The Winchester-based charity Friends of King Alfred Buses (FOKAB) has announced the dates of its 2026 Running Days, starting by welcoming in the New Year in the traditional way with free rides around the city and its surroundings on the magnificent King Alfred Buses. As FoKAB Chair James Freeman says: “We have the city more or less to ourselves on January 1, bus-wise, with just the BlueStar1 operating, giving its regular connections all day to and from Southampton via Chandler’s Ford” So, we have evolved a pattern where our services run regular frequencies along the main roads. Romsey Road, Stockbridge Road, Andover Road, and Worthy Road all have schedules designed to make them easy for local people to use to travel in and out of the city”.
Once again, FoKAB has teamed up with our friends at the Provincial Society to provide a special free service – 69 to Fareham, providing a link to and from the Ale & Ride event in Fareham and Gosport, which they organise.
There are up to eight King Alfred vehicles, all postwar, in service (we keep the oldest buses out of the winter weather!). In addition, there are four guest vehicles – many thanks to their proud owners for making them available to make a great day even better!
All rides (except BlueStar 1) are free. It’s all organised by FoKAB – the Friends of King Alfred Buses, Winchester’s all-volunteer charity. Why not join us and become a member yourself? Come to the stall on Broadway, where you can fill out an application form there and then!
The free buses all leave from the north side of Broadway, outside the St John’s Rooms. Details of all these journeys will be available in the special souvenir programme available on the day for £6 at the FoKAB stall beside the Guildhall, or can be ordered in advance online or by post, at £7 to include postage charges. Order at FoKAB’s online shop (kingalfredbuses.org) or send a cheque to FoKAB at 2 Highcroft Road, Winchester SO22 5GJ.
Later in 2026…
The Original King Alfred Winchester Running Day is scheduled to take place on the Bank Holiday, 4 May 2026. This is the main event of the year and is likely to include as many as fifty vehicles and a wide variety of operations across the local area.
In September 2026, there will be the third event in the year, when FoKAB’s collection of old and very old buses will be running in support of the Winchester Heritage Open Days. The exact date is Sunday, 13 September 2026. We look forward to seeing you there!
