The popular Classic Buses, Beer and Walks Weekend will be returning to the Isle of Wight in just 3 weeks’ time on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October 2018.
The event is now regarded as one of the best of its kind in the country thanks to a close collaboration between the Isle of Wight Bus & Coach Museum and the Isle of Wight branch of CAMRA.
Around 100 vehicles have been confirmed for the eagerly-anticipated weekend, including a number of Island-based favourites. They will be operating a network of 19 special routes, some of which are running as per last year’s event but some have been re-designed following operational and visitor feedback.
Of the 80 pubs and other licensed premises that took part in last year’s event, most have signed up again for 2018. With a variety of new venues added to the list for this year the number of different venues is now well into the 90s.
What you need to know for 2018
• Route A (Newport to Cowes direct) has been withdrawn in favour of more frequent routes N and P via the rural route through Porchfield, Gurnard and Northwood.
• Routes B and C around the Shorwell, Brighstone, Hulverstone and Calbourne areas will no longer serve Yarmouth, as this is now served by new Route T from Newport via Shalfleet and extending beyond Yarmouth to 6 venues west of the Yar.
• Routes F and G from Ryde and Brading to Culver Down and Sandown/Shanklin remain as per 2017, although Route G will operate more frequently this year due to popular demand.
• A re-cast of last year’s Routes J and K mean that Route J will now serve Rookley, Niton and Whitwell between Newport and Ventnor, whilst Route K will now serve Chillerton, Chale, Niton and Whitwell. These routes are joined by new Route H from Newport to Ventnor via Whitwell, giving some 6 buses per hour between Newport and Ventnor, linking some of the most popular venues in the event.
• Route L between Newport and Shanklin has been reduced to an hourly service following lower demand than expected last year, as has Route V between Shanklin and Ventnor.
• New Routes R and S offer hourly loops in alternative directions on the Ryde, Brading, Bembridge and St Helens circuit.
• Route W replaces Route X as the Newport-Ryde service via Wootton, with fast non-stop Route X journeys from Newport to Ryde.
• Route Y remains as the Ryde local service, and Route Z is the service linking Ryde with Seaview this year.
• The terminal arrangements at Newport Quay will be as per 2017, with services accessing the site via Seaclose Park. The departure area will also be the same as last year, including the marquee over part of the waiting area. Both of the event network hubs were operating at close to maximum capacity last year and therefore the available space for arrivals and departures at Ryde has been increased. Organisers are planning to add a marquee to the museum departure area.
The event has raised significant funds for the IW Bus Museum in recent years, with well over £27,000 raised from the 2017 weekend. All of this money helps to conserve not only their collection of vintage vehicles, but also the Museum premises at Park Road, Ryde. Major restoration work on several vehicles has all benefited from monies raised through this event.
IW CAMRA provide a large number of marshals, who work with the bus operating staff as well as the public to ensure all runs smoothly.
Event programmes, which will contain timetables and excellent special offers from transport providers as well as the various pubs, are on sale from the website, the bus museum and participating pubs and clubs.
