SOUTHAMPTON residents might have spotted an unusual-looking bus travelling around the city of late.

The double-decker vehicle is coloured red and gold and has “Brighton and Hove” written on all four sides.

But it isn’t a case of a lost driver, caught in some unfortunate 135 mile round detour.

Nor is it a new city-to-city service.

Instead, city bus firm Bluestar has borrowed the vehicle from its sister company in the Sussex-city for a trial.

And it could result in new bigger buses being rolled out in Southampton.

Bluestar general manager, Richard Tyldsley, said: “The bus is not in the usual Bluestar colours, it is painted in the livery of our sister company Brighton and Hove.

“But to reassure people, it is still our service and we’ll have a team, including our dedicated customer adviser Passenger Pete, on-board to explain that.”

The dual-door “streetdeck” double decker bus is being trialled on Bluestar’s 18 route.

The company say buses on the route, between Millbrook and Thornhill, are filling up.

Bluestar hope the new bigger buses, as well as an extra journey from Thornhill from next month, will help relieve the congestion.

Mr Tyldsley said: “It’s great that Bluestar 18 is proving to be such a success but we’re always on the look out for future investments.

“Trialling this much larger bus is an excellent way for us to gain an insight into how we can further enhance our offering.

“We’re specifically having a close look at the dual door aspect because it both speeds-up and makes boarding and alighting easier.

“Customers can join us via the front door and exit through the other.

“We’d love people to hop on and give it a try.

“Once they’ve done that, they can let us know their views by completing a questionnaire via our website.”

As reported in the Echo yesterday, commercial buses in Southampton completed 750,000 more miles last year than they did in 2013, according to new figures.

However the report also showed the number of subsidised bus miles had decreased by more than 60 per cent over the same four year period.

City council leader, Simon Letts, suggested the drop could due to fewer pensioners using their free bus passes.

It also comes just weeks after Bluestar launched its new look Seven service, which will now cover Lordshill, Millbrook, Southampton General Hospital and the city centre.

The company say it will fill the void left behind by First Southampton’s 12 service, which the company axed last month due to declining patronage.