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One of the hazards facing the unwary bus passenger is the diversion of buses due to planned (or unplanned) roadworks that necessitate a road closure, especially when the bit of road closed isn’t near the bus stop and may not be not obvious.

Full marks to Lancashire County Council therefore for providing this information at the Station Hotel stop in Caton during the closure of the road between Caton and Brookhouse currently in place.

Buses could have just remained on the A683, but that would mean missing the main bus stop – and timing point – in the village, so a diversionary route has been put in place. This means that buses towards Lancaster will use the stop on the side of the road that buses to Kirkby Lonsdale usually use and vice-versa – cue for much confusion that has hopefully been averted.

Full marks also to Caton-with-Littledale Parish Council, not only for their supplementary notice that includes a map that makes everything much clearer, but also for arranging with the contractors undertaking the works to provide free taxis on request for passengers to and from Brookhouse. They’ve even thought of providing tear-off strips with the number to ring to book one!

If only all road closures could be handled like this!

The Group’s profile hit a new high this week when our member, and the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale, gave us a mention in parliament.

Lizzi Collinge MP and BUG member

In her maiden speech, Lizzi Collinge MP, referring to the King’s Speech at the state opening of parliament said:  “In His Majesty’s most gracious speech, we heard about the Government’s plan to reform our bus system, and as a proud member of the Lancaster District Bus Users Group, I welcome that warmly.” **

Read the rest of the speech on the Beyond Radio website here:

Lizzi first became involved with the Bus Users’ Group in 2016 when we approached her as a county councillor to help in the fight to restore a regular bus service to the east side of the City following cutbacks by the commercial operator. After the success of that campaign, Lizzi maintained her interest in buses and joined the Group, becoming a regular attendee at meetings.

Whilst the Group has become well-known in City and County Council circles, where we have several members as sitting councillors, Lizzi is the first to reach the dizzying heights of Parliament and we are sure she will use her interest in and knowledge of buses to stand up for the interests of bus passengers both in her constituency and throughout the country.

** Whilst Lizzi obviously welcomes the impending reform of the bus system, the Bus Users’ Group is a non-political organisation that has not taken a view on the regulatory system for buses. Both franchising and the current deregulated model have their advantages and disadvantages and we will continue to stand up for the interests of passengers whichever system is adopted locally in future.

Update 15th July: The screen is reported as back in action today, the latest fault having apparently been a “loose cable”!

Bus Users’ Group members were overjoyed last week to find that the overhead electronic display screen in Lancaster bus station was working again after a lengthy absence.

It seems that much of delay to its repair was due to nobody being prepared to take responsibility for it. Data for the display comes from Stagecoach and Lancashire County Council, the bus station is owned by the City Council and the screen itself was originally provided by the University, with funding from United Utilities, but it seems that none of these bodies takes overall responsibility for it.

Eventually the fault was found to be with the hardware – the unit itself – rather than the software, which apparently meant that it was down to the City Council to deal with it, which after much prodding from the University (encouraged by the BUG) they agreed to do.

The problem was corrosion of the casing and it will require a further bout of deep cleaning, which will be done out of normal hours to avoid disruption. The cause of the corrosion has not been disclosed, but the cleaning is intended to remove a large amount of bird droppings. It is also intended to attach spikes to the top of the screen to prevent a recurrence of the problem!

All’s well that ends well, we thought. Until a visit to the station today found this:

That, to our non-expert eyes, does look more like a software problem. We’ve asked the council to investigate and will keep our fingers crossed for an early solution.

Bus Users’ Group members gathered at Lancaster bus station to welcome a special passenger visiting the city as part of a fund-raising bus trip around England and Wales.

They met Andrew Cowell, known as “The £2 bus man” , after similar exploits, as he arrived on the last of the seven buses he had used to travel from his home in Derby.

The Mayor of Lancaster, Cllr Abi Mills, accompanied by the Deputy Mayor, Hamish Mills, both Bus Users’ Group members, presented him with a cheque for £115 from Group members towards the charity “The Railway Children” which helps disadvantaged street-children in developing countries

Mr. Cowell, 47, was making the journey as part of a 13-day trip around the coast of England and Wales using 84 buses to raise funds for the charity, as well as to promote the current £2 cap on bus fares that meant that this journey from Derby had cost just £14.

Cllr. Mills, who is also Vice-Chair of the Bus Users’ Group, said:

          “It was an honour to meet someone so dedicated both to charitable work and to bus travel and to welcome them to our city. Whilst no-one would seriously suggest using local buses for such long-distance journeys, Andrew’s travels highlight just how extensive and comprehensive this country’s bus network is. Despite coming all the way from Derby, he arrived exactly on time, which shows that buses can be reliable too.

Mr. Cowell was set to continue his journey the following day on the 555 service to Keswick and a further series of buses that would take him via Newcastle and on to Scarborough. He then intended to continue around the east and south coasts of England to the west country before returning via Wales.

Morecambe’s missing bus shelter, for Lancaster-bound buses at The Battery, has finally been replaced by advertising contractors, Clear Channel.

The shelter was demolished in a collision with a road vehicle (not a bus!) in December 2021, since when passengers have endured three wet and windy winters waiting for buses in this exposed location. Campaigns by the Bus Users’ Group and local councillors for a speedy replacement have been unsuccessful until now.

But with summer 2024 on its way its replacement has finally arrived – and a special replacement it is: – Morecambe’s first “living-roof” or bee-friendly bus shelter!

According to Clear Channel, the advertising contractor that provided the shelter, “Living roof bus shelters are planted with a mix of 13 native wildflower and five sedum species to aid and support bees and other pollinators that have been in decline in recent years. The thoughtfully-designed shelters contribute towards climate resistance, absorb rainwater falling on the roof, help to reduce the ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’, capture particulates from the air, and help make the city a greener and happier place”.

A second bee-friendly shelter is expected to arrive shortly at the Aldi stop on Morecambe promenade, whilst the seat from the shelter it replaces is expected to find a new home in Lancaster at the busy stop outside Sainsbury’s following a request from the Bus Users’ Group.

The county council has announced how it intends to spend the £7m “Bus Service Improvement Plan 3” (BSIP3) funding it has been awarded by the Department for Transport. The bulk of the cash, £5.5m, will fund a Young Persons Discounted Fares Scheme whereby those aged 16-21 will be get a one-third discount on single, return and day tickets on all buses in the council’s administrative area.

The current “Weekender Ticket”, whereby day tickets bought on Saturday can be re-used on Sunday is being scrapped and the £995,000 allocated to this, together with £500,000 for fares initiatives in last year’s Plan, will be used to extend the £1 evening fare offer to all-day on Sundays. The Weekender offer was difficult to explain to passengers and not particularly well promoted, so the simpler “£1 single fare, any bus, all day on Sundays” should prove more attractive. The Young Persons Scheme is still being discussed with bus operators, but the Sunday £1 fare will start on 26^th May.

Service Enhancements

£1.32m will be allocated to improving bus services. For Lancaster this means that an hourly evening service (Monday to Saturday) will be introduced on service 10 to Ridge and 11 to Marsh as well as to Halton, Caton, Brookhouse and Hornby on service 81 or 82.

There are also plans to double the frequency of buses between Lancaster and Morecambe on service 100 via Bare on Sundays.

All three of these improvements were requested by the Bus Users’ Group following suggestions from members.  It is hoped by the council that the evening services at least will be introduced “for the summer”. There will also be a small improvement to the weekday morning timetable on service 42 Lancaster-Blackpool.

Bus Priority

Sadly, there has not been as much progress on the various bus priority schemes proposed under BSIP1. There have been further objections to the revised parking restrictions on Bowerham Road meaning that they will have to be reviewed, whilst the seemingly straightforward (to a layman’s eyes) improvement to bus priority at the junction of Scale Hall Lane and Morecambe Road has been referred back to the traffic signals team to “revise the initial proposal”, which rather suggests someone got it wrong first time.

The improvements to the junction of Bowerham and Barton Roads to make it easier for buses to negotiate need further survey work as “the gradient means further investigation is needed on how best to lay the junction out”. (The gradient is, of course, the principal reason why the junction needed improving in the first place!)

Bus priority at traffic signals on the city centre gyratory has been outsourced to contractors, but will have to wait until they have finished working of various projects in the Preston area before anything happens locally.

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