Wightbus

Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLF in Newport in February 2008
Founded	1970
Defunct	2 September 2011
Headquarters	Newport
Service area	Isle of Wight
Service type	School and public services on the Isle of Wight
Destinations	Whole of the Isle of Wight
Fleet	27
Website	Wightbus homepage

Wightbus was a bus operator on the Isle of Wight, established and owned by Mr Anand Pandya, Mr Ryan Reed, and the Isle of Wight County Council. It operated a network of thirteen local bus services running across the island, mostly services which would not have been viable for the island's dominant commercial operator, Southern Vectis, to operate.

Wightbus also provided school buses, and transported disabled adults to various day care centres on behalf of the council's social services department. A dial-a-bus service was run over some parts of the island to residents who would be unable to leave their homes to catch a regular service bus.

The Wightbus fleet was made up of 27 vehicles with capacities ranging from 16 to 72. Around 40 trained drivers and passenger-escort staff were employed. Over 1 million passengers travelled on Wightbus services annually.^[1]

Wightbus was axed by the new unitary Isle of Wight Council in February 2011, with the last services operating on 2 September 2011. Under a new "Community Bus Partnership", Southern Vectis agreed to take on a number of routes previously operated by Wightbus to rural areas of the island in co-ordination with the Isle of Wight Council and the town and parish councils which the services run in. The services are all run by volunteer drivers.