Categories
bourne bus Bourne Community College Emsworth Havant

6 months in..

The Bourne Bus goes from strength to strength following local household leaflet deliveries and social media campaigns in August. In fact this month our 16 seat minibus has been almost at capacity on some occasions on mornings on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on our regular routes to Emsworth, Havant Tesco, Chichester and around the Parishes […]

Categories
bourne bus Drivers

Calling minibus drivers

Since we launched we’ve trained 17 drivers to MIDAS standard courtesy of SAAFA. Now we need more volunteer drivers for the Bourne Community Bus that can offer four hours for 2 or 3 times a month on a Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. FULL training is provided to drive our new automatic 16-seater Mercedes Sprinter and […]

Categories
bourne bus

June bus runs

The first month of new bus runs is a challenge, not only in ensuring that volunteer drivers get to know the eight daily route variations, but also as we’re unsure how many passengers will get on at each stop. “The first two weeks operating have seen lots of residents watching the bus curiously as it […]

Categories
bourne bus

Bus launch 7th June

There was lots to do getting the Bourne Bus ready for launch on Tuesday 7th June, after its first official outing and service opening ceremony at the Queen’s Jubilee Parade through Chichester on Saturday 4th June. “So much hard work has gone into this launch from a team of 20 people from 4 local villages, […]

Categories
bourne bus

The bus arrives!

The Bourne Community Bus arrived at Thorney Island Baker Barracks 12th May after having all its graphics and partner logos added. Matt Roberts, CEO of Community Transport Sussex who helped organise the bus lease contracts, delivered the bus and handed over the keys to bus project manager Andrew Kerry-Bedell. By pure coincidence Jon Robinson was […]

Categories
Drivers Thorney Island

Driver training

The Bourne Community Bus service now has eight MIDAS qualified volunteer drivers to help disabled and all other residents using the bus. On 28th and 30th March STA Training took drivers from Nutbourne, Southbourne and Emsworth through their paces on a two day course, with half a day covering resident and disabled passenger needs and […]

Categories
bourne bus Thorney Island

How the bus started

This project came about through a meeting Tracie and Andrew had in 2019 at Thorney Island Baker Barracks. We learnt about the issue of isolation, a very real and impactful element of day to day military and family life, which got even tougher when COVID hit in April 2020. As a member of the Civilian […]