Too good to be true!

by Jim

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.

The Strange Case of Service 80

by Jim
Service 80 at High Bentham

Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire’s service 80 was always a rather strange beast, consisting of just one journey a day in one direction from Kirkby Lonsdale to Lancaster via Ingleton and Bentham on Monday to Friday only.

Leaving Kirkby Lonsdale at 1650 it provided a connection from Lancaster to Ingleton and Bentham in the afternoons to take home passengers who had travelled to Lancaster earlier in the day. It bore the same service number as Stagecoach’s Lancaster to Ingleton via Bentham service and was introduced as a partial replacement when that service was withdrawn in April 2022.

In practice, it was a through bus from Lancaster, at least on schooldays, being one of the two buses that arrived at Kirkby Lonsdale at that time, one on each of services 81 and 82. The 82 bus continued to Settle as service 581 and operated throughout the year, whilst the 81 was left to continue from Kirkby as the 80.

What happened in school holidays was always unclear. The 81 from Lancaster ran on schooldays only so presumably a bus was sent out empty from Lancaster to run the 80, which left Kirkby Lonsdale at 1650. However, any passengers from Lancaster had to use the 82 in the holidays to reach Kirkby Lonsdale, which wasn’t due to arrive until 1653, three minutes after the 80 was supposed to leave!

But all this became academic, as following the introduction of new schedules and rosters at Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire, now Lonsdale Buses, service 80 suddenly disappeared! Following complaints and enquiries from passengers the company claimed that the journey had never been properly registered and as it saw very little use it was withdrawn without notice.

The Bus Users’ Group has seen documentation that suggests the service was registered, as part of the service 81 and 82 registration made in July 2022 and it appears that North Yorkshire Council shares this view.

The Council has reportedly asked Lonsdale Buses to re-instate the service at least until the proper, legal, 70-day notice period of withdrawal has been given. Meanwhile the service continues to be shown online on Bus Times, Traveline, Google Maps and other apps as well as on the company’s own website!