That’s what they always say about buses but locally it’s true about bus companies as well. In the space of 7 days Southampton had two new bus companies providing services. The most heralded new comer was Greyhound with it’s Southampton to London service which commenced on 14 September. Just 1 week before Greyhound arrived Travelguest launched an express bus service, the Dorset Sprinter , between Southampton and Bournemouth.

The Dorset Sprinter introduction was low key, at least as far as I was concerned, because I’d never heard of it until I saw one whilst waiting to catch the Greyhound to London. I then did a Google on it to get the detail. Compared to a Greyhound bus the Dorset Sprinter looked more like it should be attending a vintage bus rally – it was an 18 year old Leyland Lynx. It will be interesting to see if the route is viable. The express route which at first you’d think was definitely viable, Southampton to Portsmouth, has been tried by several operators but has never run for long. Will Southampton to Bournemouth do better?