Ipswich Buses May Changes Explainef

I spent a very pleasant hour with Ipswich Buses Managing Director Malcolm Robson this afternoon, who gave me full details of the changes being made to the East Ipswich area in May. Last week I published what I had seen VOSA and made some educated guesses as to what was happening. I was close but no cigar!

To summarise the number of buses is remaining the same, but some routes and frequencies are changing. Here is what's going to happen.

Service 1: Withdrawn. Service 6 will be increased to every 20 mins through Ravenswood. Ransomes Europark will be served by X3 for two peak hour trips

 X1/X3: Increase each journey to every 15 mins giving a joint 7.5 min frequency along Nacton Rd. Punctuality issues mean these services need more time which allows the frequency increase.

Service 4: Will no longer serve Rail Station apart from a couple of peak trips.

Service 5: Withdrawn

Service X5: 15 min frequency along Foxhall Rd, currently every 10 mins jointly with 5. Increase Sunday and evening frequency to every 30 mins from hourly.

Service 6: Increase from every 30 mins to every 20 mins and link to Service 11 at Hospital. New evening and Sunday timetable every hour. New link to 11 will provide North East Ipswich with a link to John Lewis, Waitrose and Sainsbury at Warren Heath.

Service 11: Link to Service 6 at Hospital gives link to John Lewis, Sainsbury, Waitrose and Ransomes Europark from NE Ipswich. No change to route or frequency.

The 11 will soon link up with the 6 and not the 5

And there we have it. The reason the 5 has gone and the X5 remains is purely so passengers don't board a 5 assuming it will become an 11 at the Hospital, as it has done for many years now. I have also been told 3 new vehicles are being bought for the X5 but have been asked not to say what for a couple of weeks. Watch this space. I am also looking forward to the open topper doing circuits on the 6/11 as it will be much longer than the 5/11.

My thanks go to Malcolm Robson for the drink, and also for providing the above information in written form as I have the memory of a goldfish with amnesia right now!