Stagecoach's revised network for Lancaster and Morecambe, which was supposed to be introduced on Monday, 24th September has had to be delayed because the county council hasn't finished the repair work to Greyhound Bridge.
This is now scheduled to be complete on Sunday 7th October, with the new timetables coming into force the following day, but as the work apparently needs a week of dry weather to allow the weatherproofing of the new road surface to be completed Stagecoach is wisely saying that the current routes and timetables will remain in operation "until further notice".
This is what Stagecoach is saying about the new network and the changes being made:
Service 6A will increase to give a half hourly service all day from Westgate to Lancaster.
Service 41 will again be able to start from Morecambe before continuing to Garstang and Preston.
We’ll be using double deck buses on the fastest route to the University.
If you use the 2/2A, 3/3A, 4, U2, U3/U3R, U4 or X3 routes these will be replaced with the following. You can also see a map showing the new routes at the bottom of this page.
The new routes will be the following during Monday to Saturday daytimes with lower frequencies in the evenings and on Sundays.
Route 1
Every 10 minutes during term time (every 20 minutes during University holidays) between Lancaster University Underpass and Lancaster Bus Station via Scotforth Road, continues to Morecambe via Morecambe Road, Torrisholme Road and Lancaster Road every 10 minutes. From Morecambe to Heysham all buses will run via Westminster Road with a bus every 20 minutes via Heysham Road and a bus every 20 minutes via the top of Kingsway. Buses will come together at Sugham Lane giving a 10 minute frequency to the bottom of Kingsway, Mossgate Park, Heysham Towers and Heysham Mossgate Road.
Route 2 and 2X
Every 15 minutes from Alexandra Park and Lancaster University Underpass to Lancaster Bus Station via Hala, Newmarket Avenue and Bowerham. Buses keep the same frequency all year. Buses then continue to Morecambe via Torrisholme Road, Low Lane, Bare, and the Seafront to Morecambe Bus Station.
At Morecambe bus station a bus every half hour will continue to Heysham and then Lancaster Bus Station via the by-pass as service 2X. Through fares from anywhere on the 2X to anywhere on the 2 and vice versa will be available and you won’t need to change buses. The half hourly 2X will travel via Heysham Road, Heysham Village, Heysham Towers and Higher Heysham and Combermere Road. 2X buses will then run along the by-pass and Morecambe Road back to Lancaster Bus Station.
At Morecambe bus station a bus every half hour will continue to Heysham and then Lancaster Bus Station via the by-pass as service 2X. Through fares from anywhere on the 2X to anywhere on the 2 and vice versa will be available and you won’t need to change buses. The half hourly 2X will travel via Heysham Road, Heysham Village, Heysham Towers and Higher Heysham and Combermere Road. 2X buses will then run along the by-pass and Morecambe Road back to Lancaster Bus Station.
The 2X bus which runs to the University in the morning and starts from there in the afternoon will continue to run via Kingsway and Mossgate Road to get to and from Heysham Towers. Please note the original version of the timetable said that this bus only runs in University term times, this was an error the bus runs all year.
Route 4
This service will run every 30 minutes between Lancaster University Underpass and Lancaster Railway Station. The bus will run via Hala and Bowerham. At peak times on weekday mornings buses will also serve Alexandra Park and will not serve the Bus Station on their way to the University.
Also at peak times during University terms route 4X will provide a faster link between the Railway Station and University using Scotforth Road.
On other routes, times will change but routes will stay the same. You can find most of the new timetables below. Timetables for service 5 and 555 will not change, timetables for 49 and 55 will be published shortly.
If you responded to the consultation and want to know the changes we made following this please click here.
Note that service numbers are being altered and re-used. In trying to understand the new network it's probably better to forget about what was there before and start from scratch!
New Timetables for ALL bus services in Lancaster and Morecambe (except the 49 and 55, which aren't yet available from Stagecoach) are available from us VIA THIS LINK
CLICK HERE for a map of services 1, 2, 2X,4 and /6A