Changes to Service 51 Carnforth - Silverdale

The April 2016 revisions to services operated under contract to Lancashire Council Council combined Stagecoach service 51 (Lancaster - Carnforth - Silverdale) with Travellers Choice service 1 - the dedicated shuttle service linking Silverdale village to Silverdale Railway Station, which lies some distance from the village centre.

The shuttle service was expressly designed to connect with trains to Lancaster and Barrow at Silverdale station, whilst service 51, although catering mainly for local traffic, did offer connections with trains - and other buses - at Carnforth station. Both services were therefore subject to alteration when train times changed, although as a "dedicated" service, service 1 was more often affected.

From 11 July 2016 Northern Rail, which now runs all the trains on the Barrow to Lancaster line is introducing a number of changes to daytime trains which necessitate changes to connecting buses. Now that the services are combined any alterations affect the whole route. 

The Bus Users' Group, responding to local residents' concerns, had asked the county council to consider retiming the 0939 bus from Silverdale to Carnforth so as to offer a connection into service 755 to Bowness and we are pleased to learn that it has proved possible to incorporate this change. The bus will now run seven minutes earlier and arrive in Carnforth 8 minutes before the 755 departure.  The Group has also asked for an early evening bus from Carnforth back towards Silverdale to offer a connection in the return direction and also to allow passengers to leave Lancaster an hour later than the present last bus at 1730.  The Council has agreed to consider this whilst pointing out that as a journey aimed primarily for "leisure" journeys it does not meet their criteria for support. This being despite the fact that it would bring villages on the 51 route into line with similar communities south and east of Lancaster in having later journeys aimed at workers. We have also identified a number of ways in which such a journey could be provided at minimal cost and await the county's decision with interest.

A copy of the new timetable can be seen here.

A6 North Closure Disrupts 55 and 555 this weekend.

From Stagecoach's website:

Between 2300 on Friday 24th June & 0600 Monday 27th June, the A6 will be closed where the new Heysham Link road crosses near Beaumont.

During this time, Service 555 will be unable to operate between the Coastal Road and Skerton Bridge so will divert via Coastal Road / Broadway / Morecambe Road in both directions.

Bus stops at Town End, Greenwood Crescent, Greenwood Avenue, Slyne, Hest Bank Lane, Beaumont, Slyne Road and Skerton Triangle will not be served by Service 555.

Service 55 will operate normal route to Beaumont Bridge, then Whalley Road, Halton Road, Kellet Lane, Bottomdale Road, Main Road (Slyne) and Throstle Grove, regaining normal route with the junction of Hest Bank Lane. The return from Carnforth will be the reverse. Bus stops not served will be St Johns Hospice, The Trough and Hest Bank Lane. Slyne and Hest Bank will continue to be served.

Delays are expected through the duration of the roadworks

Stagecoach apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Coming Soon: Free Wifi at the Bus Station

Passengers who have noticed that the electronic stand indicator and departure screen at Lancaster Bus Station hasn't been working recently will be pleased to hear that the problem is well on the way to being sorted out.

Following the end of the previous data contract a new broadband line is now in place and whilst the display may be "up and down" a few times as the connection "profiles itself" there will soon be a stable connection in place.

Normal service will then be resumed, and the new connection will allow an enhanced display including real time information to be provided in due course.

Also on the way is free public wifi. This is already in place on Stagecoach buses on service 2/2A but will soon be available to everyone on the bus station concourse as soon as the City Council installs the necessary data points.

Lancaster Bus Information Good News and Bad.

The Good News is that Stagecoach has published its new Lancaster Bus Guide. The Guide includes, for the first time, an easily-portable paper version of the company's bus network map for Lancaster, showing clearly where all the services go and where the boundaries of the various Bay Rider and Bay Rider Plus ticket areas are.

Unfortunately, only Stagecoach services are included but as this is a commercial publication by the company that is not unexpected.

Also included are times of first buses to Lancaster and last buses back on each service, although in the case of the 40/41 to Preston and 42 to Blackpool the times given are the first buses to those towns and last ones back to Lancaster. A summary of the frequency of buses on each route is also shown.

As the Guide points out, details of single and return fares for all journeys can be obtained from the company's website but the Guide itself gives details of Day Riders, Mega Riders and Explorer tickets that offer better value for regular users.

The Bus Users' Group was invited to review and comment upon an early draft of this publication and we are pleased to see that most of our suggestions have been incorporated, leading, we hope, to an improved end product.  The Guide is available from the Stagecoach Enquiry Office in Lancaster Bus Station.

Less good however is the situation with the electronic bus information display at the bus station. This handy device, telling passengers the time of the next bus on each service from the Bus Station and the departure stand it leaves from, has been out of action since the start of the week.

The Bus Users' Group understands that the problem is not merely technical and that the display is likely to be out of commission until at least the middle of next week.  However a spokeman from Lancaster University, which maintains the display following the county council's withdrawal of funding, has told us that a solution is in sight. The University is also working on a project to enhance the display and the quality of the information shown which it hopes to bring to fruition towards the end of the summer.

Flexible Ticketing - Stagecoach Please Note

Our Chair, Jim, was on the Isle of Wight last week and came across this interesting advert for the local bus company's fares and tickets.

It wasn't so much the level of fares that impressed Jim, in fact he thought them rather high, although the Isle of Wight does have a comprehensive bus network that runs at frequent intervals well into the evening as well as on Sundays.

What did impress him was the flexibility of the tickets offered.  £10 gets you not just a "Day" Ticket but one valid for a full 24-hours. Buy one at eight o' clock at night and you can use it not just to go out for the evening but to get to work and back the next day and even perhaps to go out again the next night!

Of course, on the Isle of Wight  the tickets are more likely to be aimed at visitors rather than workers, which probably explains the 48-hour ticket (at a 25% saving over 2 x 24hrs).  Buy it on Friday afternoon when you arrive on the Island and that's all your bus travel taken care of until you leave on Sunday!  Compare that with a weekend visitor to Morecambe who would probably not bother with a day ticket on Friday afternoon, might get one for Saturday but would wonder whether it was worth it to get another one on Sunday and would therefore probably not travel by bus very much at all during their stay.

But note also the the item at the bottom of the notice:  "Buy single tickets to any destination - even if you have to change buses! This, of course, is standard practice on the railways. A rail ticket between any two stations costs the same whether the journey is made on a through train or whether you have to change.  Not so on the buses where unless you have a Day ticket you must pay again on each bus you board, a system which prevents passengers making the most efficient use of the network. There may well be special circumstances on the Isle of Wight that make this system workable there when it wouldn't be elsewhere, but it must be worth a look, surely?

555 Back to Normal

Lancaster's longest and most scenic bus route has returned to normal after six months of disruption caused by the storms of last winter.

Service 555, which links Lancaster with Kendal, Windermere, Grasmere and Keswick through the heart of the Lake District, was disrupted in early December when part of the A591 north of Grasmere was washed away by winter storms.

Changing buses in Grasmere Village.

Initially, the service terminated at Grasmere, with passengers for Keswick being required to change at Kendal for a shuttle service to Penrith, where they could join the existing X4 service to their destination.  Motorists have had to continue following a similar lengthy diversion, but from early February the installation of a temporary bridge and the surfacing of a forest track allowed buses and cyclists (only) to reach a minor road running along the west side of Thirlmere allowing Stagecoach to restore the service to Keswick. Through passengers were still required to change buses at Grasmere as the temporary route was not suitable for double-deckers. Initially small Optare Solo buses were used on the link, but these quickly had to be

The only passing place on the single-track road alongside Thirlmere
(c) Martin Tordoff

duplicated on many departures. Larger single-deckers were then used but even these were not big enough to cope with the loadings and, with clever scheduling, leading to the unusual sight of four single-deck buses passing each other at the only possible passing place on the single track road along the side of Thirlmere.

Work on the A591 was completed this week and from today through running between Lancaster and Keswick has been restored and the normal timetable re-introduced. 

Whilst this is good news for passengers it might be a mixed blessing for Stagecoach for whilst the extra running costs of the shuttle service will be saved they will no doubt lose passengers for whom the bus from Grasmere to Keswick will no longer be the fastest way of getting there, as well as the many who were attracted to the service "just for the ride".

Dales Bus Services Back for the Summer

Dales Bus service 832 from Morecambe to Ingleton via Lancaster, Hornby and Bentham restarts for the 2016 season this Sunday, 1st May and operates every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday until 25th September.

At Ingleton, the bus becomes service 830 and continues to Ribblehead, Hawes and through Swaledale to  Richmond. Connections are available at Ingleton onto service 881 to Settle and Malham Tarn.

Other connections are available at Hawes onto the "Wensleydale Flyer" to Leyburn and Northallerton and you can change again at Leyburn onto service 859 to reach Richmond via a different route.  Why not go one way and come back the other? (Although please check timetables, especially on bank holidays when some times are different).

Dales Bus Summer 2016 Map

Drivers are instructed to be vigilant about connections and to make every effort to ensure they are kept, so there is no need to worry about missing your bus. 

Fares and Concessions

 A day's travel on the whole Dales Bus network (shown on the map above) costs just £10 for adults, £6 for students or concessionary bus pass holders and £2 for under 19s although up to two children can travel free with every Dales Rover ticket holder.  Fares for shorter journeys are also available, such as Lancaster to Ingleton at £8 return.

Unfortunately, English Concessionary Bus Passes (such as NoW Cards) are not valid on Dales Bus services from Morecambe this year. Lancashire County Council's decision to exclude them has been challenged by Lancaster District Bus Users' Group and the position may change during the season.

Even without a NoW Card the service is excellent value for money giving access to a wide area of spectacular scenery and numerous attractions for just £10  (or £6 if you do have a NoW Card). Please give it try as it receives no subsidy from the county council and its future relies on your support!

Timetables

Copies of the timetable leaflet are available in Morecambe and Lancaster libraries, The Visitor Information Centres in both towns and from the Stagecoach enquiry office in Lancaster Bus Station, or you can click this link for an online timetable.

There is more information on the Dales Bus network on their website here.