Salisbury Reds Buses

Salisbury Reds is a bus company in England covering South Wiltshire and West Hampshire. Its local headquarters is in Poole, but it is owned by the Go-Ahead Group, a major UK transport group.

Salisbury Reds is the operating name for Wilts & Dorset in and around the Salisbury & Amsbury area and the Salisbury Reds name has been on the side of buses since 2010.

History
PulseLine was the name of services round Salisbury to the District Hospital and ran until 2010. 2010 saw the PulseLine brand rebranded as "Sailsbury reds" using the previous Mercedes-Benz Citaros repainted in the revised Wilts & Dorset bus livery with "Sailsbury Reds" branding. In addition to the Citaros, ex Southern Vectis Dennis Dart MPDs were transferred and repainted into Wilts & Dorset bus livery with branding applied.

Current routes
Eight routes use the Salisbury reds branding:


 * Red 1 (r1): District Hospital – Salisbury City Centre – Bemerton Heath
 * Red 2 (r2): Salisbury City Centre – Bishopdown
 * Red 3 (r3): Salisbury City Centre – Wilton – Bulbridge
 * Red 4 (r4): Salisbury City Centre – Pauls Dene
 * Red 5 (r5): Salisbury City Centre – West Harnham
 * Red 6 (r6): Salisbury City Centre – Laverstock
 * Red 7 (r7): Bishopdown Farm – Salisbury City Centre – Devizes Road
 * Red 8 (r8): Salisbury City Centre – Ditchampton

Current Standard Routes
Cross country:
 * X3: Salisbury - Ringwood - Bournemouth
 * X5: Salisbury - Amesbury - Durrington - Pewsey - Marlborough - Swindon
 * X7: Salisbury - Southampton
 * Activ8: Salisbury - Amesbury - Tidworth - Andover

Rural routes:
 * 2: Salisbury - Shrewton - Devizes
 * 4: Salisbury - Devizes
 * 19: Pewsey - Marlborough
 * 25: Salisbury - Hindon - Gillingham
 * 26: Salisbury - Wilton - Fovant - Tisbury
 * 27: Salisbury - Shaftesbury
 * 34: Salisbury - Romsey
 * 35: Romsey - Ampfield - Romsey
 * 37: Salisbury - West Dean
 * 39: Nomansland - Romsey
 * 40: Fordingbridge/Woodgreen - Salisbury
 * 44: Salisbury - Woodfalls
 * 66: Salisbury - Idminston - Shipton Bellinger via Laverstock - East Gomeldon - Porton Down
 * 87: Salisbury - Winterslow
 * 88: Salisbury - Winterslow
 * 183: Blandford - Dorchester - Weymouth
 * 184: Salisbury - Blandford
 * 217: St Margaret's - Marlborough - Rogers Meadow
 * 270: Urchfront - Devizes

Salisbury Park and Ride
This service began operation in March 2001 to one Park and Ride site, Beehive, to the north of Salisbury city centre. 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.

The Stonehenge Tour
The Stonehenge Tour was rebranded in 2008, linking Salisbury Rail Station, the city centre and Stonehenge. A recorded commentary describes the views along the length of the route. The tour is usually operated by W&D Optare Spectras which have been specially painted in a New Stonehenge Tour Livery.

Activ8

 * 8: Salisbury - Boscombe Down - Amesbury - Tidworth - Andover

Activ8 is a joint half hourly service between Salisbury and Andover via Tidworth operated in partnership with Stagecoach South and supported by Wiltshire and Hampshire County Councils. The Activ8 brand was launched in February 2007. Wilts & Dorset primarily use specially branded Scania OmniCitys on the route, having previously used Optare Spectras.