Morebus

more

logo
Slogan	"from Wilts & Dorset"
Parent company	Go-Ahead Group
Headquarters	Poole, Dorset, England
Service area	Dorset
Service type	Urban and Interurban
Destinations	Poole, Bournemouth, Isle of Purbeck, Swanage & Dorset
Fleet	226
Operator	Go South Coast
Chief executive	Andrew Wickham
Web site	www.morebus.co.uk

More bus is a bus company in England covering the Poole & Bournemouth areas as well as Blandford, Christchurch, Corfe Mullen, Dorchester, Ferndown, Lymington, New Milton, Ringwood, Swanage, Verwood, Wareham, West Moors & Wimborne. Its local headquarters is in Poole, Dorset but it is owned by the Go-Ahead Group, a major UK transport group.

More bus is a sub-brand of Wilts & Dorset and is the operating name for bus services in the Poole & Bournemouth area.

History

File:More bus logo.png

The original "more" logo.

More was originally launched in December 2004 as part of £4 million investment. 'More' replaced services 101 to 105 between Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch and services 155, 156 and 157 between Poole and Canford Heath. The service was originally due to launch in October 2004 but due to a driver shortage this was postponed until December 2004. The service launched with 30 Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban single-deck buses. 'More' buses carry a livery of mostly dark blue with red at the back; the original 30 also carry slogans such as "looks like a bus, works like a dream". All 'more' buses are air-conditioned.

File:Wilts & Dorset 114 HF54 HGE.JPG

A Volvo Wright Eclipse in the first 'more' livery.

Such was the success of the 'more' services it was decided that the frequency on the m1 and m2 routes was to be increased and the m1 extended to the Castlepoint shopping centre on the outskirts of Bournemouth from the Bournemouth Travel Interchange (the 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' route again a batch of Mercedes-Benz Citaros were ordered. The original 'more' buses were going to be Citaros, but it was thought that Volvo would offer a quicker delivery time. Further changes to the routes occurred on 25 May 2008, with the m2 being withdrawn from Burton (transfered to Route X12 which was later withdrawn also) and Somerford to terminate at Boscombe.

In August 2008, Wilts & Dorset (using the 'more' brand) sponsored the Bournemouth Air Show. There was a large amount of publicity surrounding the event, with the company's name appearing in numerous places. In March 2008, one of the 'more' buses was repainted in a special blue advertising livery to promote the event. Advertising boards appeared in many places, and in around mid-August signs for the event were stuck to most Wilts & Dorset vehicles, as well as many fellow Go South Coast company Bluestar buses. The other sponsor for the event was Bournemouth based Excelsior coaches.

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" is applied to W&D 119 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 January 2012 a minor timetable revision saw the evening buses being reduced slightly in frequency resulting in a half-hourly frequency between Castlepoint / Southbourne and Bournemouth, and quarter-hourly between Bournemouth and Poole.

In June 2012 Wilts & Dorset announced a £5.5 million investment in 36 Volvo Wright Eclipse 2 buses to be used on m1/m2 routes whilst the previous 38 Volvo Wright Eclipse Urban buses & Mercedes-Benz Citaros would be cascaded onto other services replacing older buses (including Bluestar). Also at this time, Routes 8 & 9 became part of the 'More' brand.

In July 2012 it was announced that Wilts & Dorset bus services in and around the Poole & Bournemouth would be changing to more, whilst in and around the Salisbury & Amsbury areas would be branded as Salisbury Reds.

In September 2012, Routes 3 & 4 joined the 'More' brand.

The More Nightbus

30 May 2008 saw the More 'Nightbus' sub-brand launched with the m1's operating every half hour between Poole Bus Station and Charminster (Five Ways) and the m2's 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 another few minutes up Charminster Road. May 2011 saw the m2 nightbus route changed beyond Pokesdown to serve Southbourne (Fisherman's Walk).

9 January 2012 saw these 'Nightbus' sub-brand renumbered 'N1' and 'N2', but with the timetable remaining the same and the same 'More' fleet being used.

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 21, 2013 saw the withdrawl of the Thursday Night services.

In April 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic, all night services were withdrawn.

Current routes

Main network in Bournemouth and Poole

These routes form the core network of morebus, with Poole being the main hub, and Bournemouth being the secondary hub. They are mostly operated by standard morebus livered buses, but UNIBUS livered buses can also be seen on a few routes, including m1, m2, 13 and 17.

Route	Origin	Via	Destination	Service level (Mon-Sat daytime)	Service level (holiday daytime)
m1	Poole	Bournemouth	Castlepoint	16 departures per hour combined Mon-Fri, 14 departures per hour combined Saturday	every 6 minutes combined
m2			Southbourne
3	Poole	Coffe Mullen	Wimborne	half-hourly	no service, with route 4 diverted via Coffe Mullen
4		Merley		every 15 minutes to Broadstone, half-hourly to Wimborne	half-hourly with one departure via Merley, one via Coffe Mullen every hour
5	Poole	Canford Heath	Tollerford Road	every 10 minutes combined	half-hourly combined
6			Tower Park
7A	Upper Parkstone	Rossmore	Alderney East	4 departures only on 2-hour headway for each of 7A/7B/7C Mon-Sat daytime	no service
7B		Rossmore	Bloxworth Estate
7C		Alderney	Tower Park
8	Poole	Hamworthy → Turlin Moor → Upton (clockwise)	Poole	every 15 minutes	half-hourly between Poole - Hamworthy - Turlin Moor, hourly on the remaining part of the loop
9		Upton → Turlin Moor → Hamworthy (anti-clockwise)
10	Poole	Upton	Lytchett Matravers	hourly	no service
11	Poole	Alderney	Bearwood	hourly	hourly
13	Bournemouth	Winton, Ferndown, Colehill	Wimborne	half-hourly	hourly
14	Poole	Alderney, Kinson	Royal Bournemouth Hospital	half-hourly to hospital Mon-Fri; half-hourly to Kinson, hourly to hospital Sat	hourly
15		Branksome, University, Winton		hourly	no service
16	Poole	Alderney, Rossmore, Westbourne	Bournemouth	every 15 minutes combined Poole - Rossmore, half-hourly Rossmore - Westbourne - Bournemouth - University - Rossmore	half-hourly combined Poole - Rossmore, hourly Rossmore - Westbourne - Bournemouth - University - Rossmore
17		Alderney, Rossmore, University, Winton
20	Poole	Penn Hill, Bournemouth	Castlepoint	hourly	no service
24	Burton	Christchurch	St Catherine's Hill	4 departures only	no service
32	Poole	Merley	Bournemouth	2 departures only	no service
38	Ferndown	Ashley Heath	Ringwood	5 departures only	no service

'More' Nightbus Routes

All nightbuses were withdrawn in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, the routes were named N1/N2 and followed on the m1/m2 routes, which ran on every night except Sunday night (Monday early morning).

Purbeck Breezer

File:Wilts & Dorset 1402 HF09 FVV 3.JPG

Scania 1402 on the 50 in Bournemouth, wearing Purbeck Breezer livery.

In 2009 Wilts and Dorset rebranded their Swanage routes as the 'Purbeck Breezers' by purchasing 12 brand new Optare double decks (Visionaires Open-top/Convertibles & Closed-Top Olympus's).

The Optare Olympus's are branded for Route 40. The permanent open-top Optare Visionaires are branded for Route 50 which typically operate on Route 50 all year round (unless the weather prevents them from running). The convertible Optare Visionaires are in general Purbeck Breezer branding and converted to Open-Top use for Route 50 during the summer months. All of the buses are fitted with a Ferry Lift allowing them to be interchangeable (as it is not uncommon during the winter months to see a Route 40 branded bus on Route 50).

The Purbeck Breezer fleet was replaced in 2016 with new Volvo B5TL MCV EvoSeti double decker buses, with 12 in total. 3 of them (1701-1703) are closed top which serve route 40, and the remaining 9 of them (1704-1712) are open top which serve route 50. The other Purbeck Breezer routes are served by regular morebus branded buses, with 30 and 31 closed-top service, and 60 and 70 open-top service in the summer.

The current network as of winter 2021 is follows:

Route	Origin	Via	Destination	Service level (Mon-Sat daytime)	Service level (holiday daytime)
30	Swanage	Wool	Weymouth	Service suspended for the winter period.
31	Wareham	Wool	Lulworth Cove	Service suspended for the winter period.
40	Swanage	Wareham	Poole	hourly	6 departures only.
50	Bournemouth Station	Sandbanks, Studland	Swanage	13 services daily (1 service in the AM does not run on weekends)
60	Rockley Park	Poole	Sandbanks	12 services daily	10 services daily
70	Poole	Alum Chine	Bournemouth (East Cliff)	Service suspended for the winter period.

Withdrawn routes

• 44: Swanage – Harman's Cross – Corfe Castle – Worth Matravers, withdrawn on 21 July 2017 after funding from Dorset council reduced.

Shuttle routes

These routes include the

• RouteONE, a circular service in Poole connecting the bus station, the railway station, the hospital, the old town and Poole Quay, sponsored by the BCP Council.
• Asda shuttle bus, formerly a free shuttle bus and converted to commercial operation since 2021 when Asda withdrew all free shuttle routes.
• Boscombe beach park & ride, a service tendered by the BCP council.

Route	Origin	Via	Destination	Service level (Mon-Sat daytime)	Service level (holiday daytime)
898	Poole Bus Station	non-stop	Asda	every 20 minutes	no service
PRB	King's Park	non-stop	Boscombe Pier	every 15 minutes (weekends only until 24 July, daily between 24 July - 1 September)
ONE	Poole Bus Station	Poole Rail Station	Poole Quay	every 15 minutes	no service, use route 60 instead

Express routes

These are express routes connecting Bournemouth / Poole to other towns and cities, with non-stop sections around Poole and Bournemouth.

Route	Origin	Via	Destination	Service level (Mon-Sat daytime)	Service level (holiday daytime)
X1	Bournemouth	Christchurch, Barton on Sea, New Milton, Milford on Sea	Lymington	half-hourly combined	4 departures only
X2		Christchurch, New Milton, Pennington			no service
X3	Salisbury	Ringwood	Bournemouth	half-hourly	hourly
X6	Poole	Verwood, Ringwood	Bournemouth	hourly	3 departures only between Ferndown - Bournemouth, no service to Poole
X8	Poole		Blandford	hourly	4 departures only

Rural routes

morebus retains a few rural routes with its old 100 prefix from Wilts & Dorset era which do not appear on the network map. All these routes are low-frequency services with only a few departures per week.

Route	Origin	Via	Destination	Service level (Mon-Sat daytime)	Service level (holiday daytime)
112	Hythe	Beaulieu	Lymington	2-3 departures on Tue, Thu	no service
119	Lymington	Hordle	New Milton	hourly	no service
125	Ringwood	Bransgore	Christchurch	2 departures only Mon, Wed, Fri	no service
191	New Milton	Chatsworth Park	New Milton	3 departures only Mon-Fri	no service
193	New Milton	Barton on Sea	New Milton	3 departures only Mon-Fri	no service

UNIBUS

File:Wilts & Dorset 401.jpg

A Volvo B7TL with ELC Myllennium Vyking (convertible open-top) bodywork owned by Wilts & Dorset in the previous Unilinx livery.

More Bus operates four routes on behalf of Bournemouth University, having secured a second five year contract to do so during summer 2009. Since 11 January 2010, these routes have been 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.

From 2004, when the university contract originally 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 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 (laterly the 52) where ELC Myllennium Vyking buses ran open top throughout the summer.

File:Bus for BU Articulated bus.jpg

Mercedes-Benz Citaro on Bus for BU route U1 on a frosty morning.

In 2009, when the university contract was renewed, eight buses of which six are Scania Enviro 400 double decker buses are used on the U1, U2 and U4 routes and a Scania Solar single deck bus for the U3 route were purchased new along with 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 is 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 'Cranbourne' [sic] as this bus was used exclusively between Talbot Campus and Cranborne House. For the 2012-2013 academic year, a second articulated bus has been acquired, and the U1, U2 and U4 bus routes can see the articulated buses, the shuttle between Talbot and Lansdowne being re-routed to serve the new Dorchester House halls of residence as well as the other Lansdowne halls. All of the buses apart from the ex-London articulated bus were purchased new and arrived in January 2010 pushing out the Volvo B7TL's, which were then cascaded back into the Wilts & Dorset fleet after being re-painted into the latest livery.

The whole UNIBUS fleet was renewed in 2016 with Enviro400 MMCs, 10 in total, and 2 more was acquired in 2017 and 2019 respectively. These buses are put in service on routes U1, 13 and m1/m2, with route U1 and 13 exclusively served by UNIBUS fleet. However, U3 is served by one regular morebus single-decker only.

Routes operated are:

Route	Origin	Via	Destination	Service level (Mon-Sat daytime)	Service level (holiday daytime)
U1	Dorchester House		University	every 15 minutes during term time, 30 minutes during university holidays	no service
U3	Southbourne		University	hourly	no service

Moreover, regular morebus routes m1/m2, 13, 15 and 17 also belong to the UNIBUS network as well as they pass through either of the campuses. Some journeys of route m1/m2, and all journeys of route 13 are operated by buses with UNIBUS livery.

The New Forest Tour

Originally started by Solent Blue Line (now Bluestar) in 2004, The New Forest Tour became joinly operated by Bluestar and Wilts & Dorset since the Summer of 2011 (?) when the addition of a second route (Red Route) was operated by the Ringwood Depot (which is now in the 'More' area). A 3rd route, the Blue Route, will be added when the tour restarted for the summer of 2013.

The original tour, the Green Route, started with an open-top Bristol VR and ran on both the 2004 and 2005 season. 2006 saw 2 Convertible Volvo B7TL East Lancs Myllennium Vyking's, 408 and 409 drafted from Wilts & Dorset, for the tour, but remained in the W&D livery with New Forest Tour vinyls. For the 2007 season, they became part of the Bluestar Fleet and where put into the New Forest Tour livery. The Red Route is operated by another Volvo B7TL East Lancs Myllennium Vyking from the Wilts & Dorset Fleet with with New Forest Tour vinyls and it is expected that the Blue Route will also be operated by the same type of bus in 2013.

Route	Origin	Via	Destination	Service level (Mon-Sat daytime)	Service level (holiday daytime)
NFB	Brockenhurst	New Milton	Brockenhurst	one bus per hour
NFT	Totton	Lymington	Totton
NFR	Lyndhurst	Ringwood	Lyndhurst

Main article: New Forest Tour

Ticketing

Morebus network is divided into 3 zones: A, B and C, which is the same as its rival Yellow Buses.

Zone A mostly correspond to the boundary of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, with the exception of Corfe Mullen, Merley and Bournemouth Airport which are in zone B, and Upton which just lies outside the local authority boundary but belongs to zone A.

Zone B consists of the surrounding towns, including Corfe Mullen, Merley, Wimborne, Ferndown, Heatherlands Estate, West Parley.

Anywhere outside the above are in zone C, also called the "network zone", including Swanage, Ringwood, Verwood, Salisbury, Lymington, Blandford etc. and anywhere served by morebus, Salisbury Reds, Damory, Bluestar and Unilink buses as far as Southampton or Swindon. Zone ABC tickets are equivalent to the network zone tickets from any of the above listed companies.

Morebus offers a variety of tickets, including day, weekend, 7 days, 90 days, and annual tickets, for m1/m2 only, zone A, zones AB and zones ABC (network zone). All these tickets are not valid on night buses.

In order to take a night bus, apart from buying a single, the nightrider ticket is also for unlimited travel in zone A between 7 pm and 7 am for one night including night buses.

These tickets can be brought in 3 ways: paper ticket from driver, smartcard (theKey) or on morebus app, and the price may be different.

Child tickets can be purchased on the morebus app as of July 2021. Purchasing these tickets requires both ID verification and a selfie of the child which appears on all tickets purchased using the app.

From the 16th November, all buses in the morebus fleet are gaining a "Tap on, Tap off" system, where ticket prices are capped at the price of an equivalent day ticket price, where instead of asking the driver for tickets the passenger simply taps on when boarding and taps off when alighting. The system does not work for child tickets.

In addition, single and return tickets are also available from the driver. It is possible to pay the fare by contactless bank card (preferred) or cash.

Child tickets can be used until 19th birthday.

School bus pass can be bought for a single dedicated school service for the whole term or academic year, with network addon possible which allows the schoolchild to take other routes.

Other tickets

Some other tickets, not directly sold by morebus, are also accepted on morebus services in general:

• Network zone tickets from Salisbury Reds, Bluestar and Unilink.
• Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council Getting About ticket for zone A only.
• PlusBus add-on for a rail ticket for Poole, Branksome, Bournemouth and Christchurch for zones A and B only.
• English concessionary bus pass, between 09:30 and 23:00 on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays only, with exception allowing the use on some earlier departures on some infrequent rural routes.

See also

• Wilts & Dorset
• Salisbury Reds Buses
• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

External links

• Official website
• The Stonehenge Tour website
• The Salisbury Reds website

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