Our local operators have been good at keeping their websites up to date, although as most of the usual outlets for paper timetable leaflets are closed, we haven't seen any updated timetable booklets yet.
But the government's guidelines include keeping roadside timetable cases up to date and in Lancashire these fall under the remit of the county council who have been letting the side down, having diverted all the staff resources usually assigned to this task to other duties.
Ironically, now that Stagecoach has restored normal service to most of its routes from 1st June, many of the Council's timetable cases that were wrong have now become correct again - although some minor changes that have been made won't be shown. But in some cases, especially the 7, 49, 55, 80 and 81, the new timetables are completely different from before and the roadside displays are now more misleading than ever.
The BUG would love to help put matters right and in a small way we have been able to. On the North Yorkshire section of service 80, between Bentham and Ingleton, neither the County Council nor Stagecoach were particularly interested in keeping displays updated, so the people at Dales Bus - who organise the summer Sunday services to the Dales (not running this year of course) - have taken it upon themselves to maintain them. We offered to help and so, following changes to service 80 from Monday, we have been out and about making sure that residents of Bentham know when to expect a bus.
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| BUG Volunteers updating timetables in Bentham |
Of course, the Lancashire section of service 80 also has a new timetable and the changes on the 81 between Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale are even greater, so the BUG just hopes that Lancashire County Council and/or Stagecoach will soon be able to fulfil their obligations to keep the travelling public fully informed of the services available to them.
