Just a week after taking over routes at short notice, Morebus lost three Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (BCP) Council tendered routes to Yellow Coaches buyer Xelabus. Routes 18, 33 and 36 have been awarded to the Hampshire-based firm by way of an emergency tender. A BCP Council spokesperson told local newspaper the Daily Echo: “Following a tendering process, Yellow Coaches will be operating three routes on behalf of BCP Council from Monday, August 15. We are very grateful to Morebus which stepped in to run these three routes on a temporary basis since August 6.
“This was to enable a tendering process to take place and following this Yellow Coaches have been appointed to operate the three services from August 15 for the next six months. The operator was chosen as they offered best value for the Council. Timetables for all three services are unchanged. Yellow Coaches is separate to Yellow Buses and is now owned by Hampshire-based Xela Bus.
“These three services are highly valued by the local community. For many residents they are the only bus available for essential trips to the shops, hospital and medical appointments, plus are well used by school children and students too. The council therefore provides funding to keep these buses on the road and we are pleased that Yellow Coaches will now be operating the three routes on our behalf.”
Managing Director of Yellow Coaches Gareth Blair told the newspaper: “We are delighted to have been awarded these bus services. We want to build a strong presence in the local area and look forward to meeting new and existing passengers very soon. Passengers will be able to look forward to vouchers offering discounted travel.”
Meanwhile, Morebus announced that Yellow Buses’ ‘Buster’s Beach Bus’ will be returning, running as route 12 and serving the beach areas, Hengistbury Head and Alum Chine.
