Park & Ride Extended and Enhanced - at short notice!

The new southern terminus of the Park & Ride at Lancaster Royal Infirmary.
Because KLCH has only one route-branded bus for the service,
the extra journeys are being operated by an unbranded vehicle.

 In a surprise move, with little notice to either the operator or the public, Lancaster's Park & Ride service, which links the city centre with the car park at Junction 34 of the M6 at Caton Road, has been completely revamped.

From Monday, 17th May the service is boosted to run every 15 minutes (or every 20 when the traffic is expected to be busy!) and the route is extended to take in the Lancaster Royal Infirmary, where buses will use the existing bus stops on South Road.  The service also runs later in to the evenings, to cater for hospital staff and visitors.

However, the new route means that the stop in George Street in the City Centre is no longer served. For passengers coming into the city from Caton Road there are no drop off points between North Road (opposite Sainsbury's) and the Infirmary on South Road (see map below). Passengers may, however wait on the bus at the Infirmary and then alight at Queen Square, Cable Street or the Bus Station on its return trip.

The service has also gained a new route number - L1 - which partially restores an old Ribble Motor Services tradition of numbering local routes in the "L" series.

The new route and times are shown below.

The enhancement, which requires a second bus to operate, has been expected - indeed promised - for some considerable time and is intended as a means of combating the problem of restricted car parking space for staff and visitors at the hospital. Plans to build a bigger car park at the hospital have not been progressed and if and when they do go-ahead there will be a short term reduction in staff car parking space as the work takes place.

However, the trigger for this latest move appears to have been the move by the City Council to remove the concession during the Covid pandemic whereby certain NHS staff have been allowed to use council run car parks free of charge, with that concession now transferring to the Park & Ride. Funding for the enhancement has come from the NHS and is on a three-month trial basis.

Parking at the Caton Road site remains free and the bus fare into the city or the infirmary is held at £1.60 return, a bargain compared with fares for the same journey on parallel bus services.