BUS services in Winchester will be reduced in the New Year after the operator said it is struggling with "staff shortages".

The frequency of services on the 3, 5, 66 and the Spring service will be reduced from Monday January 10, Stagecoach South has announced.

The operator said in a post that the changes mean it will be able to "deliver your services as reliably as possible".

A summary of the changes are:

  • Service 3 (Harestock to Winchester city centre) will run every 20 minutes all day Monday to Friday
  • Service 5 (Badger Farm to Winchester city centre) will run every 15 minutes all day Monday to Friday
  • Spring (Winchester to Springvale) will run every 30 minutes throughout the day Monday to Friday
  • Service 66 (Winchester to Romsey) will run basically hourly throughout the day Monday to Saturday, on the standard route via Jermyns Lane and Abbotswood. A limited number of peak time journeys on Monday to Friday only will continue to serve the route via The Straight Mile, Crampmoor, Richmond Lane and Cupernham Lane.

In a post, Stagecoach said: “We wanted to let you know that we’ll be making some changes to some of our bus services in Winchester from 10th January, with timetables on the 3, 5, Spring & 66 routes seeing a reduced daytime frequency.

“In common with many industries we are experiencing staff shortages and these changes will mean we can continue to deliver your services as reliably as possible during the current very challenging conditions.”

To find out more and to view the new timetables, go to https://bit.ly/3pwj3oI.