Tag: transport

Real Time Information at the bus stop

by Jim
The display at Heysham Towers (c) Graeme Austin

Reports are coming in of the new real-time information displays that are being erected at bus stops in a number of places in the Lancaster District.

Being provided with funding from the government through the county council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, the displays show forthcoming departures from stops and the actual time at which the buses can be expected to arrive.

So far, they have been seen at Heysham Towers, Euston Road, Morecambe and in Carnforth.

The displays show the name of the stop and the current time, followed by details of the next six buses due to arrive. Each line shows the service number, destination, arrival time and bus operator for the journey.

Common sense

It is unclear as to how far AI (“artificial intelligence) has played a part in the system, but it is good to see that “common sense” has been employed and the screens correctly describe the 755 as going to “Carnforth and Bowness”. This service has to registered in two parts, either side of Carnforth, to get round comply with the rules on working time for drivers, which are different for long-distance services. Many systems can’t cope with this and would erroneously show “Carnforth” as the destination, treating the extension to Bowness as a separate service and causing confusion to anyone expecting a bus to Bowness.

The bottom line of the display currently confirms that the system is still being tested, but presumably could be used for messages to be displayed to passengers in times of major disruption. As things are still under test, the county council would welcome any feedback and we will be happy to pass on any observations left in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Meanwhile…

Lancaster’s earlier real time information display, at the bus station, has been out of use for some time, but we understand that moves are being made to get it operational again, hopefully before too long,

Service Changes by Stagecoach and Lonsdale Buses

by Jim

The next two weekends will see a number of changes to bus services operated by both our local operators, Stagecoach and Lonsdale Buses.

Single deck bus crossing the a canal bridge

From Sunday, 26th October, Services 88 and 89 between Lancaster and Knott End-on-Sea will be operated by Stagecoach, replacing Lonsdale Buses. The only change to the timetable will be the last journey from Lancaster (all week) will extend to Knott End-on-Sea.

From Monday, 27th October, The Monday to Saturday journeys on service 18 Lancaster East City Circular will be operated by Lonsdale Buses. There will be no change to the timetable and Stagecoach tickets and passes will be accepted on Lonsdale Buses vehicles. The Sunday service will continue to be operated by Stagecoach.

The acceptance of one bus company’s tickets on another company’s buses is unusual in Lancashire and has been arranged by the county council following comments by the Bus Users’ Group that passengers visiting Williamson Park or Lancaster Leisure Park from other parts of the city would no longer be able to use Stagecoach Day Riders to complete their journeys.

Also from 27th October Lonsdale Buses will start running two new services, each running hourly on Monday to Saturday.

Service 83 will run from Brookhouse and Caton via Halton, Halton Road, Whalley Road, Slyne Road, Owen Road, Torrisholme Road, Torrisholme, The Shrimp, Lancaster Road, Euston Road and Central Drive to Morecambe Bus Station.

Service 85 will run from Morecambe Bus Station via Marine Drive Central, Bare, Hest Bank and Bolton-le-Sands to Carnforth Railway Station.

In practice, it is expected that buses will run through from Brookhouse to Carnforth and vice-versa and through passengers should, in most cases, be able to remain on the bus at Morecambe, although separate fares will be payable.

Service 85 closely follows the route of Stagecoach service 5 between Morecambe and Carnforth, but neither bus company will accept tickets issued by the other.

Timetables for both services are on our “Latest Changes to Bus Services” page

November

From Monday, 3rd November Stagecoach will introduce new winter timetables on services 555 Lancaster – Keswick and 755 Morecambe – Bowness-on-Windermere. Full details and links to the new times are on our “Latest Changes to Bus Services” page

Finally, Lonsdale Buses will withdraw service 550 Levens-Milnthorpe-Arnside-Morecambe after operation on 11th November. No replacement service will be provided.