The DAF single decker buses all originated with Solent Blue Line's subsidary, Marchwood Motorways, operating in Solent Blue Line livery. There are a variety of step entry and low floor types, bodied by Ikarus and Wright. Following the take over by BlueStar, the Ikarus examples operate from Totton on routes 4, 10, 11 and 12, with route 18 having moved to Eastleigh, where the Wright examples are allocated.

4 Dennis Darts (2 with Pointer bodywork, 2 with Alexander) were been purchased second hand for the fleet. Furthermore, in 2005 several Darts were taken on loan from Thamesdown. This gallery illustrates the Darts with Solent Blue Line, which all left service during 2006/7. 583/4 are in service with Brijan Tours, now completely independant of SBL.

This gallery also includes the three Dart SLFs taken over with the Unilink operation - these being East Lancs bodied 3351 and 3352 for the Citylink route, along with Caetano bodied 3344.

In 1998 Solent Blue Line acquired 7 East Lancs bodied Dennis Tridents brand new. These are numbered 742-9, registered T742-9JPO. All at present in the new blue livery with BlueStar branding. These are usually found on routes 1, 2 and 4. Since the take over by Go Ahead, the Tridents have been renumbered 772-9 - all captions have been upgraded.

BlueStar Olympians are now few and far between. There was originally a large fleet of Olympians - there were a number of Volvo Olympians in the fleet (5, 2 with East Lancs bodywork, 3 ex-Go Ahead London) and the rest had Leyland bodywork. Those featured in this gallery:
- A---MEL batch - ex-Hampshire Bus now disposed of
- Any ending in DL have come as part of a Southern Vectis delivery or were new to Southern Vectis - all have been withdrawn now, and the F/H reg ones are now in service with Wilts & Dorset.
- R---XRV - all now in service on the Isle of Wight as Breezers
- East Lancs bodied 765/6 now with Wilts & Dorset at Lymington
- Olympians with a 8** number were new to Go Ahead London/Metrobus, and are in the process of being transferred to W&D.

In short, I believe the Bluestar Olympian is now (or very soon to be) an extinct species!

In 2006, Solent Blue Line extended their BlueStar network to include routes X9 and 38. These were renumbered 8 and 9 and both had an increased and simplified frequency. The most impressive change was the introduction of 10 Mercedes-Benz Citaros specifically for use on BlueStar 8 and 9. All are now photographed in this gallery, and since their introduction and the introduction of Southern Vectis' Citaros, they have been renumbered from 401-410 to 441-450.

Solent Blue Line acquired a number of Optare Solos from sister company Wilts & Dorset for expansions to the BlueStar and Red Rocket networks back in 2006. Now, the number has been reduced but there are still a number in service, all in BlueStar blue at Eastleigh, and are found on:
- the E1/2/3 to Winchester
- route F
- route 15
- a Park and Ride contract

BlueStar, during 2008 and 2009 have taken/will take two deliveries of Scania Omnicity double deck buses. The first batch will operate the Unilink contract, recently won from Accord. The buses tend to operate the U1, but sometimes deviate onto the U9.

A later batch entered service in BlueStar livery, destined for BlueStar 1 (Southampton - Winchester). 1125 is the extra bus and sometimes deviates off route, but thus far during the daytime the Omnicities stick to BlueStar 1 (I have seen a late evening Scania on a 4 to Romsey, which interworks with the 1).

BlueStar received some Scania CN230UB Omnicity single deckers for Unilink contracts in late 2008. These predominantly operate Unilink routes U2, U6 and U9, and replaced a fleet of Caetano bodied Dennis Dart SLFs. Hopefully all will appear in this gallery in the future, but for now...

3 Stages of the Solent Blue Line MPD:

2003 - 2005 571 - 582 - photos of the Solent Blue Line MPDs as delivered in 2003 in the new turquoise livery, in conjuction with a revamp of services. The service changes never caught on; neither did the livery.

2005/6 - 23rd Feb 2008 - 581/2 moved to Southern Vectis following the introduction of the RED ROCKET routes in 2005/6. Red Rocket was a new invention for Eastleigh town routes and used letters instead of route numbers

25th Feb 2008 ongoing - 577-80 moved to Southern Vectis following the introduction of the BABY BLUESTAR network in 2008. Red Rocket logos were replaced with Baby BlueStar ones - all remaining MPDs now operate from Totton in BlueStar livery.

4 Volvo B10Bs were new to Solent Blue Line which have Alexander Strider bodywork, which are all photo'd in this gallery as 526-9/631-4 in Solent Blue Line livery. These moved to Wilts & Dorset (via Southern Vectis) in 2007.

In 2005, 10 Volvo B10Bs were transferred from Go Ahead's Oxford outfit to SBL to consolidate the fleet. All now wear SBL BlueStar livery. These were different from the originals as they were bodied by Northern Counties. Most are withdrawn now, with only 622 and 625 in service at Totton.

Solent Blue Line acquired a batch of 7 East Lancs Myllennium bodied Volvo B7TLs in 2001. All are in the new blue livery with BlueStar branding. These buses can usually be found on routes 1, 2 and 4. In 2006, they were joined by a sole B7TL with Enviro bodywork - since the B7 has become the B9, it is the sole example in existance. Further added to the batch are 408 and 409 - two 2005 Volvo B7TLs added from Wilts & Dorset for the New Forest Tour.

After SBL sold all their VRs in 2001, they have just bought 2 for the New Forest tour. Here are some piccies. These are UFX857S, an ECW bodied example, and WTG360T, an Alexander example. Both were acquired from Bath Bus Company, and operated the New Forest tour for a couple of years before moving onto the Docks Tour. After the 2007 summer season they moved to Southern Vectis and are no longer in service with Solent Blue Line.

The main minibus for Solent Blue Line was the Iveco TurboDaily, of which now all have been withdrawn. A batch of 12 Transbus Dart SLFs were acquired brand new in 2003, that saw off some of them. This was followed with 7 or so Optare Solos being introduced with saw off the remaining examples. Before all ended service, Southern Vectis transferred 5 across to Blue Line - 240-4 - which saw further service and are illustrated in this gallery.

I have added Brijan minibuses in Solent Blue Line livery to the Brijan Tours collection - see "Hampshire Independents".