New timetables for services 1/1A (University - Heysham) and 4/4X (University - Lancaster Railway Station) that apply from Sunday, 2nd July are now available from Stagecoach and are also on this website.
Service 1/1A University - Heysham Service 4/4X University - Rail Station
Service 1/1A
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| Service 1A: An extra early morning journey to the Infirmary will run on Saturdays |
The new service 1/1A timetable sees a welcome return for buses to Mossgate Park, after over a year without a service due to the state of the roads and particularly the speed humps that, according to Stagecoach, were damaging the buses.
A further improvement is the introduction of an earlier journey from Heysham Towers at 06:00 on Saturday mornings to Lancaster Infirmary arriving at 06:37
Service 4/4X
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| Service 4 at Collingham Park |
The new service 4 timetable, however, is less welcome. As happened last summer, the service is reduced by 50% to one bus per hour during the University vacation. But unlike last year, this reduction will in future apply during ALL University holidays. The 4 caters for many passengers that have no connection with the University and from now on they will have to memorise term dates in order to know what time their buses will run!
Cuts to Morning Peak Service
There are significant changes to morning peak services in both directions. Towards the University all departures before 0815 will run Term Time only, although an extra bus at 0825 from the Railway Station will now be provided.
The peak-hour service has been re-designed to cater more explicitly for the University traffic. The current all year round 0806, 0836 and 0906 from the University to City Centre are withdrawn and replaced by term time only journeys on service 4X (direct via the A6) at 0756 0816 and 0901 meaning that the first city-bound bus via the full service 4 route will not be until 0851, too late for schoolchildren and most workers.
In the late afternoon the last departure from the Railway Station will be at 1745 (currently 1815) with later journeys running as service 4X direct via A6.
Service 4X, which presently consists of just a couple of journeys at peak times during the week becomes more frequent in the afternoons with eight journeys to the University between 1505 and 1825, which return as service 4 to give a 20-minute headway from the University during term time.
No journeys will now continue beyond the Underpass to Alexandra Park except on Sunday evenings (as service 4X) although an extra journey at 1925 from the station will be introduced.
City Centre Not Served
A serious flaw in the new timetable is that buses will no longer serve the popular city centre stops in George Street and Common Garden Street, running non-stop from the Bus Station to the Infirmary.
Stagecoach say that this is "to improve reliability" and there is no doubt that the loop via these stops does add to the time taken to reach the University. However, analysis shows that the under the old timetable buses that were given 13 minutes between the Bus Station and the Bowerham Hotel are now to be given just 9 minutes. The overall running time from the Bus Station to the University remains at 22 minutes, with the four minutes saved by not serving Common Garden Street being reallocated farther along the route.
Buses on service 4 will have a total of 9 minutes layover in each round trip (4 at the University, 4 at the Bus Station and 1 at the Railway Station) and it is a shame that some of this time couldn't be used to continue to serve the very popular city centre stops. "Reliable" buses are not much use if they don't go to where the passengers are!
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| Common Garden Street can be busy - but service 4 will no longer stop there! |
Timetable Leaflets
At least Stagecoach will be printing hard copies of these timetables. Services 1/1A will be in a new "Lancaster City Guide" along with the 2X and 100, whilst the 4/4X will have its own leaflet. The Bus Users' Group, having had some input into the content of the leaflets, welcomes this move. The new leaflets are currently "at the printers" and it is hoped that they will be available from the start of the new service next week. Ideally they should have been available last week of course, but at least passengers will now be able to pick up a copy from the new leaflet rack outside the old Travel Shop in the Bus Station. They might even be on the buses themselves!