enviro400 buses used on unilink services . slogan university bus links anyone can use . founded 1998 headquarters barton park eastleigh service area university of southampton service type bus routes 4 fleet 28 operator bluestar part of the go south coast division of the go ahead group website www.unilinkbus.co.uk unilink is the branded bus service operated under contract and serving the university of southampton in hampshire england . the service was created in 1998 following the university s expansion onto several new campuses requiring new transport links between them . the current contractor of the service is bluestar part of the go ahead group who took over in 2008 . the service also encourages use by members of the public outside the university community . contents 1 history 1.1 foundations 1.2 first southampton 1.3 minerva accord 1.4 bluestar 2 routes 3 fleet 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit foundations edit the foundations for the service began with the opening of the southampton oceanography centre in 1996 . located in southampton docks this was the first of the university s campuses that were not either within walking distance of the main campus or were self contained whose students had no need to travel to a different campus winchester school of art and southampton general hospital being the main examples . as a result the university launched the student only shuttle service to serve the new campus . the service ran every half hour with one service every hour running by avenue campus while the other ran by portswood . 1 the service was run by the university s business services division . 1 first southampton edit the uni link wordmark used by first and minerva accord . first used the logo over a pink light blue and navy blue background while minerva used it as seen here on a dark blue background . in 1998 the university made a three year agreement with local operator first southampton to run a new bus service under the uni link name . 2 3 first s service launched on 21 september 1998 and saw the introduction of three new routes 101 102 and 103 operated under the uni link branding . 4 first also rerouted their 4 6 11 13 and 20 routes so that they would run closer to the university allowing better connections with other areas of southampton . 4 the company also ran two night services labelled the 104 and the 105 . minerva accord edit a scania omnicity in accord livery . in 2001 as the university s agreement with first finished the university made some changes to the service following some dissatisfaction and some bad experiences with the service . 3 the university made uni link a company itself and awarded the operation of this service under contract . 5 the first contract winner was minerva accord who started their 5 year contract at the beginning of the 2001 2002 academic year . 3 at launch the company ran two main routes the u1 and the u2 with a number of smaller routes and variations also in existence . later in the life of the company uni link launched the u6 and the u9 routes . as some of these routes especially the u1 was used very heavily the company received various grants that allowed their fleets to expand . 6 7 8 the company added its last route in september 2005 when it was awarded a five year contract by southampton city council to run the city link service shuttle service in southampton city centre . this nearly doubled their passenger numbers adding one million passengers per annum . citation needed uni link also began trials of articulated buses and wi fi on some of their fleet during 2007 . 9 10 bluestar edit the bluestar uni link logo used between 2008 and 2013 . in 2008 local bus company bluestar were named as the winners of the next ten year contract to run the service . the service launched on 29 september 2008 coinciding with the new university year . 11 the new company used a fleet composed mainly of new vehicles . in 2012 free wi fi was installed on all uni link and bluestar buses as a result of a 4.5 million investment from transport for south hampshire . 12 in july 2013 uni link changed their smartcard system to the key smartcard that adheres to itso specifications and is currently used by several other companies owned by the go ahead group . 13 the smartcard allowed uni link pass holders access onto bluestar s central southampton services and vice versa and allowed for greater deals with other go south coast operators . 13 however it meant that the older cards which included the university of southampton student id card would not work with the new system leading to some controversy among the student population . 14 routes edit main article bluestar bus company unilink fleet edit uni link s current fleet is primarily made up of twenty three alexander dennis enviro400 double decker buses . these went into service on 3 september 2013 and feature a livery of sea blue and turquoise with the university logo at the front and the unilink logo at the back . they replace the double decker fleet used previously and is used on all routes except the u2 . the u2 route is served by two scania omnicitys repainted in the new livery and six new wright eclipse buses introduced a few weeks later . an older double decker sep 2005 reg is also used . 15 16 see also edit list of bus operators of the united kingdom university of southampton references edit a b bus service 93 93a . university of southampton bulletin . 3 20 1 . 3 february 1997 . sally nash and martin sherwood 2002 . the university of southampton an illustrated history paperback . james & james . p. 126 . isbn 0907383947 . a b c a new look for uni link . university of southampton bulletin . 7 45 1 . 3 september 2001 . a b from campus link to uni link . university of southampton bulletin . 4 47 1 . 24 august 1998 . company information . uni link bluestar . retrieved 21 march 2013 . new additions to the uni link fleet unveiled . university of southampton bulletin 3 . 19 july 2004 . more u1 buses for you on weekends . uni link accord . archived from the original on 28 august 2008 . retrieved 21 march 2013 . fleet . uni link accord . archived from the original on 14 june 2008 . retrieved 21 march 2013 . uni link bus becomes a wifi hotspot . uni link accord . archived from the original on 12 august 2007 . retrieved 22 march 2013 . bendy bus trial . uni link accord . archived from the original on 12 august 2007 . retrieved 22 march 2013 . brand new buses rev up award winning city bus service . university of southampton . 26 september 2008 . retrieved 21 march 2013 . free wifi on all uni link buses . uni link bluestar . 19 february 2012 . retrieved 21 march 2013 . a b the key . uni link bluestar . retrieved 21 march 2013 . osborn steven 6 september 2013 . unilink relaunch marks franchise anniversary . wessex scene . retrieved 13 september 2013 . unilink new fleet launched . uni link . retrieved 11 january 2014 . osborn steven 6 september 2013 . unilink relaunch marks franchise anniversary . retrieved 11 january 2014 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to uni link . uni link official site university of southampton transport site v t e bus operators in south east england berkshire arriva shires & essex bath bus company courtney buses first berkshire & the thames valley fleet buzz reading buses stagecoach in hampshire thamesdown transport thames travel the green bus white bus services wilts & dorset buckinghamshire arriva shires & essex carousel buses first berkshire & the thames valley stagecoach east east sussex arriva southern counties bath bus company brighton & hove compass travel cuckmere buses metrobus renown coaches southdown psv stagecoach south east stagecoach in hastings stagecoach in eastbourne the sussex bus hampshire amk group bluestar damory first hampshire & dorset fleet buzz reading buses stagecoach south stagecoach in hampshire stagecoach in hants & surrey stagecoach in portsmouth stagecoach in the south downs uni link wilts & dorset xelabus isle of wight southern vectis island breezers kent arriva southern counties chalkwell coaches the kings ferry metrobus nu venture stagecoach south east stagecoach in east kent sullivan buses southdown psv oxfordshire arriva shires & essex oxford bus company reading buses stagecoach oxfordshire oxford tube thamesdown transport thames travel surrey abellio surrey arriva guildford & west surrey arriva london atbus compass travel countywide travel epsom coaches quality line first berkshire & the thames valley fleet buzz london general metrobus safeguard coaches southdown psv stagecoach south stagecoach in hampshire stagecoach in hants & surrey sullivan buses the green bus transdev london west sussex arriva southern counties arriva guildford & west surrey new enterprise coaches brighton & hove compass travel tellings golden miller minerva accord metrobus southdown psv stagecoach south stagecoach in hampshire stagecoach in hants & surrey the big lemon the sussex bus national megabus national express retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title unilink & oldid 740151445 categories transport in southamptonbus operators in hampshireuniversity of southamptonhidden categories engvarb from october 2013use dmy dates from october 2013all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from may 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 19 september 2016 at 10 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