Coastliner 700
| Coastliner 700 Cruise along the coast | |
|---|---|
 | |
 One of the new Coastliner 700 buses at The Hard Interchange, Portsmouth. | |
| Overview | |
| Operator | Stagecoach in the South Downs |
| Vehicle | Enviro 400, Enviro 300 |
| Livery | Stagecoach livery with Coastliner logos and other images to be explained in the article |
| Peak vehicle requirement | 17 (Enviro 400) , 13 (Enviro 300) |
| Status | Open |
| Night-time | N700 |
| Route | |
| Locale | Portsmouth |
| Landmarks served | Brighton Pavillion, Chichester Cathedral |
| Start | Brighton |
| Via | Hove, Worthing, Littlehampton, Arundel, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Havant, Portsmouth |
| End | Southsea |
| Length | 62.4 miles (100.4 km) |
| Service | |
| Journey time | 4 hours 20 mins |
| Operates | 0505 - 0415 |
Coastliner 700 is a bus service operated in West Sussex, England, by Stagecoach in the South Downs between Brighton and Southsea. It travels via Worthing, Littlehampton, Arundel, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Havant, and Portsmouth with a general daytime frequency of every ten minutes.[1] Since it links major tourist destinations on the south coast, it is popular with tourists in summer. The route has its own livery and is usually operated with double-decker buses.[1]
History
The route was introduced in 1975, as the 'Stagecoach 700'[1] operated by Southdown Motor Services, a subsidiary of the state-owned National Bus Company (NBC). Southdown became an independent operator following the privatisation of NBC in 1986, and was taken over by the Stagecoach Group in 1989.[2]
In 2006 the route, by now operated by the Stagecoach South division, was upgraded as part of a partnership between Stagecoach and several local authorities led by West Sussex County Council. The partnership, initially marketed as "coastal fastway", included the introduction of new vehicles and electronic passenger information systems with the aim of increasing passenger numbers by 50% in five years. The upgrade provoked some criticism from Derek Deedman, county councillor for the Bramber Castle area, for failing to include benefits to other services linking the coast to towns such as Steyning.[3]
Further upgrades, initially centred on Shoreham-by-Sea before being extended to the section of route between Worthing and Brighton, were announced in 2009, including bus priority measures at busy road junctions.[4] By 2010 the service carried four million people per year.[5] Stagecoach introduced new vehicles in March 2010.[5]
The service has had its own livery from the beginning. It began with a coloured strip along the side of the green Southdown bus; now it is the regular Stagecoach livery, blue, white, orange and red, with the route description on the side, with individual buses having livery related to a certain town along the route, and slogans such as 'We took the Coastliner 700 to fun and fashion'.[1][6]
Route
The route is operated from three Stagecoach depots, Worthing, Chichester and Portsmouth, and since 2010 has run with branded Enviro 400 and Enviro 300 vehicles. [5][1]
Gallery
-
An Scania N230UD/Enviro 400 branded for the service pictured at The Square in Emsworth, West Sussex. -
Stagecoach in the South Downs an Alexander Dennis Enviro300 in Queen Street, Portsmouth. -
A Dennis Trident 2/Alexander Dennis ALX400 on Marine Parade, Worthing. The early livery is just a stripe across the middle.
_2010_Scania_N230UD_Alexander_Dennis_Enviro400_body,_Coastliner_700,_Emsworth,_3_July_2011.jpg)
_in_Worthing.jpg)
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Hants & Sussex Part 1". Transport Illustrated. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ^ Kraemer-Johnson, Glyn; Bishop, John (2003). The Heyday of Southdown. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0711029199.
- ^ "Horsham blamed over bus failure". West Sussex County Times. 3 February 2006.
- ^ "All aboard for ride on the Coastal Expressway". Sussex Express. 18 February 2009.
- ^ a b c "South coast bus travel gets a green upgrade". The News. 2 March 2010.
- ^ "The Brand Surgery". The Brand Surgery.