Bluestar (bus company)

Bluestar

Scania OmniCity in Southampton in May 2009
Parent	Go South Coast (part of the Go-Ahead Group)
Founded	1987
Headquarters	Eastleigh
Service area	Hampshire
Service type	Bus service
Destinations	Southampton, Winchester, Eastleigh, Romsey, Botley, Totton
Fleet	107 (November 2016)
Chief executive	Andrew Wickham
Website	www.bluestarbus.co.uk

Solent Blue Line Ltd, which trades primarily under the name Bluestar, is a bus operator providing services in south Hampshire. It is a subsidiary of the Go South Coast sector of the Go-Ahead Group.

Solent Blue Line was formed by Southern Vectis in May 1987 to compete with Southampton Citybus on some of its major routes with some Bristol VRTs.

In October 1987 Solent Blue Line purchased the Hants & Sussex business from Basil Williams and the Eastleigh and Southampton routes which had previously been part of Hants & Dorset, from Stagecoach in Hampshire. This expanded the fleet from 16 to 115 buses. New buses began to be purchased with Leyland Olympians for the Southampton to Winchester service and minibuses for the Eastleigh to Winchester service. Some services were operated under franchise by Brijan Tours and Marchwood Motorways.

From here the network expanded until in 2003 the network underwent a change, involving a new name and the launch of the Bluestar brand soon after, as a name for their premier services with Bluestar services one and two launching in 2004, the three and four service launching a year later and the Waterside services eight and nine having fully launched by 2006.

In July 2005 Solent Blue Line was included in the sale of Southern Vectis to the Go-Ahead Group and subsequently the head office functions of the company were consolidated with those of the other Go South Coast companies, Southern Vectis and Wilts & Dorset, in Poole. In October 2006 Solent Blue Line purchased Marchwood Motorways