Everything you need to know about the Salisbury Reds timetable changes

From Sunday 16th January, Salisbury Reds will be making temporary changes to its services to minimise the effects of the Omicron variant.

The move follows the government guidance that companies should prepare for up to 25% of staff to be absent due to Omicron isolations. 

Buses will continue to run all routes, although some services will be less frequent to ensure the operator can allocate enough drivers to run all scheduled journeys. Park and ride services will also change – operating every 30 minutes – and customers are being advised to allow extra time for their journeys.

“Like most businesses, we have a higher number of absences within our workforce than normally expected,” said Salisbury Reds general manager, Alex Chutter.

“In recent days, the number of colleagues testing positive for covid-19 has increased. With that in mind, we are making these changes from next week. These emergency measures are designed to ensure that all key workers can rely on us to take them where they need to go, whilst ensuring pupils who use our home-to-school services can continue to travel as normal. 

“The measures will ensure there are no big gaps in the services we provide, and we will review the situation weekly, with a view of reverting back to our full network and frequencies as soon as circumstances allow us to. We will monitor the impact of Omicron but, all being well, fewer colleagues will need to isolate and we can restore our full levels of service for our customers.”

The changes, designed to improve reliability, are supported by Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport Mark McClelland who commented, “The bus industry is going through a very difficult period currently and I know that these frequency changes have not been taken lightly by Salisbury Reds. 

“I am sure that this will be a short-term measure and we hope to work in partnership with Salisbury Reds, through the recently adopted Bus Service Improvement Plan in the not too distant future.”

Changes from Sunday 16th January:

Route R1: Reduced on Sundays between city centre and Bemerton Heath from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes

Route R2:– Reduced from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route PR3: Reduced from every 15 minutes  to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route R4: Reduced from every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route R5: Reduced from every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route R6: Reduced from every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route PR7: Reduced from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route PR9: Reduced from every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route R10: Reduced from every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route PR11: Reduced from every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays

Route PR15: Reduced from every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays 

For more detailed timetable information, visit salisburyreds.co.uk