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| Service 41 to Preston at Lily Grove |
Bus services running south from Lancaster along the A6 to Preston and Blackpool are due for a major shake-up following a review by Stagecoach. For the first time ever, the Bus Users' Group was invited to comment on the proposals before they were finalised and we were able to work with the commercial department at Stagecoach to suggest a number of changes and improvements. The new timetables come into force on 26th March.The revision, which will see almost every bus running at new times, is designed to improve reliability and to provide better spacing of buses along the A6, ending the current situation where at certain times of day two buses are timed very closely together, followed by a long gap. There are also changes to service numbers on some journeys to make it clearer which way buses go.
The new timetable has departures from Lancaster on the hour (40), 20 past (42) and 40 past (41). Coming north, buses leave Preston at 15 and 45 past the hour and from Blackpool at 42 minutes past, combining to give departures from Garstang at 00 30 and 45 minutes past each hour. It has not been possible to have an even 20 minute headway in both directions due to the different route lengths and running times of the three services, but the northbound service is more regularly spaced than at present.
Service numbers
At present, the difference between a 40 and a 41 is the route taken through Garstang, where service 40 follows the long-established route via Lancaster Road whilst 41 diverts via Croston Road and Wyre Vale Park mobile homes site. In addition, buses numbered 41 serve the Lancaster University campus. Most service 40 journeys remain on the A6 past the campus but some evening journeys and the Sunday service divert that way, leading to confusion. The new timetable sees all journeys numbered 40 run via the A6 and Lancaster Road and all 41s via the campus and Croston Road. Although this means that Lancaster Road in Garstang will not be served by the 41 in the evenings or on Sundays the changes to service 42 outlined below mean it will retain a regular service to and from Garstang centre and Lancaster.
Evenings
Times are different in the late afternoon and during the evenings when extra running time has been added to the timetable to eliminate the late running that frequently occurs at the moment and to improve reliability. The evening services on the 41 and 42 have been retimed and evening departures from Preston will be at 1915 and every hour until 2315. Southbound from Lancaster, evening buses will run at 1840 1940 and 2040 with later journeys at 2200 and 2320. It was felt better to leave the last two journeys at their current times rather than upset existing passengers by making the drastic changes necessary to extend the hourly headway throughout the evening.
The recently re-introduced evening journeys on the 42 are also retimed and given additional running time to improve reliability and provide better spacing on the Catterall to Lancaster section.
Sundays
Thanks to extra funding from the Bus Service Improvement Plan the Sunday service on the 42 is doubled to every hour. The current situation, with the first northbound bus not arriving in Lancaster until 1258, is very much improved with new journeys that reach the city at 1107 and 1207, the first of which, unusually, starts from Poulton-le-Fylde rather than Blackpool. Similarly, the new 1810 from Lancaster also runs only to Poulton.
As in the evenings, extra running time has been added to improve timekeeping and departure times are altered to improve spacing along the A6. Buses will leave Lancaster at 10 past the hour (42) and 40 past (41), these journeys starting back from Morecambe at 15 past the hour. Coming north, Sunday buses are also regularly spaced, arriving in Lancaster at 07 (service 42) and 37 (service 41) past each hour. This eliminates the current frustrating situation whereby buses leave Lancaster within five minutes of each other, with nothing more for an hour.
No more "Connections" at Garstang
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| "Garstang then Blackpool" on the 42 |
One feature of the new 42 timetable is that the need to make bogus "connections" ("the connection is guaranteed, through fares are available and passengers can stay on the bus which operates through") at Garstang is largely eliminated. This peculiarity has been due to the need to get round (sorry, "comply with") the Drivers' Hours regulations that are much stricter for journeys over 50km in length than for shorter trips.
The Blackpool service was always marginal, with only the occasional extensions to Homfray Avenue (for Morecambe depot) or the diversion to serve Ripley school taking it over the limit. It looks as if someone at Stagecoach has realised that if these journeys are transferred to a separate registration, then the bulk of the service can be presented as a straightforward through service, which should also mean that the "destination" "Garstang then Blackpool" on the front of the bus can be replaced with a similarly straightforward "Blackpool"
Overall, the Bus Users' Group thinks that the new timetables are a great improvement. We understand that printed timetable leaflets are to be made available as well as online versions and that the company is keen to see them distributed as widely as possible. For the first time, the 40 41 and 42 will all be contained in the same leaflet, making it easier for passengers on the common section of route north of Catterall to see the full service available to them, which is a welcome development.
The new timetables can be seen here:
