge is an affluent village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to claims by residents that Bembridge is the largest village in England, and occasional claims that it is...
. From here it now continues to St Helens and then via Nettlestone
Nettlestone
Nettlestone is a village on the Isle of Wight, England about 4 miles south east of Ryde. It is listed in the Domesday Book and was established c.1086...
and Seaview
Seaview, Isle of Wight
Seaview is a small Edwardian resort located on the north-eastern corner of the Isle of Wight, overlooking the Solent.The village is popular with tourists and is only a 15-minute drive from the town of Ryde, where most tourists reach the island by ferry or hovercraft...
to Ryde on the former route 16, similar to the route run by Southern Vectis between 2001 and 2006 numbered 8. Previously for many years, ending in 1996 route 8 ran from Ryde to Shanklin via Pondwell, Nettlestone and Bembridge, so the latest changes in some measure restore this former route 8 in its Ryde to Lake section. Until September 2010 the route ran at a half-hourly frequency, with the route just described altenating with one that ran via Tesco Store and Oakfield
Oakfield, Isle of Wight
Oakfield is a suburb of the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight, England. Historically part of the St Helens parish, it was absorbed into Ryde Borough in 1933 and in turn into Medina Borough in 1974...
between St Helens and Ryde.
The precise routing of the section from Bembridge to Seaview has lately been the cause of some controversy, with local residents in two areas wanting to have the service run through their locality. The problem initially started when the former route 16 was extended to Bembridge and buses ceased to travel through Pondwell, instead leaving Ryde and travelling along Seaview Duver. Local residents stated that it was too far to walk to the nearest bus stop the service then served from Pondwell. When route 8 took over the routing buses were once again re-routed to include Pondwell on the journey through to Seaview. However this then meant Seaview Duver was left without a service. As well as local residents losing out, businesses too became worried about the loss of custom the changes could result in. Although residents have said their preferred option would be to alternate the route between the two locations, operations manager Marc Morgan-Huws has stated this would not be commercially viable, and it would further complicate the routing variants.
Since the start of the amended route, the 8 hasn't served the centre of Seaview. The 16 was run with short single-deckers, whereas the 8 needs double-deckers to cope with loadings elsewhere on the route. As a result, after Southern Vectis agreed with the Isle of Wight Council the new routing for the service around Seaview, the council was meant to paint yellow lines at the junction of Church Street and Madeira Road. However, this still has not happened, and buses only travel as far as Somerset Road, missing out the central Seaview stop in Ryde Road.
A short-term diversion on the route occurred from 26 January to 30 June 2010. Furrlongs in Pan Estate was closed, meaning buses could not serve the area. The diversion for route 8 was Coppins Bridge, Snooks Hill and Staplers Road to rejoin the normal route, which operated in both directions. Over February and March 2010, numerous sets of roadworks along the length of service 8, including at Apse Heath and Whitecliff Bay, caused delays and affected reliability of the service.
From 5 September 2010, the general daytime frequency of the route was reduced from half-hourly to hourly as part of cost cutting measures as part of reductions in payments for unprofitable routes by the Isle of Wight Council, with route revisions as described above.
External links
- Southern Vectis website - islandbuses.info
- Southern Vectis route list
- Southern Vectis route 8
- Full Timetable