Tuesday 24th July 2025
A new bus route for 2025 has been introduced for the summer season by Southern Vectis on the Isle of Wight. It’s a purely commercial venture with no public support through Bus Service Improvement Plan funding.
And it’s not so much a bus route, more an open-top leisure travel experience.
Called Sea Breezer it sits alongside the Company’s other summer tourist offers including the Downs Breezer, Needles Beeezer, Shanklin Shuttle, Summer Links and Island Coaster.
One open-top bus runs hourly (with a 90 minute break at lunchtime) providing eight 45 minute circuits from Ryde to Seaview and Nettlestone and back again.
Main attractions on the route include glorious views of the seafront as you leave Ryde…
… especially as the bus does a loop round the large Waterside Pool.
The route then heads inland before continuing past Puckpool Park and returning to a section of seafront road towards the delightful village of Seaview itself.
At Seaview village the route goes inland again on an anti-clockwise elongated loop around Nettlestone before returning to Seaview and retracing the route back to Ryde.
This loop is dominated by low density homes and is also served by hourly buses on route 8 so I’m not sure there’s much of a market for an open-top bus.
I travelled on the 12:45 departure last Tuesday lunch time and only three other passengers and a family of four boarded in Ryde with no-one else joining on the way round and back.
The family alighted on the seafront road approaching Seaview, another in Nettlestone, another by Puckpool Park on the return and the final passenger hopped off back in Ryde.
I noticed we passed a number of passengers waiting for a bus on route 8 who would have been discouraged from using Sea Breezer as an alternative due to the rather exorbitant pricing regime.
Concessionary passes are not valid on Breezer services with the only option being a Rover Ticket. For an adult a 24 hour ticket costs £15.50 (over 60s pay £9.50) so not worth it if you live in Nettlestone and are just popping to the shops in Ryde.
For tourists there’s also a £19.50 48 hour ticket which offers better value if you pack your visit with lots of bus travel. Cheaper prices are available on the Southern Vectis app.
Update note: there are cheaper tickets available as highlighted in the comments and as shown on the poster below – I just failed the eyesight test!
This being Southern Vectis you won’t be surpirsed to know the route is heavily marketed with posters in Ryde…
… bus stop plates throughout the route, and of course, the company’s excellent timetable and companion publication…
… promoting the Breezer routes is available in the Travel Shop in Ryde…
…as well as the ferry port terminals in Portsmouth and Southsea.
However, I’m not convinced the Sea Breezer is going to be a financial success although I appreciate you don’t need many passengers paying £15.50 to cover the costs. But will tourists think that’s good value? Not least when you can enjoy a walk along the seafront covered by the route along a designated Coastal Path.
Ryde also sees the longer standing open top Downs Breezer route which offers a much longer clockwise tour of 90 minutes taking in Wootton, for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Brading, Sandown, Whitecliff Bay and Bembridge returning via Nettlestone and Seaview.
Roger French
Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
Over ten years ago I used to regularly visit a friend who lived on the 8 route. In summer the buses used to get fiercely delayed by the heavy traffic that is the curse of the IoW in summer. I suspect that those Nettlestone residents might be grateful for a more reliable alternative, even if it’s expensive!
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CHEAPER TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE! LOOK AT YOUR PHOTOGRAPH OF THE TIMETABLE FRAME,
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Doh; thanks very much. Should have gone to Specsavers, Post now updated.
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I am not convinced that with that pricing it will work. The cost of operating the service must be pretty much the same whether it has 1 passenger of 50
Charging a small price premium might be sensible but not the huge mark up they have put on it that will just put people off of using it
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Living in Surrey, in my infancy and early schooldays my family had surprisingly long-distance holiday destinations before touring France each summer kicked in in the 1960s. Paignton staying as paying guests of a family contact. It had a tight front yard for the family car: mother who had had formal driving lessons could park the car easily but father having a licence from the era before “the test” had great difficulty. Wyke Regis (Weymouth) which involved me acting as the car’s navigator ensuring that I saw Bournemouth trolleybuses on our way to and from our holiday, again as paying guests of another family contact. As to the Isle of Wight: this was a purely commercial operation unless the caravan we stayed in at Flowersbrook near Ventnor was again through a family contact. No car this time but the train went all the way to Ventnor from Ryde. It would have been 4-COR from Waterloo to Portsmouth then after the ferry a steam locomotive did the honours all the way to Ventnor. The trip through the single bore tunnel under St Boniface Down was hell on earth. The noise of a BAC 111 taking off is quite mild compared to the noise of that tunnel going to or from our holiday caravan. There I experienced hail & ride for the first time. I saw the bus we all wanted so I shot out a hand and it stopped quite some distance from the bus stop we would have used. Rear entrance crew double deckers were commonplace on the Island and Setright ticket machines would have been the order of those days.
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My only comments are, Best Impressions info is excellent. BUT?? is the cost of tickets to expensive at this current time.
The Wandering Busman
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It’s quite a contrast to the Lake District, where you can do Windermere to Grasmere on a open topper for three quid!
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Best Impressions STYLE in this case I’m afraid. We did all the original Breezer stuff ( and invented the name) a few years back. They’ve kept the same style and general approach since.
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Not a fan of Go Ahead South Coast’s use of stop flags for these tourist routes. On the Purbeck Breezer it means you get no consistency from stop to stop, sometimes the flag just mentions one route with little stickers (or not) for other routes, then the next stop it’s for a different route or, sometimes a totally different flag design. It’s even more confusing where you a mixture of Breezer and town routes. It would be a lot more customer friendly to have a generic Breezer stop flag and use e-plates for all the routes calling at the stop.
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Doesn’t even need to be e-plates; those are just typical London profligacy. The rest of the country just paints or labels the numbers on the flag!
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£7.50 for a 45-minute open-top trip seems very reasonable to me. Also, £20 for a group/family of 5 making it £4 each for hop-on hop-off is excellent value. Seems your outlook on this route was based on your original misunderstanding of the fares?
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Indeed, it was.
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Bus travel to Seaview used always to be that bit more expensive; Seaview Services to/from Ryde added a penny to the fare (with the TC’s approval, of course) to cover the toll for carrying passengers along the Duver Toll Road to the village. The toll was abolished in 2003. And SVOC were for years unusual (unique?) in charging a higher fare scale on all routes in Summer.
Ronin Bence
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Hi Roger
The poster on your blog indicates a lower fare than you quote, any idea which is correct?
Regards and keep up the excellent Blog.
Ian Johnson
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Dear Roger, As Membership Secretary/Treasurer of the IW Bus & Rail Users’ Group, I was aware that the Downs Breezer didn’t perform well from a commercial standpoint in 2024. As a consequence, Southern Vectis decided to reduce the frequency from hourly to two hourly and, as an experiment, use the vehicle released by this to run the Sea Breezer. Sadly, this new route isn’t being well used and unless there is a significant upsurge in business during the school summer holidays, there must be fears that neither route will reappear in 2026. This is especially true because the two oldest “Breezers” will be 24 years old by then and the business case may well result in their being withdrawn without replacement, leaving the four other open toppers to cover the three diagrams needed for the Needles Breezer. On the other hand, there will be plenty of mid-life buses becoming spare on the island early next year when Southern Vectis take delivery of 31 electric vehicles so two HW62 or HW63 buses could be available to have their roofs removed. Time will tell. Yours John Yunnie
Sent from AOL on Android
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Given the rather recent rate of DD buses loosing tops under bridges or low trees there should be a steady supply of suitable conversion candidates.
I think people are used to the fare cap – which would make it a £3 each way equals £6. Rather depends what people on holiday want to do , and really at present is it looking for cheap – or value – make the fare £4 for a rounder and I think one would triple the number of day trippers on it
I assume the vehicle does the village as an easy way to turn back to Ryde.
However most open top services I think one is looking for a decent distance perhaps connecting onto say Cowes for a £7.50 all day trip on it might be better but noting for that a 2nd vehicle would be needed.
Something to be thought of for next year – ideally running Easter and Half Term May (or May onwards )
JBC Prestatyn
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It is unfortunate for Vectis that the IOW was not included in the Southdowns National Park as then a premium fare could be charged. I just don’t think this route offers anything special enough.
I recently travelled on the Peak Sightseer with some friends. That was good value at £30 for a group and was an excellent day out, and popular. Quite a lot of travellers visiting pubs like my friends and I. Perhaps this a market that Vectis could target as there are plenty of decent pubs on the island?
Richard Warwick
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The IoW Bus Museum & CAMRA’s Beer and Buses Weekends were always very (too!) successful with lots of people using the vintage buses to visit the many pubs which took part.
I think there’s definitely scope for SV and the local CAMRA branch to get together and create a more permanent bus-based pub tour using the scheduled daily bus services and the ‘normal’ open-toppers. That way it’s increasing the market rather than trying to create an entirely new one.
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A real shame the resource has been taken off the Downs Breezer and put on this much shorter route that doesn’t seem to add much that’s particularly unique. I presume they’re hoping people who happen to be in Ryde might be tempted by a shorter trip to kill time or when seeing it after alighting from/if time before boarding their ferry/hovercraft? The Downs Breezer is now even less attractive as tying it in with places along the way mean you are ‘stuck’ at them for longer with less flexibility, as if you’ve paid the extra for an open-top bus ticket you are going to want to travel on those. We made a good day out last year on the Downs Breezer stopping at a few attractions along the way, able to travel the full circuit on open-toppers in the process, which just wouldn’t be possible on this year’s timetable. It’ll be a real shame if next year they come to the conclusion this new route isn’t worth running again and patronage on the Downs Breezer has reduced to the point that gets killed off too.
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Whilst it is generally to be applauded when new routes are tried, I found the Sea Breezer a bit lackluster when I tried it myself. The Downs Breezer was, by contrast, a great route but patronage was low. I wonder if it would do better with both buses going Ryde to Shanklin as an out and back route via the downs, rather than as a circular including Bembridge?
Without looking at the timetable, would it then have time to incorporate the Shanklin shuttle too? Probably not, but would be a better end point than Landguard Road.
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The Island Coaster looks to be a lot better value, Not open top though
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With the sort of passenger numbers they are getting I suspect they are making a loss
Most passengers probably just pay the £4. You would need a lot just break even if properly costed
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New route starting from tomorrow (July 19). Running between Minnis Bay and Ramsgate, the service follows the shore through Margate, Cliftonville and Broadstairs, treating passengers to some truly spell-binding coastal views along the way.
This service run daily from Saturday, July 26 to Sunday, August 31, after which it will run every weekend again until Sunday, September 21. Tickets for the service can be bought from the driver or via the Stagecoach Bus App and will cost £3 for an adult single journey, and £2.30 for a child’s ticket.
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The £7.50 day ticket would offer a return for only £1.50 more than on route 8, so might be worth it for some people. But guess that is not going to be valid to return on an 8 ?? It’s certainly worth giving it a try, and I am pleased they are prepared to try things
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Great detailed post, as ever – minor point is that the lake you refer to as ‘Waterside Pool’ is called ‘Canoe Lake’ – the swimming pool at the western end is Waterside Pool (Dai)
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Just back today from a week’s holiday in Ryde and the new route was an unexpected surprise. It fills a gap left when the Seaview bus was diverted from the Duver, where it usefully served Puckpool Park. With small children or tired adults it’s too far to walk both ways to/from Ryde. The low frequency does mean a bit of planning is needed though.
Full marks to Southern Vectis for still producing timetable books and maps. Journey planners have their place but are no help if you want to get an overview of all the places you could get to by bus from your holiday stay.
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Shame to hear the Downs Breezer and Sea Breezer aren’t doing well. We also tried the Sea Breezer earlier in the summer and found it a pleasant but fairly pointless route. The Downs Breezer is unusable really now it only has four journeys, so only really suited if you’re doing the full loop. As an aside, I don’t visit Ryde regularly but three times now I have been stood in Ryde bus station and found people waiting for the Island Coaster having seen the fantastic marketing for it in the bus station. They think I’m bonkers when I tell them the last Island Coaster left Ryde at 10:00 this morning! If the Downs and Sea Breezers don’t work I’d love to see an expanded Island Coaster service tried, including open toppers along Military Road.
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