A SOUTHAMPTON bus service has announced it will increase daytime bus services in-and-around the city from next week.

Bluestar made the announcement following higher demand for the service after the Government’s decision to begin easing the coronavirus lockdown.

From today (Sunday, May 31) passengers across the city will benefit from more frequent buses across many Bluestar routes - with some running up to every eight minutes.

Among the timetable changes are an increase in frequency for Bluestar 17 - which runs to-and-from Southampton General Hospital.

This route will now run every 10 minutes Monday to Saturday, and every 20 minutes on Sunday.

As well as this, the company will be introducing buses every eight minutes on our popular Bluestar 18 route, which runs from Millbrook to Thornhill via Shirley, the city centre, Northam and Bitterne.

Bluestar managing director, Andrew Wickham, said: "We want to make sure all our drivers and customers are safe on-board our buses, so we have introduced even more stringent cleaning regimes - sanitising our vehicles throughout with anti-viral wipes.

"We have also taken measures to enable social distancing, by altering the layout of our seating."

He added: "With social distancing measures in place, the number of passengers each vehicle can carry is reduced - but our customers will notice a significant increase in the number of buses running across the city.

"We ask those on-board to wear face coverings if they can, and to avoid using cash - paying by contactless, smartcard or app instead if possible."

Summary of daytime service changes:

Bluestar 1

Monday to Saturday - every 15 minutes

Sunday - every hour

Bluestar 2

Monday to Saturday - every 15 minutes

Sunday - every hour

Bluestar 4

Monday to Saturday - every 30 minutes

Bluestar 7

Monday to Saturday - every 30 minutes

Sunday - every hour

Bluestar 9

Monday to Saturday - every 30 minutes

Sunday - every hour

Bluestar 11 and 12

Monday to Saturday - combined, every 10 minutes

Bluestar 16

Monday to Saturday - every 20 minutes

Bluestar 17

Monday to Saturday - every 10 minutes

Sunday - every 20 minutes

Bluestar 18

Monday to Friday - every eight minutes

Saturday - every 10 minutes

Sunday - every 20 minutes