To most people I guess getting new buses must seem like buying a new car.  A few choices Ford or Vauxhall, colour, fabric, air-con or sunroof.  Take delivery in a few weeks?

If only buying buses were so straightforward…

About 9 months ago we ordered new buses, 17 for delivery for this summer, then another 11 for early next year.  The choices are quite important.  A bus is for life not just Christmas…well, the ones they are replacing are up to 18 years old now anyway.  Buses can’t really be part exchanged if you don’t like them, so the decisions have to be right.  This time we have bought Scanias, with the whole bus built in their factory in Poland.  They have engines that do not require an additional liquid to be added to them when fuelling called ‘ad blu’, which is how some manufacturers make them meet the tough new emission standards set for buses and coaches.  They are a bit longer than our last ones too, and can seat 76 but with better legroom.  All sorts of things have to be specified early on, including the paint colours and layout, the fabrics inside, even the type of seats, the LED displays, and the CCTV systems.

Anyway, after a delay they have finally arrived (well 16 of the first 17 to be pedantic).  They take a fair few weeks to build, but there is a waiting list for buses pretty much from every manufacturer - they are very much built to order.  Having built them it takes still longer before they appear ‘on the road’.  These ones are driven from Poland to the docks in Gothenberg, and shipped over on one of those big roll on roll off super cargo ships to Hull.  When they get to Hull they have to be examined by the UK authorities to confirm they meet a whole raft of rules and regulations for operation here.  Then they get driven down to the Scania dealer in Poole for a pre delivery inspection, and then delivered on to us on the Island.

That’s just the beginning for us though.  We have all the graphics to fit, CCTV is fitted here, and we need to fit the ticket machines and programme all the LED displays.

…then to the matter of what to do wth our old buses.  We’ve been preparing the double deckers for a gentle second life in Dorset as schoolbuses with other parts of our group.  The single deckers are looking for a new home though!  In the meantime they are parked up in various places where we can find enough room for a bus or twelve!

The last ‘big event’ of the season for us keeps getting bigger.  This year 30,000 festival go-ers decsended on Robin Hill for the Bestival.  More than ever took the advice given out and opted to use public transport.

The heavy rains on Thursday, Friday and Saturday played havoc with everyone’s arrangements, and the organisers did a great job to keep the show on the road, despite an awful lot of mud and water.

Our preparations begin many months before as we look to hire in buses, book our casual drivers, and plan things such as staff catering.  In the days before we are busy collecting buses from England and gathering together all manner of diverse things - signs, ticket machines, food supplies…

This year Bestival opened Thursday, removing last year’s rush to the site on Friday.  After the traffic chaos of last year this year the traffic ran much more smoothly.  One of our problems with events is that they also affect our normal routes going about their everyday business, so we really do end up at full stretch.

As well as drivers, we need a big team of support staff to supervise, clean and fuel, and mend buses throughout, and ticket sellers and marshalls.  All of these have to be found from somewhere, but our staff are great at volunteering to help whenever we need them.  In fact, they are Southern Vectis’ greatest asset!

The bad weather meant that the bus station on site became not just the bus station, but also the taxi drop off, public drop off, and the storage area for the artists band buses.  It didn’t all fit in, and traffic within the site was a major cause of delays, but that’s life - we have to get on and deal with it as best we can.

We were hectic from Thursday mid morning right through until late night, then again all day Friday, bringing people in from ferry terminals.  It was really sad to see people leaving to go home on Friday and Saturday morning because their tents had literally been washed or blown away.

Anyway, the weekend ticked along quite merrily, though quite clearly a lot of campers decided to call it a day on Sunday so we were very busy.  Sundays are good days to be busy, as Sunday bus services mean we have plenty of drivers and buses free!   We worked until about 0130 on Friday, 0230 on Saturday, and 0100 on Sunday, but left a team on to work through Sunday night taking night owls back to overnight ferries.

Like Sunday had ended, Monday dawned…dry - phew!  However, our joy soon disappeared as we realised just how much mud was being walked up through Robin Hill and straight into our buses.  We offered to return it all but Robin Hill weren’t too bothered!

Monday was a really hectic day, and it took from 0630 until 1630 to get everyone away and back to the ferries.  Monday at Bestival and IW Festival are pretty jolly days - even after such a wet and cold weekend, the bus queues are full of cheery people.  Even so, after four long days, an 0630 start is hard.  We took far more people back to ferries than we expected, but our catering girls were our rocks as ever, supplying us with a constant flow of bbq food.  Our gas bbq is now well travelled and we couldn’t live without it!

Robin Hill looked surreal, with abandoned wellies everwhere you looked, and our drivers reported them lined up neatly at Ryde Esplanade and East Cowes too.

Unfortunately, there was so much mud on the buses that it became apparent that without some drastic action we wouldn’t have buses available for Tuesday’s normal service.  A team of 15 staff, Managers, Office staff, Inspectors and Drivers came back in or stayed on and worked through the night cleaning every bus at our Newport garage, and a fair number at Ryde.  The mud was so thick that the only way to clean them was to use a steam cleaner, but by 0400hrs on Tuesday we were ready for life after Bestival!