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| Service 100 will be reduced to every 30 minutes |
As predicted in our previous post (read again here), Stagecoach has followed up its announcement of service cancellations for the week beginning 18th July with a further round of cuts starting the following week.
The cuts starting on Monday, 25th July are more structured than previous rounds of cancellations. Instead of withdrawing individual journeys based on drivers' duties (which led to random journeys being withdrawn on a large number of services), the company is introducing "Temporary Summer Holiday Timetables" on two services: The 4 (University - Lancaster Railway Station) and the 100 (University - Lancaster - Morecambe - Heysham)
Service 4 is reduced from every 30 minutes to one bus per hour, whilst the 100 goes from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes during the daytime, with no change to evening or Sunday times. This leaves the 100 in the unusual position of having a higher level of service (every 20 minutes) in the evenings than during the daytime (every 30) on the section of route between the city centre and the University. The new timetables are available on our Maps & Timetables Page here
Although any reduction in service is unwelcome, this structured approach will at least make it easier for passengers to plan their journeys, always assuming of course that no further ad hoc cancellations occur.
The new times are described as "Summer Holiday" timetables, which is something that Stagecoach has never seen fit to introduce in this area previously. It might make sense to reduce the service to the University during the vacation, although this has never been done before on the services concerned and service 1 (every 20 minutes) between the city centre and the campus has already been withdrawn for the summer as it is every year. It is also unusual, to say the least, for buses to the seaside at Morecambe to be reduced for the summer!
The BUG suspects that by calling them "summer holiday" timetables, the company is attempting the disguise the real reasons for the cuts, which are: staff shortage, staff sickness due to Covid, and, of course, a commitment to supply buses and drivers for a contract to provide transport during the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham that also start next week.
We also note that although described as "summer holiday" timetables, there is no indication given of how long they will apply for!