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FirstBus are the Scottish based company who started out by sending their buses packed with drivers into large cities like Birmingham, Manchester, London and Southampton of course.
Now you’ll see their buses everywhere, Leicester, Portsmouth, Hull and Derby.
However Southampton ... Read review
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Advantages: Your eyes are filled by buses Disadvantages: They take your hard earned brass
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However, the first actual buses that came from FirstBus were those that replaced the old CityBus buses, like the economical ones like Gas and Electric powered with massive great roofs that must have had the power to power over 50 engines which they never really use.
The next buses came out almost instantly, long ones and double-deckers made by Volvo and by the way, it’s the excellent Swedish Volvo that build these ... ...all came out, bendy buses. They are excellent and seemed dead weird at first. But with huge passenger capacities and seats, rush hour and peak times are not as much trouble because people have room to actually rest their bums, well, most the time.
Now the actual buses are most probably the cleanest of all the bus companies, with strong glass windows, bearable seats with some style and comfort and finally, they seem the safest as I’ve ... more
Wait, here comes Billy Connelly, here he is in his checked kilt being cheeky to the girls by lifting up his skirt half way, "Hey there Jamie man, talk to the dirver, I said you'll pay the bill! " I shout "Eh" but too late, he's escaped with the driver looking evil at me!
Oh well, forget about the hairy bearded man (not meant). Let me tell you about the bus that this famous man has just spent a long time on......
FirstBus are the Scottish based company who started out by sending their buses packed with drivers into large cities like Birmingham, Manchester, London and Southampton of course.
Now you’ll see their buses everywhere, Leicester, Portsmouth, Hull and Derby.
However Southampton is a large city, every year the city seems to have more to offer and generates more money and more visitors. We used to have CityBus and Blue Solent on the roads as well as little time bus business Home James who are best known for their nationwide coach services.
With Southampton developing more and more as the year passes, more demand for more bus routes and bigger buses has also increased.
Last year the West Quay opened, a extremely large 3- floor modern shopping centre. When this opened Southampton’s economy boosted rapidly, I could see the Council Chairman eating their donuts and laughing loud.
If you remember well, you’ll know that this years Boat Show brought so many visitors to Southampton, more than expected and more than ever before. This year it was acknowledged that this years International Boat Show was the biggest in Europe.
Luckily FirstBus came into Southampton with a flock of traffic full of buses on the M271, the main entrance to Southampton. They came in and gave all us people something to be excited about, we were all shouting in our heads, “ get rid of those dirty old buses and let us travel in style!”.
However, the first actual buses that came from FirstBus were those that replaced the old CityBus buses, like the economical ones like Gas and Electric powered with massive great roofs that must have had the power to power over 50 engines which they never really use.
The next buses came out almost instantly, long ones and double-deckers made by Volvo and by the way, it’s the excellent Swedish Volvo that build these buses.
Then the most famous of them all came out, bendy buses. They are excellent and seemed dead weird at first. But with huge passenger capacities and seats, rush hour and peak times are not as much trouble because people have room to actually rest their bums, well, most the time.
Now the actual buses are most probably the cleanest of all the bus companies, with strong glass windows, bearable seats with some style and comfort and finally, they seem the safest as I’ve never really saw them brake down, you might see once parked up with a recovery truck about once or twice in a month but when you consider the amount of buses on the road in this large city you’ll realise that it’s not that bad.
Each and every bus has great disabled facilities as well with room to sit in wheelchairs on the buses as well as a moveable floor which lowers from the door for wheelchair users to get on the bus. Woah, dogs, cats, hampsters and allagators go free as well! No fair needed for them!
Southampton covers a massive patch of homes and ground from Redbridge - Bursledon. Totton also has the service of FirstBus into and out of Southampton however Totton isn’t now claimed as part of the city.
So obviously, there is also a huge demand for bus routes, the main 2 with over 20 buses dedicated to their routes alone it’s the 8/8A and the 17/17A/17E.
The 8/8A route runs between Thornhill and Weston/ Bitterne, where as the 17 route runs between Millbrook/ Lordshill to Weston. There is now over 5o different routes in the city and that's quite good, they obviously manage it well.
There’s not many delays with this service no matter which stop your waiting at. However, you do see the usual 2 or 3 buses in a row which gets annoying but your never really waiting long because they are frequent, every 10 -15mins at the most.
Though after 7pm they change to every half hour per route and this is where the delays seem to occur leaving you standing there alone in the cold.
One bad thing about this service are the high prices, still in this moment in time and since they’ve been a part of Southampton, they’ve managed to remain the most expensive bus service within the city.
I use this bus service a lot to get from home to Southampton Central the city train station. I don’t take my car because of those dam parking charges so prefer to use FirstBus.
It will cost me £1.10 for s single from my home in Millbrook to Southampton Central, which is the same price to the city centre. A day return would cost me £1.80. Prices are always changing though, never getting lower, just getting higher. Child prices seem fair but the thing that annoys me is that they still charge a fair amount for short journeys.
I could walk to the local Tesco’s which is just a 15min walk from home, if I get the bus it’ll take about 5mins and cost me 70p single and £1.40 day return.
Prices only seem fair when you buy them in deals like week passes and day passes. Day Pass -
Child £ 1.20
Adult £ 2.00
Week Pass -
Child £ 6.00
Adult £ 8.00
Term tickets done by the month are decisive on the travel you want, they’ve split Southampton into zones and it’s these zones you travel in which decide the cost of your term ticket. However I do know by finding out that an Adult Unlimited Travel Pass for a month costs £ 28.00. But there is by the way a FREE service between Southampton Central and The Quay stopping in between for stops like Red Funnel and West Quay.
I would say that buying the special tickets save lots of money and pennies, it really will if you travel often. But don’t get too carried away, especially when you find that you can travel unlimited on these tickets with the time period allowed.
So next time you’re in my home town of Southampton, come to me and I’ll take you for a ride in my stepped up Peugeot 306 instead of torturing you to paying these prices.
Advantages: Buses go to all parts of Southampton. New buses provide comfort for all passengers, also good disabled facilities available. Free service from Train Station to the West Quay Shopping Centre. Disadvantages: The old buses are basically awful, needs to get rid of them and bring in newer buses. Needs to win back old bus users and introduce Student schemes.
So what's the deal with First Southampton Bus?
First Bus is quite a new company in Southampton having taken over from the terrible 'City Bus'. When they took over from the unpopular company, they knew that to win back customers on their buses they need to improve drastically.
First Bus has only one company, which they are competing against in Southampton, which is Blue Line. Although Blue Line has many buses running in various places in Southampton, ... ...around the edges of Southampton. First Bus was chosen to introduce the newest kind of bus into Britain, which is the 'bendy bus', which is growing more popular around the country in major cities due to the success it is having in Southampton. I want to get the bus, but where do they go?
With Southampton having a major new look these days, they have to have buses, which go to all the main areas of Southampton. First bus operates from the edge of ...
TYoung 06.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First Southampton
Advantages: Good routes, nice buses, 50% student discount Disadvantages: Some journeys can be expensive
...There are two main companies, First and Stagecoach, providing local routes. First operate most of the city and some inter-city services, and stagecoach only operate a few.
Generally, i find that other students dislike using the bus services, some say it's more expensive than owning a car down here and others just say they'd rather get a taxi from A-B. On a personal note, i'd recommend them to anyone - and they are a lot cheaper than bringing a car ... ...numerous times especially when i first moved down here.
Their drivers are mostly helpful, some are a little quiet and seem rude, but they do put up with a lot from the public being rude at them - a lot of the time about fares or whatever, something which is completly out of their control. I think people should be a bit more careful about who they complain to, a driver is not responcible for a fare increasing so why upset them or be rude to them?
...
premier407 14.03.2004 (20.05.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First Southampton
Advantages: Well, they are buses I suppose Disadvantages: Often late, crowded, dirty
...UK is hardly wonderful, but First Southampton buses are just SO bad it's not true. I could wax lyrical about my bad experiences, long waits and overcrowded buses, but you've heard it all before so I'll just summarise what I feel.
A return ticket from one of the outlying regions of Soton to the centre costs around £1.20. For that amount of money, you might expect that (within reason) most buses could run on time, the bus might be clean and have enough ... ...asking too much.
Often large, double-decker buses are run on routes where they don't even half-fill. Yet on the most popular routes, such as 11 and 13 (now 11B) from the city centre to Portswood and Bassett, are often single-deckers which are packed out. Why?
I accept that in busy times, given the city's traffic congestion, travel will be slower. But WHY can't this be anticipated and the timetables adjusted accordingly? I wouldn't mind waiting ...
rwsweet 01.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Southampton
Advantages: Cheap....With season tickets!!!! Disadvantages: Expensive, late, unreliable
...been a regular travel on First Southampton for the last three years to travel to and from uni and work.
The comfort of the seats are OK but could be better if the company spent more money, they get more than enough from the fares that they charge.
Service of customers is average. The drivers can get stressed at times - especially on packed buses and when people are being noisy. The drivers are better than they used to be though. Some drivers will ... ...unless you have the official first travel card which shows your date of birth, because you won't get away with it, you wil be asked to show your pass and if you don't have one, you will be charged full fare. You only get cheap travel fare if you are an OAP, and you need to have an OAP pass and you can travel any distance for just 30p for a journey (Journeys must be made after 9am to get OAP fare though, but only on Modays to Fridays)
Buses speed ...
pcman18 06.05.2004 (25.10.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Southampton
Advantages: They turn up usually (best we've got). Disadvantages: Poor value for money, average reliability, some rude staff and consistent cuts in services.
Firstly (ha), if you are wondering why I have given this a good rating, yet there appears to be no justification under the specific criteria, this is because I am placing it in comparison to other bus companies in Southampton, which are simply awful. Where to start? The customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Usually, a stern scornful glare greets you on your arrival on the bus instead of a sincere smile. This occurs for a vast amount of the ... ...add that there are a handful (one of whom I personally know) that buck this trend). Their fares are extortionately high, and over the last 5 years or so, the price of a standard dayrider has doubled from £2 to £4, in line with cuts in services, decreasing their network. Though this is endemic of the whole industry and as such is not a direct criticism of First. They have raised their fares even more than their regional rivals, and not use their national ...
lukeamotionXL100 14.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Southampton
Quality of Rooms
Customer service
Frequency of bus / buses
Value for money
Reliability
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