Changed Priorities Ahead

by Jim

Bus passengers travelling north and west from Lancaster bus station are finding their journeys getting off to an easier start with a change in priority at the Damside Street exit.

Every one of the County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plans of the last few years has promised various bus priority measures on the city’s streets, although all of them seem to have been delayed or quietly abandoned following objections or lack of capacity to implement them. But suddenly, a scheme that hasn’t featured in any of them has appeared at the heart of the city’s bus network.

Buses leaving the bus station via Damside Street have previously had to give way to traffic coming from their right. Damside Street isn’t the busiest of the city’s roads but buses have always had to approach the exit with the expectation that they would have to give way, which frequently they would be required to do.

Now, however, “Give Way” markings have appeared on Damside Street and buses leaving the bus station now have the priority.

A bus leaving the bus station onto Damside Street
A Stagecoach bus takes advantage of the change in priority

The actual time savings may be small (and buses using Damside Street to enter the bus station from Cable Street actually lose the priority they previously enjoyed) but as the saying goes: “Every little helps” and hopefully this is just the first of many measures to make life easier for the city’s bus drivers and passengers alike.

Park & Ride: Service cut and fares up

by Jim

Lancaster’s Park & Ride service, which links the Infirmary and the City Centre with the car park at Jc 34 of the M6 via Caton Road, will be cut back from Monday 6th July.

The service will be reduced from every 15 minutes to every half hour. Ironically, for a service provided for the purpose of reducing traffic, the frequency is further reduced to one bus every 45 minutes at peak times due to the extra traffic at these times delaying the bus!

The cuts will follow the ending of funding from the NHS, which since 2021 has allowed a second bus to be provided to run the 15 minute frequency and extend the service to the Infirmary from its previous terminus in the city centre. Despite the end of this funding, the Infirmary will still be served.

At the time the funding was provided it was said to be temporary until such time as the NHS could improve staff car parking provision at the Infirmary, although now that it is ending there has been no statement to the effect that the extra parking is in place.

The new timetable inevitably leads to a less attractive service. For example, a car driver arriving at the Car Park and just missing the 0740 bus into the city is expected to wait until 0820 for a bus with the following departure not until 0900.

Heavily subsidised

At the same time as the service quality is reduced, the cost is increased – with a return fare rising to £2.50 – although for a journey of just over 4km each way the fare remains far lower than every other bus fare in the city (and parking is, of course, free).

The motorist is still therefore heavily subsidised and the Bus Users’ Group can’t help but wonder if the money couldn’t be better spent providing better bus services that everyone could use, rather than just those who already have an alternative means of transport.