From Sunday, 13th January Stagecoach is revising its services between Heysham, Lancaster and the University to meet increased demand for travel by students and staff. The changes will also affect passengers in north Lancaster, in particular on Torrisholme Road and the Vale.
Service 1 will have more time added to journeys in the morning peak to improve reliability. Busy journeys will have extra time allowed at Common Garden Street where large numbers of passengers board.
The late evening service to Heysham is improved on Monday to Saturday with the last journey leaving Lancaster at 23.59 and a later bus at 00.19 to the Battery
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| Eighteen new buses similar to this will carry route branding for service 1 (c) C Thompson and L Wardle: Permsiion to reproduce applied for. |
A fleet of brand new double-deck buses, similar to the one shown above in Carlisle, will be used and will carry route branding to clearly identify them. Unlike standard Stagecoach specification these vehicles have white LED destination screens and also have fabric ADL smart seats as opposed to the usual E-Leather. These vehicles also carry stop-start technology and are, of course, fitted with wi-fi and USB charging points.
Service 2:
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| Double-deckers will return to service 2 |
Many of the double-deckers currently used on service 1 will transfer to service 2, adding much-needed capacity to the service through Bowerham and, hopefully, eliminating the over-crowding problems experienced since the changes in October. However, to allow this to happen the route of service 2 is being changed to avoid Torrisholme Road railway bridge and buses will run via Scale Hall Lane and Morecambe Road instead.
This leaves Torrisholme Road without a service to Morecambe and the section between Noel Road and Scale Hall with only the infrequent service 8 operated by Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire. The Bus Users' Group is in discussion with Stagecoach as to how this can be resolved.
As with service 1, morning peak buses will be given extra time for their journeys to improve reliability.
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| Service 4 on the quay. |
Service 4 will have a later departure from the University to the railway station during the week and all journeys presently terminating at the station will continue to the Quay or to the Bus Station, following requests from passengers.
Service 7 will see a reintroduction of late evening buses as a replacement for the evening service along Torrisholme Road on service 2.
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| Service 7 crossing Greyhound Bridge en-route to Vale |
Full timetables for all these services (and every other bus service in Lancaster and Morecambe) are now available on our Maps and Timetables Page.