Home

Passengers waiting for buses at the stops in Common Garden Street in Lancaster city centre should find it a more comfortable experience following the installation of new seating by Lancashire County Council.

This replaces the previous benches that many passengers found uncomfortable and difficult to use due to their low positioning and lack of armrests.

The need for the new seats was recognised by Lancaster City councillors, who asked LBUG member and city councillor Abi Mills to pursue the matter in her role as the council’s disability champion. After much research and extensive consultation with potential users the “Broxap Ilford” design (illustrated above) was chosen.

However, with both the city and county councils strapped for cash and the Marketgate Centre’s owners not seeing it as their role, the project was held up due to lack of funding.

Lancaster Bus Users’ Group was able to identify the Bus Service Improvement Plan, administered by the “Enhanced Partnership” of bus operators and councils in Lancashire, as a potential source and an application for funding proved successful.

Another example of the Bus Users’ Group working together with the city and county councils to improve facilities for passengers,

Lancaster will once-again be connected to the Yorkshire Dales by bus after a two-year absence from next month when Lonsdale Buses will begin operating service 80 between Lancaster and Hawes.

In a change from previous years the service will run on Saturdays between 3rd May and 18th October with two round trips each day.

Connections

Connections will be made with trains on the Settle & Carlisle line at Ribblehead. Buses will meet the “Yorkshire Dales Explorer” train from Rochdale and Manchester at either end of the day to convey passengers to and from Hawes from where further bus connections are available on the Wensleydale Voyager 156 service to Leyburn and the “Garsdale Station Shuttle” 113 to Hardraw and Garsdale station. There are no connections to Swalesdale or Richmond this year. Service 156 does continue to Catterick, from where a connection to and from Richmond is available, but the timetables are such that only a very short stay is possible in the town.

Round Trips

As well as providing a facility for Lancaster residents to reach the Dales, a second round trip from Hawes will make it possible for people to make an afternoon’s visit to Lancaster and will restore a direct link between Ingleton and the city on Saturday afternoons.

Fares and Concessions

The Dales Rover ticket, which most passengers have used in previous years is only available on Sundays & Public Holidays and will not therefore be valid. However, the £3 maximum single fare cap will apply as will the under-19s offer of a maximum £1 fare per journey.

At the time of writing the position on concessionary passes was unclear and apparently under negotiation. In previous years North Yorkshire County Council, illegally in our view, did not allow their use on Dales Buses from Lancaster on the spurious grounds that these were provided solely for “tourists”. However the new service provides for a range of journey purposes, including shopping and hospital visiting in Lancaster and we would hope that the new North Yorkshire Council and Lancashire County Council would see sense and accept them.

Links

Please follow the links for more information

Timetable for service 80 Lancaster – Hawes

Map of Dales Bus services Summer 2025

Dales Area Bus and Train Times Booklet Summer 2025

Our previous post on the introduction of the extension of service 552 to provide a new link from Carnforth, Warton, Yealand and Silverdale to Arnside and Kendal was based on information supplied in good faith by Lancashire County Council, which itself received it from the operator, Lonsdale Buses. The information given matched that on the council’s own website.

After posting it, we were alerted by a reader to the fact that Westmorland & Furness Council was showing a different timetable on its website. After querying the position with both councils we then received a third version, which we are assured has been provided by Lonsdale Buses and is the timetable that has been registered. Here it is:

We have amended the previous post and removed the incorrect timetable, as there is already too much out-of-date and just plain wrong stuff on the internet already!

This post has been amended following receipt of new information.

From Monday, 31st March, in an initiative between Lancashire and Westmorland & Furness Councils, Lonsdale Buses service 552 to Kendal will be extended to start at Carnforth, filling the gap across the county boundary and reinstating in a modest way a long-lost link between Silverdale and Arnside.

Surprisingly, even at this late stage, a full public timetable is not available, but the Bus Users’ Group has managed to obtain a draft version. which although not complete with details of picking-up points and routes, does give an indication of the service, which will operate on Monday to Saturday inclusive.

The timing points in Warton, Yealand Conyers and Levens are still to be confirmed as is the route the service will take between through Silverdale village and Arnside, but we will post these as soon as we can obtain the details.

Service 552 itself was established in March 2020, just before the Covid pandemic struck, but despite this it managed to establish itself and was recently extended from a three to a six day a week operation. A previous service between Arnside and Kendal, operated by Stagecoach was withdrawn in 2019.

Ribble

Historically the link was provided by Ribble Motor Services as part of service 554 between Kendal and Lancaster. In 1971 an hourly service was still being operated although by the time of deregulation of bus services in October 1986 it had shrunk to just two journeys a day with additional journeys between Warton and Lancaster.

The new service provides a facility for passengers from Warton, Yealand and Silverdale to visit Kendal including Morrisons supermarket as well as the town centre. as well as allowing Arnside residents to get to Carnforth and, with connecting services, to Lancaster,

From last week, passengers travelling on Lonsdale Buses’ service between Lancaster and Skipton (picture above) suddenly found that the £3 fare, capped under a government scheme, no longer applied throughout the route and they were being asked to pay again if their journey took them across Kirkby Lonsdale and/or Settle. This was said to be because the through journeys were registered as separate services either side of those points.

Following discussions between the operator and the Bus Users’ Group, the fare cap has been reinstated for journeys across Kirkby Lonsdale, such as Lancaster to Ingleton or Lancaster to Settle, but passengers continuing to Skipton will have to pay again from Settle onwards. We are awaiting further clarification regarding the effect on through journeys to Ingleton and Bentham on service 583 that were initially also affected.

Cheaper on the app?

Some passengers may find it cheaper to take advantage of special tickets now available on Lonsdale Buses’ new app. all of which give unlimited travel on all the company’s services (excluding special school buses) for the period covered.

Day Ranger Ticket – £9

Lonsdale Network Weekly – £25 adult; £20 under 19s

Lonsdale Network 31-day rider – £95 adult; £75 under19s

Stagecoach has published the Summer 2025 edition of its Guide to bus services in the Lake District, which includes services 555 and 755 to and from Lancaster and Morecambe and which comes into effect on 31st March.

Service 555 Lancaster – Kendal – Keswick

Motorway Extras

As usual, the summer timetable sees the introduction of extra journeys between Lancaster and the Lakes running via the M6 motorway. Northbound buses will leave Lancaster at 09.14 and hourly to 15.14 complementing the all-year round service and taking 39 minutes off the journey time between Lancaster and Kendal.

Southbound journeys via the M6 will leave Kendal at 10.40, then Keswick at 12.00 (Kendal 13.40) and hourly until 18.00 (19.35 from Kendal). All the above journeys will run on Monday to Friday between 30th June and 26th September and ALL Saturdays until 2nd November, which is when Stagecoach’s very generous interpretation of “summer” ends.

New peak-hour buses

New for this year are additional peak-hour buses between Lancaster, Kendal and Keswick via the M6 that will run on Monday to Saturday throughout the period of the summer timetable. These will leave Lancaster at 08.10 arriving in Kendal at 08.51 and Keswick at 10.38, returning from Keswick at 16.00 and Kendal at 17.40 to arrive Lancaster at 18.22

Sundays

The Sunday and public holiday timetable is largely unchanged from last summer. The extra motorway journeys leaving Lancaster at 08.14 and 10.14 and returning from Keswick at 16.00 and 18.00 that were introduced last year following a suggestion from the Bus Users’ Group return for another season and as usual the 08.20 Kendal-Lancaster and 18.45 Lancaster – Kendal are withdrawn for the summer.

Service 755 Heysham – Carnforth – Bowness-on-Windermere

After several years of a remarkably static timetable, service 755 gets its second revamp in as many years for the new season.

The biggest changes are on Monday to Friday, especially in the peak, when the long-standing journey at 08.05 from Ocean Edge to Kendal, which only operated in school holidays south of Carnforth, is replaced by a journey starting in Lancaster at 07.20 that runs via the Bay Gateway to Combermere Road (07.35) and then continues through to Bowness-on-Windermere and runs throughout the season.

A return facility is provided by a bus leaving Bowness at 15.50 to Combermere Road (17.42) and Lancaster, bus station at 18.04. This replaces the 16.05 from Bowness to Ocean Edge that ran only in School Holidays north of Morecambe.

There are changes to times of most other Monday to Friday journeys on this service.

Saturday

On Saturday, the timetable is largely unchanged, but there is a small improvement to the evening service with a new journey departing Ocean Edge at 20.40 to Euston Road, utilising a bus that currently runs “not in service” to the depot.

Sunday

On Sunday and public holidays the 16.30 Ocean Edge to Carnforth journey is extended to Kendal, arriving 17.59 and returning from Kendal at 18.07 through to Ocean Edge at 19.25 It provides a connection at Kendal from the 16.30 service 555 journey from Kendal and offers a later facility for visitors to the central Lakes from Morecambe on Sunday.

The X8 Returns

Not included in the Lakes Guide, probably because it is operated by a different part of the Stagecoach group, service X8 provides a fast, motorway service from Chorley and Preston to Keswick and The Lakes, calling at Lancaster’s Park & Ride site at Caton Road. For the coming season the service will operate every Saturday between 5th April and 1st November, calling at the Park & Ride at 10.20 to arrive Keswick at 11.50 and returning from Keswick at 16.30 via Grasmere, Ambleside and Windermere to arrive Caton Road at 18.01.

Service 567 Kendal – Kirkby Lonsdale – Ingleton

Slightly outside the Lancaster area, but probably of interest to local bus users, this service is shown in the Lakes Guide for the first time, being the last of Stagecoach’s interurban services from Kendal to be included.

The move co-incides with the return of the service on a regular basis to Ingleton, with five journeys in each direction between Ingleton and Kendal every Saturday complemenmting the college days-only service currently provided.

Full details of the above and all Stagecoach Lake District services can be seen and downloaded via this link to the Lakes By Bus Guide 2025

As ever, Stagecoach is to be complimented on producing such a high-quality publication that is comprehensive, widely distributed and which has both a “start” and an “end” date that allows the certainty and stability that is so important, especially to new or casual users that must make up a large part of its target market.

With the lifting of the government’s cap on single bus fares in England from £2 to £3 from the start of the year, Stagecoach has announced details of its fares that will apply when services resume after the New Year break on Thursday, 2nd January.

All medium and long-distance fares from Lancaster, to places such as Morecambe, Carnforth, Galgate, Preston and Keswick will rise to £3, but will still offer substantial savings over the fares that applied before January 2023.

Local Fares

For shorter journeys, there will be fares of £1.80, £2 and £2.30, according to distance. Whilst some passengers currently paying £2 will see an increase of 30p, others will continue to have their fares frozen for a further twelve months, whilst others will experience a small reduction.

The £1.80 fare will take passengers from Lancaster city centre as far as Lily Grove on Greaves Road; Palatine Avenue on Bowerham Road; Scale Hall Spar on Torrisholme Road; Scale Hall Road on the 6A; Noel Road on service 7; Westbourne Road on service 11; Hill Road on Halton Road on the 49 and Barley Cop Lane on the 55 and 555 along Owen Road.

The new £2 uncapped fare will apply to a small number of journeys, including those to Lancaster University (on all services), Hazelrigg Lane on services 40 – 42 and Hathaway Road on service 7.

For £2.30, passengers can travel as far as Lancaster & Morecambe College on service 100; White Lund Industrial Estate on the 6A; Kellet Lane on service 49 and Beaumont College on the 55 and 555. This fare will also apply to those stops on services to Marsh, Vale and Ridge not covered by lower priced tickets.

The new fares are in the Stagecoach Journey Planner and can be checked by making a “Plan jour journey” enquiry and setting the date to 2 January or later.

Day, Week and Longer Tickets

Stagecoach has chosen not to increase the price of its Daily, Weekly and longer period tickets. A Bay Area DayRider will remain at £5.70 and will therefore now offer a small saving over two £3 capped single fares for journeys such as Lancaster to Morecambe.

Similarly the 7-Day Bay MegaRider price has been frozen at £21, meaning that passengers who have been travelling five days a week at a cost of £20 (10 x £2 singles) will suffer only a small increase of £1 a week and will also gain free travel on the remaining two days.

Stagecoach has announced details of amended timetables over the Christmas and New Year period, between 23rd December 2024 and 5th January 2025.

Services will be broadly similar to those in recent years. During this period, services will run to a SATURDAY timetable with the following exceptions:

Despite them being two of the busiest nights of the year for celebrations and “going out for the evening”, most Stagecoach buses will be tucked up in the garage by 19.00hrs on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (neither of which are public holidays). For some services this means a particularly early shut down, with the last bus on the 51 from Carnforth to Silverdale being at 15.45, returning from Silverdale at 17.08.

The 555 Lancaster-Kendal-Keswick also closes down earlier than last year, with the last bus from Keswick to Lancaster being as early as 14.30 and from Kendal at 16.15. The last northbound buses on this service will be at 14.05 to Keswick and 17.50 to Kendal.

No buses will run on Christmas Day, whilst on Boxing Day a limited daytime-only timetable will be in operation on services 1A 2X 5 6A 41 55 and 100 only.

There will be no buses on New Year’s Day, and a Saturday timetable will be in force on all services on Thursday 2nd, Friday,3rd and Saturday 4th January

Normal service resumes on Sunday 5th January.

For full details of the amended services, including Boxing Day timetables, follow this link.

Details of services provided by Lonsdale Buses will be posted once we receive them.

Following representations from the Bus Users’ Group, passengers and employers on Caton Road, it appears that a compromise has been reached over the proposed withdrawal of stopping places on the Park & Ride service.

Our previous post reported that with effect from today (2 December), following an edict from the county council, passengers would no longer be allowed to use the service to travel to and from anywhere other than the Infirmary, city centre or the Park & Ride site, thus inconveniencing many people using it to get to work at the businesses along Caton Road.

However, Lancashire County Council, which contracts Lonsdale Buses to run the service on its behalf, has confirmed that stops at the Holiday Inn / Lancaster Business Park will remain open to passengers. It is also asking Lonsdale Buses to add the stops in Parliament Street to the registered list of stopping places.

Limited Stops

Notwithstanding a comment made on our previous post, the Council maintains that the service was always intended – and registered – as a limited-stop service and it is still unclear to the Bus Users’ Group when and how local passengers began to be carried.

In an official statement the Council said:

“The Caton Road Park & Ride service is operated by Lonsdale Coaches (sic) under contract to LCC and has operated on the basis of a limited-stop service between the Park & Ride site and the city centre from the outset.

“However, over the years a number of customers (sic) have been using the service to/from the Business Park on Caton Road

“Following concerns raised by them after it was decided to revert back to the original limited-stop arrangement we have agreed with Lonsdale Coaches to include the Business Park stops as official bus stops on the route.”

Separately, the Council has confirmed to the Bus Users’ Group that the full list of stops to be observed is as follows:

On journeys to the Park & Ride site:

Lancaster Royal Infirmary

Queen Square

China Street

Lancaster Bus Station (Stand 4)

“Skerton Bridge” (by which they mean Parliament Street)

Lancaster Business Park (Holiday Inn)

Park & Ride Site.

On journeys towards the Infirmary:

Park & Ride Site

Business Park (Premier Inn)

opposite Sainsbury’s (on North Road)

opposite Infirmary (to set down only)

Lancaster Royal Infirmary.

Unfortunately, the council does not feel able to open up any further stops on Caton Road as it feels this would jeopardise timekeeping on the service.

Compromise

Again notwithstanding the comment on our previous post, the Council has confirmed that the service registration will be amended to reflect the new position and to ensure that online information sites such as Google Maps and Traveline are correct and a revised timetable leaflet will be issued and bus stop displays amended.

Whilst the reason for this change that has caused so much upset remains unclear, LBUG is just pleased that an acceptable compromise has been reached and that passengers can still get to and from their place of work.