Southern Vectis - History

History

Southern Vectis began life as a company called Dodson & Campbell Ltd. in 1921. In 1923, Dodson's became The Vectis Bus Company. The company had associations with Christopher Dodson, bus body builders in London. Therefore, all Vectis buses of the period had Dodson built bodies.

In 1929, the company was bought by Southern Railway, and became The Southern Vectis Omnibus Company Limited. The company was nationalised in 1948, and became part of the National Bus Company in 1969. Then in 1986 as a consequence of the Transport Act 1985 the business was privatised and purchased by its management with help from its employees, who formed Southern Vectis plc to buy the company. Deregulation meant that other companies could register and run bus routes against previously nationalised bus companies; this was significant for Southern Vectis in two ways: the company which had a virtual monopoly on Island transport was exposed to competition from no less than five operators, and Southern Vectis itself expanded in 1987 with the creation of Badger Vectis in Poole, and Solent Blue Line in Southampton. Blue Line used older Southern Vectis buses and second-hand double-deckers, to compete with the dominant Southampton Citybus on their most profitable routes.

"Deregulation for the Isle of Wight has simply meant that we have competition on one route, and basically everything else is exactly as it was before deregulation on the rest, except where we had a public company, it's now a private company."

— Dermot Bremner, Transport Officer for the Isle of Wight (1987)

From the start of deregulation, Southern Vectis was one of the most aggressive of the new bus operators, as can be seen from the company's restored monopoly of Isle of Wight services and the fact that their subsidiary Solent Blue Line, 23 years after its creation, now holds (as Bluestar) a powerful position within Southampton and Hampshire alongside what remains of City Bus in First Hampshire & Dorset.

The newly privatised Southern Vectis expanded its business into other areas on the Island too, the company bought a self-drive van hire firm, A.B. Wadhams (Rentals) Ltd., and also 2 Ford Granada taxis, which it ran from Cowes Pontoon. The taxis both served as a new venture for the company, and a way to take on one of its then new competitors, Gange Taxis & Minicoaches, on their home turf. Taxibus services were also pioneered by Southern Vectis on the Island, where taxi firms were appointed to run rural routes which would otherwise not be served. However, Southern Vectis had relinquished its involvement in taxis all together by 1989.

In late 2002 Southern Vectis introduced the first low-floor buses on the Isle of Wight; seven Plaxton President-bodied Volvo B7TLs and a single Plaxton Mini Pointer bodied Dennis Dart., followed in early 2005 with 14 TransBus Mini Pointer Darts and, in January 2007, an order for seven Mercedes-Benz Citaros to upgrade high-floor buses on route 9.

The company made national news in 2003 with the launch of a pink punishment school bus nicknamed 'The Pink Peril' designed to take badly-behaved students to and from school. The vehicle was the oldest in the fleet, an Iveco minibus fleet number 283. The scheme initially proved a success but was later scrapped.

In July 2005 Southern Vectis plc was acquired by the Go-Ahead bus and rail group. This acquisition brought with it both Southern Vectis and Hampshire subsidiary Solent Blue Line. Southern Vectis' has been rebranded, though the name has remained, while Solent Blue Line was rebranded Bluestar. Since late 2005, Southern Vectis has shared its directors with mainland bus companies Bluestar, and Wilts & Dorset, as part of Go-Ahead's Go South Coast division.

One of the first changes under the new ownership was an amended network in April 2006, using Newport as its hub, with most other routes linking to it. Although resulting in the loss of some existing routes, like the Island Explorer, the change proved largely successful; within 18 months passenger numbers had increased by 45%, with a 14% growth in fare-paying customers. This was one of the largest increases in the UK and has continued since. Seventeen Scania OmniCity double-deckers arrived in July 2008 to replace older step entrance double-deck buses. Eleven more arrived in Easter 2009 making the entire standard "green" bus fleet low floor.

In October 2009, Southern Vectis launched a website promoting its own 'car scrappage' scheme, offering Island residents who agreed to scrap their cars a season ticket of up to 12 months. Southern Vectis announced five vehicles had been scrapped within the first fortnight and it had received around 6,000 enquiries. So far, the scheme has seen 75 vehicles scrapped including a horsebox, with a claimed carbon saving of 145 tonnes per annum.

In 1994, Southern Vectis plc became a shareholder of the Polish bus company Kaliskie Line Autobus, with 18.38% of the company's shares. In September 2010, this holding was sold to the majority shareholder, the City of Kalisz, for £127,840 (600,000 PLN).