Wilts & DorsetCompanies House extract company no 1671355
Wilts & Dorset Bus Company Limited is a bus and coach operator providing services in East

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

, South

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

, and West

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. It operates services under the morebus brand around

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

and

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...

, and under the Salisbury Reds brand around

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

and

Amesbury Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first sett ...

. It is part of Go South Coast, a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. The current bus company has operated since 1983. Wilts & Dorset was also the name of a former Salisbury-based bus company from 1915 until 1972.

History

1915 to 1972

Wilts & Dorset Motor Services Limited was incorporated in 1915, with its head office in

, Wiltshire, moving to

in 1917. The company's first route was between Salisbury and Amesbury. The company grew rapidly in the

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * And ...

, Amesbury,

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and it ...

, Pewsey and Salisbury areas. The Southern Railway and Thomas Tilling obtained shares in 1931, with Wilts & Dorset being nationalised in 1948. It acquired Venture of

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

in 1950, in a reorganisation following the nationalisation of Venture's parent, Red & White. Wilts & Dorset acquired Silver Star of

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) ...

, Wiltshire in June 1963. Despite the name, the company's operations were mainly in the southern part of

and the northern part of

. In 1963 the management of Wilts & Dorset passed to Hants & Dorset, a neighbouring state-owned bus company. In 1969 both companies became part of the National Bus Company and in October 1972, they were merged under the Hants & Dorset name with the Wilts & Dorset name ceasing to be used.Hants & Dorset Motor Services Ltd
Peter Gould

1983: re-establishment

The

Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October of 1986. The Act was created as a response to growing concern ...

led to the privatisation of the National Bus Company. In preparation for privatisation, in April 1983 Hants & Dorset was split into three operating companies, one of which was Wilts & Dorset Bus Company. The new Wilts & Dorset company's operating area was considerably larger than its older namesake, including Swanage,

, Lymington,

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between St ...

, Swindon, and

, although not

. Depots were at

, Lymington, Pewsey, Poole, Ringwood, Salisbury, and Swanage.

1987: privatisation

In June 1987 Wilts & Dorset was sold in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of ...

. The new company fought off competition from Charlie's Cars and Badger Vectis. In May 1993 Damory Coaches of

was purchased, followed in November 1993 by Oakfield TravelOakfield Travel
Countrybus and Stanbridge & Crichel Bus Company, and in January 1994 by Blandford Bus Company.
Collins Place All were combined under the Damory Coaches name.

2003: purchase by Go-Ahead

On 11 August 2003 the business was sold to the Go-Ahead Group. It is now part of the subsidiary Go South Coast. Coach companies Tourist Coaches, Levers, and Kingston Coaches were purchased and consolidated under the Tourist Coaches name; and in 2003 Bell's Coaches were added. On 31 July 2008, a W&D open-top bus collided with two cars between Studland and the local chain ferry, injuring 30 people. The bus, a route 50 service travelling from Swanage to Bournemouth, collided with both a

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/ small family car ( C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various namepla ...

and a Porsche, the latter of which was driving away from the chain ferry on Ferry Road and crashed head on with the bus and the other car. A number of passengers reported the bus travelled a distance on two wheels, and the eventual toppling took place at low speed. The top-deck passengers were all thrown off onto soft ground in a ditch. Six passengers were taken to Poole Hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the Porsche was later convicted of driving without due care and attention. In 2011, Wilts & Dorset trialled Go-Ahead Group's " The Key"

smartcard A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

ticketing system similar to London's

Oyster Card The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London (and certain areas around it) in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport ...

and the ITSO ticket used on

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

services, which was already in use by sister companies

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton an ...

and Metrobus. In 2012 it was launched across the entire network, with passengers able to save up to 33% against purchasing paper tickets. In 2014, it was announced that the bus station on Endless Street, Salisbury, would close in favour of town centre stops. The station had opened in 1939 as the headquarters of Wilts & Dorset.

2012: rebranding

In July 2012 it was announced that the Wilts & Dorset name would be dropped from bus services in favour of the morebus brand in Poole and Bournemouth, and Salisbury Reds in Salisbury and Amesbury. File:Wilts & Dorset OHR 919.JPG, Preserved Bristol Lodekka File:Wilts & Dorset 3185.jpg, Optare Spectra in

in April 2005 File:Wilts & Dorset 4923 3.JPG,

Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

in September 2008 File:Wilts & Dorset 2667.JPG,

Optare Solo The Optare Solo is a low-floor minibus/ midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Optare in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketing its vehicle as having an entrance that ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

in May 2009 File:Wilts & Dorset 740 K740 ODL.JPG, Northern Counties Palatine bodied

in December 2009

Dorset operations (morebus)

morebus

E20DMMC 236 enters Poole bus station on the 6th April 2018

Morebus operates bus services within

and

areas formerly under the Wilts & Dorset name. The brand was launched in December 2004 as a premium service replacing routes 101 to 105 between Poole, Bournemouth, and Christchurch, and routes 155, 156, and 157 between Poole and Canford Heath. The service launched with 30 Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLE single-deck buses. The buses carried a livery of mostly dark blue with red at the back; the original 30 also carried slogans such as "looks like a bus, works like a dream". Such was the success of the 'more' services, the frequency on the m1 and m2 routes was increased and the m1 extended to the Castlepoint shopping centre on the outskirts of Bournemouth from Bournemouth railway station. With only 30 'more' branded buses in the fleet at the time, the 'more' branded routes to Canford Heath were discontinued, with the 'm' dropped from the route number and standard liveried vehicles used. For these routes to become 'more' routes again, a batch of

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asi ...

s were ordered. The original 'more' buses were going to be Citaros, but it had been thought that

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

would offer a quicker delivery time. Further changes to the routes occurred on 25 May 2008, with the m2 being withdrawn from Burton (transferred to Route X12 which was later withdrawn also) and Somerford to terminate at Boscombe. During 2010, the 'more' brand was refreshed with every bus being repainted in a slightly brighter, simpler version of the previous livery, each highlighting a good reason for using the 'more' buses; for example "morefrequent" was applied to Wright Volvo Eclipse 119 (now 2219) HF54 HGM. In May 2011, routes m5 and m6 were once again dropped from the 'more' brand and renumbered as routes 5 and 6. In June 2012, Wilts & Dorset announced a £5.5 million investment in 36 Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo buses to be used on the m1 and m2 routes whilst the previous 38 Volvos and Citaros would be cascaded onto other services, replacing older buses. Also at this time, routes 8 and 9 became part of the 'more' brand. Following the decision by the administrators of Yellow Buses to cease all bus operations after the 4th August 2022, morebus took over several additional routes including the airport service.

Nightbus

On 30 May 2008, the more 'Nightbus' sub-brand launched with m1 operating every half-hour between Poole Bus Station and Charminster (Five Ways), and m2 operating every half-hour between Bournemouth Square and Iford Roundabout on Friday and Saturday nights. During June 2010, the m1 nightbus was extended beyond the Five Ways to the Broadway Tavern, a few minutes up Charminster Road. May 2011 saw the m2 nightbus route changed beyond Pokesdown to serve Southbourne (Fisherman's Walk). In June 2012, a new nightbus route, the N3, was launched connecting Bournemouth to Bournemouth University. Also, all three services started operating on Thursday nights in addition to Friday and Saturday nights. February 2013 saw the withdrawal of the Thursday nightbus services, along with the N3 route. In April 2020, all nightbus routes, N1 and N2, were withdrawn as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

University services

Morebus operates four routes on behalf of

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The universi ...

and Arts University Bournemouth. During the summer of 2016, the services were rebranded as 'Unibus', with new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC's arriving in a new livery, all with different colour schemes. These buses have WiFi and USB chargers on board, which passengers can use at no extra cost. A new route 17 was also launched, which connects the university with Bournemouth and Poole via the railway stations. From 2004, when the university contract was transferred to Wilts & Dorset from Yellow Buses, until the end of 2009, services were branded as Unilinx and operated by a mixed fleet of double-deck buses ( Optare Spectras and brand-new

Volvo B7TL The Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus chassis which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of the Volvo Olympian (its 3-axle version was replaced by the Volvo Super Olympian). It was built as the British bus operators seem ...

ELC Myllennium Vyking convertibles) painted in a modified version of the 'more' livery. Unilinx-branded buses were also a common sight on non-Unilinx services, especially on service 152 (later the 52) where ELC Myllennium Vyking buses ran open-top throughout the summer. In 2009, when the university contract was renewed, eight buses (of which six were Scania Enviro 400 double deckers) were used on the U1, U2 and U4 routes, with a Scania

Solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

single deck bus on the U3 route. These were purchased new, while an ex-London articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaro bus was introduced to route U1 on 10 January 2010, primarily running a shuttle service to boost capacity between Talbot Campus and the student residences at Lansdowne. It was believed to be the first such bus in service on the South Coast, and initially had its route number and destination blinds as part of its livery (including a misspelling of 'Cranborne' as 'Cranbourne') as this bus was used exclusively between Talbot Campus and Cranborne House. From January 2010, these routes were branded as 'The Bus for Bournemouth University' or 'The Bus for BU', with buses appearing in the institution's primary corporate colours of white and pink. For the 2012–2013 academic year, a second articulated bus was acquired. Apart from the 4 U-prefixed routes operated on behalf of the universities, commercial routes m1, m2, 6/6A, 13, 15 and 17 are also included in the Unibus network.

Cross Country Services

Morebus operates 5 cross country, "X" prefixed bus routes under the brand from Bournemouth & Poole to surrounding towns. These longer-distance bus services stop at every bus stop. 4 routes start from Bournemouth via

Wessex Way la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

, including * X1/X2 to

Highcliffe-on-Sea Highcliffe-on-Sea (usually simply Highcliffe) is a seaside town in Dorset in England, administered since April 2019 as part of the unitary authority of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. It forms part of the South East Dorset conurbation alon ...

New Milton New Milton is a market town in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymington and Christchurch, 6 miles (10 km) away. History N ...

and Lymington * X3 to Ringwood and

travelling mainly on the A338 * X6 to Ringwood returning to

via Verwood and Ferndown. From Poole, there are 2 express routes, including X6 (see above) and X8 to Blandford via the A350. Among these routes, X3 also belongs to ''Salisbury Reds'' network as well. The X3 used to be a limited stop service, but it now serves every stop on request.

Former Yellow Buses services

As Yellow Buses collapsed in August 2022, morebus has taken over the operation of most of its routes, and offered a £2000 welcome bonus to recruit existing drivers who had a PCV licence. As a result, morebus obtained a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

in the bus services across

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Dorset, England. It was created on 1 April 2019 by the merger of the areas that wer ...

. The former Yellow Buses route which morebus operated after its collapse include: * 1, 1b: Bournemouth - Christchurch * 1a: Bournemouth - Somerford * 2: Bournemouth - Royal Bournemouth Hospital - Castlepoint * 4: Bournemouth - Moordown - Castlepoint * 5, 5a: Bournemouth - Kinson * 6, 6a: Bournemouth - Bearwood - Wimborne (6) / Kinson (6a) * 18: Bournemouth - Broadstone * 33: Bournemouth - Christchurch * 36: Talbot View - Kinson * 737: Bournemouth - Bournemouth Airport Terminal although the subsidized routes 18, 33 and 36 were subsequently retendered by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and contracted to Xelabus under the Yellow Coaches brand.

Wiltshire operations (Salisbury Reds)

Salisbury Reds

Salisbury Reds operates bus services in the

and

areas formerly operated under the Wilts & Dorset name. The routes X7 and X7R which are express routes to

is also operated by Salisbury Reds as well as the X5 to Swindon via Marlborough. PulseLine was the name of services around Salisbury to the District Hospital. In 2010 the name was replaced by Salisbury Reds, using the previous Mercedes-Benz Citaros repainted in the revised Wilts & Dorset livery with Salisbury Reds branding. In addition to the Citaros, ex

Southern Vectis Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight. The company was founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by the Southern Railway (Great Britain), Southern Railway b ...

Dennis Dart MPDs were transferred and repainted into Wilts & Dorset livery with branding applied.

Salisbury Park and Ride

The Salisbury Park and Ride service began operation in March 2001 to one

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ...

site, Beehive, to the north of

city centre.BBC – Wiltshire – Work starts on Salisbury's second Park and Ride
/ref> A second site was opened at Wilton in 2005, and two more followed, taking the total to four. A fifth site was later opened at Petersfinger, to the south-east of the city. Initially, the routes used Optare Excels in a light green and white livery. In 2005, these were replaced by new Volvo B7RLEs, also in green and white; for a short period in late 2004, the service was operated using 'more' branded B7RLEs. In February 2011 Wilts & Dorset lost the contract to operate the Salisbury Park and Ride network to independent operator Hatts Travel. In August 2014, due to the collapse of the Hatts group, the park & ride contract was handed back to Salisbury Reds to run for Wiltshire Council.

Activ8

* 8: Salisbury – Boscombe Down – Amesbury – Tidworth – Andover Activ8 is a joint half-hourly service between Salisbury and

via

Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, south ...

, operated in partnership with Stagecoach South and supported by Wiltshire and Hampshire County Councils. The brand was launched in February 2007. Wilts & Dorset primarily use specially branded Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMCs on the route, having previously used Alexander Dennis Enviro400s,

Scania OmniCity The Scania OmniCity is an integrally constructed transverse-engined low floor city bus that was available from Scania on the European market between 1997 and 2012. The OmniCity was introduced in September 1996 as the first product based on th ...

s and Optare Spectras.

Coach operations and subdivisions

Coach operations were established by the company in the 1990s when Wilts & Dorset purchased Tourist Coaches of

Figheldean Figheldean is a village and civil parish on the River Avon, north of Amesbury in Wiltshire, England. Figheldean parish extends east of the village towards Tidworth as far as Devil's Ditch and westwards beyond Larkhill towards Shrewton ...

, Wiltshire. In Dorset, three acquisitions were made: Damory Coaches in May 1993, Oakfield Travel in November 1993, and Blandford Bus Company in January 1994. The latter three were then combined under the Damory Coaches name. Excelsior Motorways was also purchased following the retirement of its owner in October 2016. Each operation that was purchased became a brand under the company which run public and school routes within its own area.

Damory Coaches

Damory Coaches operates school bus services as well as some public services primarily within west Dorset such as service X12 to Weymouth via Dorchester from its

depot. In October 2013 it commenced operating the Rossmore Flyer from

Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-larges ...

to Upper Parkstone, now cascaded into routes 7A, 7B and 7C. Later in 2015, it had purchased five new

s to run primarily on its local Dorchester services. Damory also operates the X8 from Blandford to

alongside morebus.

Tourist Coaches

Tourist Coaches operates public services within the Wiltshire area from the Salisbury Reds depot. It was founded in 1920 by E & DF Stanfield in Figheldean, Wiltshire. At the time, it provided both private coach hire and contract coach services for the military establishments around

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies w ...

Open top services

The New Forest Tour

Circular tourist routes in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conquero ...

using open-top buses are operated jointly by Bluestar and Wilts & Dorset.

Purbeck Breezer

More operates three all-year services under the ''Purbeck Breezer'' brand, with service 40 going from Poole to Swanage via Wareham and

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the ...

, service 50 being an open-top service that runs from Bournemouth railway station to Swanage via the Sandbanks Ferry and service 60 going from Rockley Park to Sandbanks via

and

Lilliput Lilliput may refer to: Geography * Lilliput (townland), a townland in County Westmeath, Ireland * Lilliput, Dorset, a district in the town of Poole in Dorset, United Kingdom * Lilliput Glacier, the smallest named glacier in the Sierra Nevada of C ...

. These services run more frequently in the summer, with summer only services, that, as of 2017, include service 30 from Swanage to Weymouth (and one trip each way to/from Dorchester) and service 70, that goes from Bournemouth to Poole via Canford Cliffs and Alum Chine. As of summer 2022, more operates the following ''Purbeck Breezer'' routes: * 30: Swanage - Dorchester (via

Lulworth Cove Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the world's finest examples of such a landform, and is a World Heritage Site and tourist location with approximat ...

) * 31: Wool Rail Station -

& Durdle Door * 35: Swanage - Wareham Forest * 40: Swanage -

via Wareham * 50: Swanage - Bournemouth railway station (via Sandbanks Ferry) * 60:

Rockley Park Rockley may refer to: People *Baron Rockley, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom *Alicia Margaret Amherst Cecil Rockley (1865–1941), English botanist and horticulturalist *Ann Rockley, Canadian technical communicator *Joseph Rockley Mer ...

- Sandbanks (via

) * 70:

(East Cliff) (via Alum Chine)

The Stonehenge Tour

The Stonehenge Tour was rebranded in 2008, linking Salisbury railway station, the city centre, and

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting ...

. A recorded commentary describes the views along the length of the route. The tour was operated by Wills & Dorset Optare Spectras, but is now run using a combination of Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC and

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200) is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014, as the successor to the Enviro200 midibus and Enviro300 full-size bus. The first Enviro200 MMC ...

vehicles, which have been specially painted in a New Stonehenge Tour Livery.

Former routes

'more' (prior to rebranding)

* m5: Poole – Canford Heath – Tollerford Road via Oakdale * m6: Poole – Canford Heath – Tower Park via Oakdale * m7: Poole – Canford Heath – Nuffield Industrial Estate via Oakdale The m7 was dropped as part of the Poole route restructuring from 4 June 2006. Service on m5 and m6 increased as a result and a while later, lost their more branding and became standard routes during the changes of 1 May 2011. * 8: Poole – Upton via Oakdale & Creekmoor * 9: Poole – Turlin Moor via Hamworthy Merged and turned into a circular service (both ways) and joined the 'more' brand on 3 June 2012.

Wimborne Flyer

* 3: Poole – Broadstone – Wimborne/Leigh Park The Wimborne Flyer, also known as service 3, replaced the

Wimborne Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poole ...

section of service 132 after the major restructuring of Poole services in June 2006. It runs four times an hour Monday to Saturday. The service differs from the old service 132 by taking a direct route between Poole and Broadstone, using a faster route through Merley, and extending the service from Wimborne Square to the Leigh Park estate. The service, when launched, was almost exclusively operated by

s in the new standard Wilts & Dorset livery, though 'more' Citaros and Wright Eclipse Urbans were also seen. Local residents criticised the change of route, specifically through Merley where the buses took a narrower but more direct road through the estate. Some criticism has also been aimed at the Citaro buses after a number of accidents, including buses demolishing walls while trying to pass each other on a narrow road and tearing hanging baskets from walls in Wimborne Square while turning. Following numerous complaints, Wilts & Dorset rerouted the service through Merley from 29 October 2006, reverting to part of the old 132 route through Merley Gardens. From 6 April 2008, two out of the four buses per hour started to run via

Corfe Mullen Corfe Mullen is a village in Dorset, England, on the north-western urban fringe of the South East Dorset conurbation. The village had a population of 10,133 at the 2011 Census. It is served by six churches, four pubs, five schools, a library, ...

rather than Merley with all services also stopping at Broadstone Broadway. Services to and from Leigh Park only run during the morning and evening peak. With the Wimborne Flyer now covering the section of route between Broadstone and Corfe Mullen, most service 4 journeys started to terminate at Broadstone. As part of the 3 June 2012 network changes, the 3 was withdrawn and was merged with Route 4, which was extended beyond Broadstone to Wimborne either via Merley or Corfe Mullen. After many complaints, Route 4X was introduced between Poole & Broadstone/Merley via the old Route 3 during the morning and evening rush-hours towards the end of June 2012. Towards the end of July 2012 however, it was announced that Route 3 would be re-instated from 17 September 2012 and that both routes 3 & 4 would join the more brand.

Other withdrawn routes

* 152: Poole - Rockley Park Route 152 of morebus was withdrawn on 25 May 2019, being replaced by the extention of the Purbeck Breezer Route 60 to Rockley Park. *X8A Route X8A operated by Damory on behalf of morebus was withdrawn on 13 February 2021.

References

External links

More website

Salisbury Reds website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilts and Dorset Bus operators in Dorset Bus operators in Wiltshire Bus operators in Hampshire Transport companies established in 1915