Southern Vectis Poole, and Solent Blue Line in Southampton. The new operations used older Southern Vectis buses and second-hand double-deckers. Southern Vectis also moved into other business areas on the isle of Wight. The company bought a self-drive van hire firm. It also bought two Ford Granada taxis, which it ran from the Cowes pontoon and began taxibus services which continued till 1989. In 2003, Southern Vectis started "The Pink Peril", a pink bus designed to take students to and from school. The vehicle, an Iveco minibus (fleet number 283) was the oldest in the fleet. In July 2005, Southern Vectis and
Southern Vectis Solent Blue Line were sold to the Go-Ahead Group and became part of Go South Coast. In April 2006, the network was changed with Newport the hub and other routes linking to it. Some routes, for example the "Island Explorer" were lost. However, the changes proved successful. Within 18 months, passenger numbers had increased by 45 percent. This included a 14 percent growth in fare-paying customers. In October 2009, Southern Vectis launched a website promoting a car scrappage scheme. This offered Island residents a season ticket of bus journeys for use in the next twelve months if they agreed to