Havenstreet & Ashey Parish Council has published the results of its 2025 Village Bus Users Survey, revealing strong support for reintroducing a public transport service to Havenstreet after a 10-year absence.
The survey, carried out in August, aimed to gather evidence of demand for a local bus route and to encourage the Isle of Wight Council to deliver on its stated aims within the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). Over 200 forms were distributed across the village, with an impressive 58% response rate.
Analysis of the results shows significant backing for a reinstated bus service, with respondents highlighting its potential to reduce social isolation and improve access to work, school, and essential services. Many also said that safer transport options would positively impact road safety, given the current reliance on walking along an unlit country road to reach the nearest stop.
Havenstreet has been without a bus service since September 2015, when Southern Vectis Route 33 and the Community Bus Route 34/34a were withdrawn. The closest current service is Route 37, which passes approximately 500 metres from the edge of the village. However, reaching it involves using a narrow, unlit road with no pavement – a route described as unsafe for many residents.
Council Chair Tony Barry has said:
“We’ve had a fantastic response to the survey and would like to thank everyone that took the time out to reply. There’s now strong evidence of demand for the return of a bus service to Havenstreet, we are hopeful of a positive response from the Isle of Wight Council.”
Under Section 5 of the Isle of Wight Council’s BSIP, it is stated that the authority aims to establish or re-establish supported services for isolated rural communities without a regular bus service since at least 2015 – a definition that Havenstreet meets.
The Parish Council now hopes the survey data will help strengthen the case for action.
Is it really worth it so that one/two people can get into town to do a bit of shopping? They did the same with the 6 route and 12 route last time if I’m not mistaken, and the extra buses they cried out for run almost empty half the time… people complain about their extra council tax etc going to waste or going to the bus companies but who do you think is going to pay for these empty buses to run? And what when the locals start complaining about large vehicles going up and down the village? Hopefully the council do the smart thing and run a community minibus like the FYT bus over in west wight. That would be the most logical step rather than sending a 10 ton single decker bus down there.
With the best will in the world the FYT community bus in West Wight is no substitute for a regular bus service.
A large area of West Wight has been isolated by the diversion of the No 7 route isolating many locals who are unable to walk to and from Norton to Yarmouth. (this diversion is set to be at least six months) Unfortunately the community bus is not frequent enough to be of any real help on a regular basis.
Where I come from, a village like Thorley or Newbridge for example would be lucky to get one bus a week let alone a bus every half an hour. I think the 7 and the 12 do a great job of covering the west wight and the FYT bus does a decent job of filling the gaps (when there’s no diversions of course, but these can’t be helped and the bus company does their best)
I think that islanders often take their services for granted. I lived in a village where we had no bus service, the nearest stop was almost an hour away and the bus services stopped running by 8-9pm. I think the service on the island is fantastic but it has to be understood that a business is a business, so some routes just may not be financially viable. If council are willing to fund it then that’s amazing, it just means that people will have to get over the fact that the council pays X amount to southern vectis each year to run these less used services.
Also bear in mind that the driver’s of community routes such as the 22, 32 etc are volunteers and aren’t paid for their time, as will likely be the case if they reinstate a Havenstreet route.
The FYT bus is a great service, a similar service
to Havenstreet would be ideal.
Of course there should be a bus service to Havenstreet. Not only for Havenstreet residents but people who do not have cars and would like to go to the Havenstreet Steam Station, The White Hart Pub and for people to visit residents in the large care home.
It should never have been stopped.
They just need to run a mini bus size bus to
Havenstreet every hour.
With all due respect, it was stopped because barely anyone was using it and it wasn’t financially viable to keep it running