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Home > Travel > Holiday Essentials > Bus Companies > First Southampton

User Reviews

for First Southampton

Rating Summary based on 10 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		1
  • 4 Stars
    		4
  • 3 Stars
    		1
  • 2 Stars
    		1
  • 1 Star
    		3

Detailed rating

  • Customer service
  • Frequency of bus / buses
  • Quality of Rooms
  • Reliability
  • Speed
  		• 3.3
  		• 3.3
  		• 3.4
  		• 3.1
  		• 3.1
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 1 | 1 to 10 out of 10 Review(s)
  • 54 of 54 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of chunka

    chunka

    4 Stars Billy escapes leaving Jamie the bill 22/11/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Your eyes are filled by buses

    Disadvantages Disadvantages They take your hard earned brass

    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 ... more
  • 22 of 22 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of TYoung

    TYoung

    4 Stars The wheels on the bus go round and round 06/09/2001
    User recommends the product

    Advantages 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 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, it isn't a major competitor which First Bus need to worry about as many of the routes which Blue line use are around the edges of Southampton ... more
  • 9 of 9 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Sbriers1

    Sbriers1

    4 Stars Is First Bus Southampton First Class? Perhaps. 12/04/2010
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Most routes run frequently. Most buses are quite comfortable.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Ever-increasing fares. Hit and miss drivers and reliability.

    As a regular user of buses in Southampton I for one have quite an extensive experience of all the major bus companies in the area. I used to have a choice between two equally competitive companies that have roughly the same fares and more or less went to the same places. Now due to one of the companies having axed the service that served where I live, I have no option other than to use First Southampton. Not that this is a bad thing though. As with all bus companies there are good points and bad points. Firstly, a good point is that most of their routes (a comprehensive list of which will be ... more
  • 19 of 19 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of premier407

    premier407

    5 Stars First in Portsmouth 14/03/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Good routes, nice buses, 50% student discount

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Some journeys can be expensive

    Having just started university down here in Portsmouth, and living without a car, i often find myself using the local bus services. 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 to university ... more
  • 3 of 3 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of rwsweet

    rwsweet

    1 Star Brings new meaning to 'dreadful' 01/09/2000
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Well, they are buses I suppose

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Often late, crowded, dirty

    Now, I know that public transport in the 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 room for all the passengers. But no, that would be asking too much. Often large, double-decker buses are ... more
  • 14 of 14 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of pcman18

    pcman18

    3 Stars First??? Uni-Link is better! Review with images 06/05/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Cheap....With season tickets!!!!

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Expensive, late, unreliable

    *UPDATE TO GET MORE VIEWERS 25/10/2005* I have 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 help elderly people on and off the bus, but some drivers may not wait for an OAP to sit down before ... more
  • 4 of 4 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of lukeamotionXL100

    lukeamotionXL100

    4 Stars First by Name, First by Nature. 14/10/2009
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages They turn up usually (best we've got).

    Disadvantages 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 drivers who work for this company (though I will quickly add that there are a handful (one of whom I personally know) that buck this trend). Their ... more
  • 7 of 7 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of PaulCatterall

    PaulCatterall

    2 Stars The company who are exempt from timetables 16/02/2001
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages New fleet of buses, comfortable, good route coverage

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Expensive fares, rarely run to time, often don't run at all

    Or that is how it may appear. I come from an area where, to be quite frank, the bus services are totally crap, with arrogant bus drivers who are incapable of simple fare arithmetic, and in many cases they are incapable of safely conducting a PSV. (Not Southampton, but Stagecoach in Gloucester.) Despite having an impressive fleet of buses here in Southampton (although some predate the dark ages!) there is a complete lack of conformity to any timetable by nearly every single service that I have used. Why then, do First Southampton have the sheer audacity to publish a timetable? Is it some from ... more
  • 31 of 40 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    1 Star Quick review of First Southampton by badgirl1980 20/11/2007
    the first bus service gets worse every day i have been on damp first buses cold first buses and buses which are falling to bits its about time they got rid of the really old double deckers and got some new ones come on after all it is 2007 now and still running a clapped out old e reg what exactly do we pay bus fares for. my five year old now calls them worst bus which i happen to think is about right
  • 29 of 38 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    1 Star Quick review of First Southampton by mross1973 20/11/2007
    In the 21st centry why do we have to travel on buses that are so old, wet, cold and unreliable I had no choise but to use first southampton to work on a friday they are that bad they can not be botherd to even run the first bus of the day on many occasions i have had to pay at least ten pounds in a taxi every time so i am not late for work i think this is bad .
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