YELLOW Buses’ open top service now includes the option to go via the sea to Brownsea Island.

The company has joined forces with the yellow-branded family-owned Brownsea Island Ferries based at Sandbanks.

Passengers boarding Buster’s Beach Bus can pay the driver for a discounted travel ticket to the historic island which is run by the National Trust.

David Squire, managing director of Yellow Buses who recently led a management buyout of the company, said: “The Buster’s Beach Bus service has been extremely popular.

“We thought that offering passengers the option to hop off the bus and straight onto the ferry with the same ticket would really add value.

“As a bus company we are always keen to link modes of transport, particularly trains. This is the first time we have joined forces with a ferry company.”

A combined ticket allows unlimited travel on the bus and a return ferry crossing to the island – with prices at £7.50 for children, £11 for adults and £27 for a family.

David Hedgeman who owns the ferry service, said: “We are yellow and they are yellow and it feels like it was just meant to be.

“The ferry service has been running since the 19th century and Yellow Buses has been going for more than a century – so this partnership is long overdue.”

David Squire along with Simon Newport and Phil Pannell recently bought out Yellow Buses from its French owners, meaning now it is locally owned and managed.

The bus service runs from Boscombe pier and goes to the town centre and Alum Chine before running to Sandbanks – every half an hour from 10am until 6pm, seven days a week until the end of September.

Entrance to Brownsea Island has an additional cost unless visitors have National Trust membership.