Travelling to London has never been cheaper or easier..

Greyhound, Southern Vectis and Hovertravel Roll Out £8 All in One Ticket for Isle of Wight  

Isle of Wight residents have been campaigning for better and more competitive links to London for some time. Greyhound UK, Southern Vectis and Hovertravel reckon they will be able to deliver the perfect solution.

From May 1 the three transport companies will provide an ‘all in one’ ticket from anywhere on the Island to London from just £8, plus 50p booking fee.  The average single fare will be £14.  The operators promise to provide reliable and quick journey times and pledge to carry customers from Newport to London in under three hours.

In order to quicken journey times Greyhound has designed its timetable alongside Hovertravel, already the fastest link between the Isle of Wight and the mainland, and where possible will provide seamless connections in both directions.  In addition, Greyhound is to start and end its Portsmouth – London services directly outside Hovertravel’s Southsea terminal at Clarence Pier.  Southern Vectis already drop and collect bus passengers at its interchange next door to Hovertravel’s terminal meaning passengers are delivered door to door throughout their journey.

“Our unique partnership with Southern Vectis and Hovertravel is good news for the Isle of Wight,” said Alex Warner, Managing Director of Greyhound UK.  “From May 1 residents will have a reliable, more integrated, cheaper and quicker service to London available from anywhere on the island.  In addition, we think the £8 ticket will encourage lots of tourists and day trippers out of London to visit the many attractions on the Island and provide a boost to the local economy.”

Speaking about the partnership, Warner added: “I am delighted to bring our luxurious coach travel to the table.  We’ve promoted Greyhound’s services on the island before (and will have one of our coaches appear at Bustival) and have been quite overwhelmed with the positive reaction.  Collectively we have made travelling to London as easy and as affordable as possible, I therefore expect demand from islanders to be high.”

Loretta Lale, Commercial & Marketing Manager of Hovertravel said: “Pricing has long been an issue for islanders wishing to travel to London.  We have been looking for an opportunity to partner with another transport operator in order to try and address that problem.  The offer that we have in place with Greyhound and Southern Vectis is unlike any other, in that we will literally be providing quality door to door transport to and from central London at rock bottom prices.  It’s an exciting venture and one that we cannot wait to kick off.  From June 1 we will look to improve our timetable further so that it better connects with Greyhound, thus providing passengers with an even better service offering.”

Tanya Simms, Projects Officer from Southern Vectis, said: “We are delighted to be working with our partners, Hovertravel and Greyhound UK.  An £8 single fare to London is an unbeatable offer.  We have worked hard to provide our customers with this all in one ticket and is yet another example of how we try to add value for our passengers.”

John Metcalfe,  IW Council deputy  director  for economy,  tourism and  leisure, said: “This new, low-cost Greyhound service from London fits perfectly with one of the council’s key tourism marketing messages - that the Island is ‘much closer than you think’, especially for London and South East target audiences.  It also contributes to the Eco Island vision by encouraging people to leave their cars at home and take advantage of yet another excellent transport link to the Island. 

Barbara Ann, one of the Greyhound fleet, made a special appearance on the island today to help promote the new ticket.  Barbara Ann and one of Southern Vectis’ buses flanked a hovercraft on Hovertravel’s pad at Ryde.

Members of the public can purchase the ‘all in one ticket’ at www.greyhounduk.com only and is not available for purchase on board any of the services.  

Greyhound will provide up to 12 daily services from the Hovertravel Terminal at Clarence Pier, Southsea, Portsmouth to London from 0540 to 1805.  Greyhound’s services also stop at the Hard Interchange, Edinburgh Road and Rudmore Roundabout.

Hovertravel provides daily services between Ryde and Southsea, Portsmouth every 30 minutes between 0630 and 2030.  Hovertravel will further improve its timetable from June 1 to provide even better links with Greyhound.

Southern Vectis is the Island’s bus operator, providing high quality frequent and comprehensive easy access routes between the island’s towns.  Its routes to Ryde serve the bus station directly adjacent to the Hovercraft terminal.