Home

Blackpool is notorious for its lack of a bus station, with passengers – locals and visitors alike – having to work out which of several town centre shopping streets their bus might leave from.

Stagecoach’s service 42 to Lancaster leaves from one of two bus stops located on Abingdon Street, although until recently the only indication of which of those stops it might be was a tiny “42” sticker attached to the bus stop flag.

There was no indication as to where this “42” might go, still less when one might expect it to depart. With bus stop infrastructure in the town controlled by Blackpool Council there wasn’t much that Stagecoach could do about it – and even the “42” added to the sign looks to have been done so surreptitiously.

Change of Heart

But a recent visit to the resort by BUG’s roving reporter uncovered a development – and one which seems to have been authorised at a “high level”!

The previously empty display case now has a nice, clear departure list of buses on service 42 apparently provided by Blackpool Council.

Note, however, just how high up on the pole it has been fixed. The top of the case is at the same height as the top of the adjacent shelter, whilst the information on departures is placed right at the top of the case, putting it at a higher level than the top of the bus door!

Anyone tall enough to be able to read the display would have to bend double to get on the bus!

A common problem

This problem is not unique to Blackpool, as all vertically-challenged bus passengers will know. The BUG suspects it’s because the cases are fixed to the poles by staff who position them where it is most comfortable for them to do the work, without bending or stooping, whilst the computer software that produces the displays themselves is programmed to start at the top of the page irrespective of how much information needs to be provided on any particular display. (Anyone reading this from the bus company or the council please note!). Both these issues are fixable, but until then we can only suggest passengers carry one vital piece of equipment!

Following the introduction in August 2023 of a new timetable on service 89 between Lancaster and Knott End-on-Sea, together with new service 88 that links the same points via Garstang, the Bus Users’ Group started to receive complaints about buses running early on journeys coming into Lancaster. The problem was most apparent at the stops at the Islamic College and Ripley School on Ashton Road where buses were reportedly passing three to four minutes before the advertised times with individual journeys reported as being up to seven minutes early.

At the same time, buses on the new 88 route were experiencing difficulties at the bridge over the Lancaster Canal on Moss Lane in Garstang and in crossing the A6 from there.

Investigation by the Group swiftly established that the early running problem was not helped by the uneven nature of the timetable. It’s not unusual for service buses to be allowed a different amount of time in each direction; the route followed may not be exactly the same and other factors such as road conditions and even passenger loadings can influence the amount of time needed. The Knott End services are a classic case, with both the 88 and 89 allowing buses six minutes less to travel from Knott End to Lancaster than in the opposite direction.

Differential Timings

With less time allowed to complete the journey buses will need to run faster when heading towards Lancaster, but here the timetable lays a trap: for the section of route between Condor Green and Ripley School city-bound buses are allowed four minutes longer than in the opposite direction. Drivers who will have been going more quickly over the rest of the route to allow for the reduced running time can easily be caught out by the extra time added after Condor Green, hence the early running along Ashton Road.

Of course, a good driver should either wait for time or adjust his or her driving so as not to run early, but the timing point at Condor Green, The Stork (which is an unmarked stop just around a bend) is not suitable for buses to wait for any length of time, whilst driving artificially slowly along the A588 causes its own problems.

Action eventually

The Bus Users’ Group first raised the issue with Lancashire County Council, which designed the timetable that Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire operate on its behalf, in November last year and were told that the problem would be resolved “early in the new year”. Nothing happened and various other promised dates came and went, but finally a new timetable was registered with the Traffic Commissioner to commence on 19th May.

Running time reduced

The new timetable reduces the running time allowed in both directions, but actually increases the differential according to direction of travel. Buses will now get ten minutes longer to get from Lancaster to Knott End than they do to come back! In the case of the 89 this represents a 16% reduction in time allowed for northbound buses over southbound ones.

The new timetable should, however, resolve the early running problem on Ashton Road as the time given from Condor Green to Ripley School is reduced from eleven to seven minutes, which coupled with a six-minute reduction in the overall time allowed from Knott End should mean buses will arrive at the advertised times.

Route Change

The other feature of the new 88 timetable is a new route in the Garstang area to take the service away from the canal bridge on Moss Lane. Southbound buses entering Garstang via Croston Road will complete the loop around Garstang town centre via Park Hill Road and retrace their steps via Croston Road to the A6, then travel south to resume the existing route at Longmoor Lane. Northbound buses will follow the reverse of this route and the three bus stops on Moss Lane will not be served. As well as avoiding the troublesome canal bridge this change will also eliminate the potentially difficult crossing of the A6 at the Moss Lane/Longmoor Lane junction.

The new timetable, which will be introduced on 19th May is here.

Lancaster Bus Users’ Group has published a new leaflet with ideas to tempt people to get out and about on the buses this spring and summer and take full advantage of the cap on bus fares to a maximum of £2 per journey.

Although Stagecoach and the county council do a good job in making basic timetable information available to the public, in both digital and printed formats, neither appear to do much to encourage local people or visitors to use the buses or to make trips to places that they may not have realised were easily accessible by bus.

This is in complete contrast to the Lake District, where Stagecoach produces a 72-page full-colour booklet, twice a year, packed full of timetables, maps and details of local attractions.

Although the Group doesn’t have Stagecoach’s resources to replicate that publication for north Lancashire, it has, with generous financial assistance from transport watchdog Travel Watch North West, been able to publish a more modest leaflet that aims to do the same job of encouraging more use of local buses.

Lancaster Bus Users’ Group Chair, Jim Davies said:

“With bus fares frozen at a maximum of £2 per journey for the rest of the year, now is the perfect time to get out and explore north Lancashire and neighbouring counties without a car.

“We hope existing bus passengers will take the opportunity to try a route or find a destination that is new to them, whilst those new to buses will find our guide helpful in choosing where to go.”

Local attractions

The leaflet itemises seven local attractions that can easily be reached by bus from Lancaster, ranging from short-distance trips to Williamson Park Crook o’ Lune and Glasson Dock, to longer, more adventurous rides to Silverdale, Kendal, Kirkby Lonsdale and Blackpool with details of which bus to catch and where to get timetable information.

Professionally-produced by marketing consultants, PB Bus Marketing Ltd, the leaflets can be obtained free of charge, from Lancaster bus station (at the carousel outside the Stagecoach office and at Nefis’ Tea Bar at the Damside Street entrance), Lancaster Library and other local outlets.

For those who prefer a digital version, or are able to print at home, the leaflet can be viewed or downloaded from this link: Days out by bus from Lancaster Leaflet

No summer Sunday buses to the Yorkshire Dales are likely to run from Lancaster for a second successive year as no local bus company appears to be in a position to operate them. After a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the service returned in 2022 with two routes: the Northern Dalesman 830 to Richmond via Swaledale and the 881 to Malham Tarn and Malham village via Settle.

No service ran in 2023 due to changes to the the times of trains to and from Ribblehead, which meant it was impossible to provide attractive connections for the substantial proportion of the passengers that interchange with the Northern Dalesman there and without which the viability of the service would be called into question. The Malham Shuttle had also failed to attract sufficient passengers from the Lancaster end of the route to justify its operation that year.

The Dales & Bowland CIC, which commissions the services receives no public funding for any part of the network of services it provides and relies on donations and sponsorship to supplement income from fares. Neither Lancashire not North Yorkshire Councils will accept these services in their concessionary fares schemes or provide subsidy to bridge the gap between costs and fares income.

Hope for 2024

Following some progress on raising sponsorship funding for the 2024 season, it had been hoped to run both services from Lancaster between early May and the end of October and timetables had been drawn up. However, Dales & Bowland CIC has been unable to find a bus operator prepared to take on the work and has reluctantly concluded that it will not be possible to provide a service again this year.

All bus operators are known to be struggling to find sufficient staff to cover their normal day-to-day operations and both Stagecoach and Lonsdale Buses (as Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire now increasingly styles itself) now have additional service commitments on Sundays. Lonsdale Buses is operating an all-year round Sunday service between Lancaster and Knott End-on-sea for Lancashire County Council, whilst Stagecoach appears to have transferred some work on the 555 Lancaster-Keswick service to its Morecambe depot to provide extra fast journeys via the M6 on summer Sundays as it does on Saturdays and during high summer.

Alternatives?

Anyone looking for a day out in the hills by bus at the weekend may now need to consider the Lake District instead. Stagecoach’s Limited Stop X8 service from Chorley to Keswick will call again at Lancaster’s Caton Road Park & Ride site every Saturday from 30th March to 26th October. Buses will leave Caton Road at 1030 and return at 1801. A full timetable is on our website here X8 Chorley-Lancaster-Keswick

And as mentioned above, the summer Sunday timetable on the 555, introduced on 24 March, will see new express journeys from Lancaster at 0814 and 1014 running via the M6 to Kendal and continuing to Keswick, returning from Keswick at 1600 and 1800. The full timetable is here 555 Lancaster-Keswick

Stagecoach’s Summer 2024 Lakes Guide timetable sees a number of improvements to services in and to the Lakes from 23 March.

Better Sunday buses

Following a suggestion by the Bus Users’ Group to the Lancashire Enhanced Partnership (of bus operators and the county council) there will be improvements to the Sunday service on the 555 between Lancaster, Kendal and Keswick. The Sunday frequency remains two-hourly, but will be improved by the addition of new journeys that operate via the M6 Motorway. Two extra buses will leave Lancaster at 0814 and 1014 and, running fast to Kendal, will offer arrivals at Kendal (0901 and 1101), Windermere (0925 and 1125), Ambleside (0947 and 1147) and Keswick (1038 and 1238) up to 90 minutes earlier than at present.

Extra return buses will leave Keswick at 1600 and 1800; Ambleside at 1649 and 1847; Windermere at 1708 and 1905 and Kendal at 1735 and 1930 to arrive in Lancaster at 1816 and 2011. These buses will continue until the end of the summer timetable on 3rd November.

By using the first and last of the new journeys Lancaster passengers can spend over 7 hours in Keswick (previously just 2½ hrs) or 9 hours in Ambleside (instead of just under five) on Sundays.

Weekday changes

Changes to the weekdays timetable will see most buses leaving Lancaster five minutes earlier than at present, at 05 past the hour (with “motorway” journeys at 14 past the hour), although late afternoon and early evening times are unchanged. The first few southbound buses of the day run at different times (up to the 1015 from Kendal) but unfortunately co-ordination with the 55 between Carnforth and Lancaster is no better – just different!

Service 755 (Heysham (Ocean Edge) to Bowness-on-Windermere remains unchanged.

Changes in the Lakes

Other significant changes in the Lakes include:

• Additional journeys for hospitality workers between Windermere and Barrow, thanks to funding support from Westmorland & Furness Council
• Advance confirmation of the Buttermere shuttle service 77C on peak weekends thanks to funding by the Strategic Visitor Management Group
• Enhanced Ullswater Hopper (UB1) timetable with new service 509 thanks to financial support from SITU.
• Increase in frequency on service 516 between Ambleside and Langdale to every 60 minutes
• Extra journeys on service 554 between Carlisle and Keswick
• Increase of frequency on services X4/X5 to every 30 minutes between Penrith and Keswick thanks to funding from Westmorland & Furness Council

The Summer 2024 Guide to The Lakes by Bus can be read or downloaded from Stagecoach’s website via this link: Lakes by Bus Summer 2024.

Printed copies will also be available from many outlets, including Lancaster bus station and Lancaster Library as well as on most buses in the Lakes.

The new 555 timetable is here: 555 Summer 2024 timetable

A fleet of 31 new battery-powered electric buses could be coming to Lancaster if a funding bid by Lancashire County Council is successful.

The County Council is seeking £15.75m from the government’s ZEBRA (Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas) Fund, set up under the National Bus Strategy of 2021 to help bus operators transition away from diesel-powered vehicles to cleaner and greener buses. The bid also includes provision for similar buses to convert some Stagecoach and Preston Bus services in and around Preston.

The new buses would be used on services 1/1A, 2X and 100 on the University – Lancaster – Morecambe – Battery -Heysham corridor. The bid is supported by Lancaster City Council as a contribution towards its aim to reduce air pollution in the city centre Air Quality Management Zone, where pollution levels are significantly higher than they ought to be. The grant would be passed on to the bus operators and would meet 75% of the difference between the price of an electric bus and its diesel equivalent. The balance of the cost will be met by the bus operators and the funding will also meet 75% of the cost of installing the necessary equipment to re-charge the buses at White Lund depot. None of the costs of either the buses or the charging infrastructure will fall upon the council.

The total available  in what is the second round of ZEBRA funding is £129m, with at least 25% reserved for rural areas, for which Lancaster does not qualify. The council’s bid is therefore in the second priority group (out of three), which is “non-rural authorities that did not receive funding in the first round”.

Interest amongst local authorities has been higher than expected. Matthew Moll, Enhanced Partnership Manager for the County Council said: “Almost every Local Transport Authority in England seems to have submitted a bid to the ZEBRA fund, so there is going tobe a high level of competition. However, I feel that we have put in a good-quality bid”

Of course, the new electric buses would not be the first to grace the city’s streets. Lancaster Corporation Transport was an early pioneer in electrically-powered buses, with its first examples being put into service as long ago as 1916. It has to be said that these primitive vehicles were not a huge success, being unsuited to Lancaster’s hills and they spent most of their lives on the relatively flat Caton Road service. Nevertheless they lasted until 1929, which was just as long as many motor buses of the time.

A decision on the bid is due to be announced in March and  buses funded under the scheme  are expected to enter service no later than January next year.