Southern Vectis route 3

Southern Vectis route 3 is a bus service operated on the Isle of Wight by Southern Vectis between Newport, Ventnor and Ryde. It also runs via Rookley, Godshill and Brading. The general daytime frequency of the route is every half-hour each direction, although in the evenings and on Sundays fewer buses run. Double-decker buses are normally used to operate the route.

Route Rouge
Until April 2006, the route number 3, and its associated 3A and 3B numbers, was used to flag buses providing services on the Route Rouge, a network of bus routes that crossed the Island, broadly from north to south. The network was started in January 2001, although route 2B was not added until November 2003.

The full Route Rouge service 3 ran from Cowes Co-op to Newport bus station via Cowes Roundhouse, then to Rookley, Godshill and Whiteley Bank along the A3020 road. From there it continued to Ventnor via Wroxall. Buses ran every hour during weekdays, but in the evenings and on Sundays this service was reduced.

Service 3A ran instead of certain journeys on the 3, initially running all Sunday journeys, some early morning and evening journeys. The Sunday service was transferred to service 3 after a subsidy grant ran out. Apart from a few special journeys which ran through from Cowes, the 3A ran south of Newport only. The route was broadly the same as the 3, but instead of following the A3020 to Godshill, the bus ran from Newport to north Merstone on the A3056, then running through Merstone to reach the A3020. From Bohemia Corner the route was the same as that for the 3.

Service 3B ran in addition to the main route on weekdays. It ran from Newport to Robin Hill, Arreton, Winford and Apse Heath, partly along the A3056 road. It then continued to Sandown. This route did not operate during the same part of the day as route 2B, which was an evenings and Sundays-only service. Services 2, and 2B also operated under the Route Rouge branding.

From 2003 certain journeys on routes 3 and 3A were extended from Ventnor to Ryde, running as service 7B along the A3055. This was a precursor to the current route 3, as described below.

Current Route
Officially, the current route 3 began operation on 1 April 2006 at the start of Southern Vectis' new network change. As such, when it first began operation Newport bus station was in the process of being redeveloped, and so along with most of Southern Vectis' other routes, it operated from Newport's temporary Litten Park bus stands. However, as noted above, certain journeys on the previous route 3 had followed a similar pattern of service prior to the network change.

Route
The main route as it stands today retains most of the pre-2006 route. The section from Cowes to Newport was cut, and all services on this corridor are now run by route 1. The core service from Newport to Ventnor continued with some differences, those being that all buses initially ran via Merstone, service frequency was increased to half-hourly and the Route Rouge branding was no longer used. The route was also extended from Ventnor to Ryde following the previous route of service 7B, with some re-routing within Ryde.

Service 3B was abandoned and replaced by the new route 8.

Night buses were trialled on the route from the outset, numbered N3, initially running only on Friday and Saturday nights from Ryde to Shanklin. From Shanklin they continued to Newport as service N2. However, from 1 January 2007 the night buses were extended to cover the entire route to Newport as service N3, running via Ventnor but serving Rookley rather than Merstone.

From 30 September 2007 to 15 March 2008, service N3 was trialled as one of 3 night bus routes to run every night. The other services concerned were N1 and N9. However, with a drop in subsidy, these services returned to running on Friday and Saturday nights only from 16 March 2008.

On 17 March 2008, most evening services on route 2 were withdrawn due to a cut in local government subsidy. Because of this, the route of service 3 was revised to include a variation via Rookley, which is served instead of Merstone before 07:15 and after 20:00 daily. When evening services on route 2 were re-introduced on 31 August 2008, early morning and evening services on route 3 still continued to serve Rookley instead of Merstone. However, as from 5 April 2009 all route 3 buses (except night bus services) served Merstone again. From 5 September 2010 as part of further cost-cutting measures due to cuts in support for unprofitable routes by the Isle of Wight Council, all journeys on route 3 ran once again via Rookley, with route 2 switched to serve Merstone, which had its evening service withdrawn.

Services
A half-hourly service is operated in each direction during Monday-Sunday daytimes. Evening services run once per hour.

In 2008, route 3 was one of three routes, the others being route 1 and route 9 to receive an hourly service on Christmas Day. 2008 is the first year buses have run on Christmas Day.