Lancaster Bus Station Closed Again

 

STOP PRESS:  The repairs have been completed and the bus station is now fully open.

For the second time in six months half of Lancaster bus station has had to be closed due to problems under the concourse seemingly connected with the drainage system. The latest incident took place on Saturday when Stagecoach put out the following announcement.

Due to a collapsed manhole on Cable Street  which is at the exit of the Bus Station.

Highways have closed the road off as a result, we are operating the following:

LANCASTER BUS STATION STAND CLOSURE

 

With immediate effect, stands 1 through to 11 will be closed, until further notice.

 

From FIRST BUS, to 19:00, Monday to Saturday, the following will apply:

 

Services 1, 1A, and 100 will NOT serve Lancaster Bus Station in both directions, unless a driver changeover.

 

University bound services will serve Parliament Street, then the next stop will be George Street.

 

Morecambe and Heysham bound services will serve George Street, then the next stop will be Lancaster Sainsbury's.

 

Morecambe bound 40 and 41 services will NOT serve Lancaster Bus Station, unless a driver changeover.

 

Service 2X and 4 will use the bus stop on Chapel Street.

This is all it takes to close half the bus station

Buses can't enter the station due to the road closure.

The collapsed manhole actually takes up very little space and perhaps buses could, with care, get by, but the Highways Department has closed off Wood Street at its junction with Damside Street so that buses can't actually get into the bus station in the first place.

The Bus Users Group has been in touch with the county's Highways Department but all they have done is to confirm that the road is closed!  They have now been asked to find out from their contractor when the work will be done and the BUG will also use our contacts to try and get the work expedited.

Council Plan to Increase Traffic at Christmas

Free buses could bring Christmas shoppers to the city

 Lancaster City Council has announced a plan to encourage many more motorists to bring their cars into the city centre in the run up to Christmas. The proposal will apparently bring a "business boost" to the city whilst adding to congestion and pollution.

Councillor Jean Parr, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Planning and Placemaking said:

      "We have been offering free festive parking at our main car parks for some years now and this       festive season is no different. The aim is to encourage people to support local businesses and to shop in our town centres".

 Free parking will be available on Thursday evenings and Sundays from November 30th until Christmas Eve.

In previous years the Bus Users Group has attempted to get the council to match its offer to car drivers with a similar plan to give free bus travel to everyone in the District. We feel that this would provide a similar "business boost", without the associated congestion and pollution, whilst providing a choice to car drivers as to how they travel. It would also be a fairer scheme as everyone living on a bus route would benefit from it, whilst those without access to a bus service could still take advantage of the free parking.

The Council has always refused to contemplate free bus travel as it says that it "could not afford to provide it" whereas free car parking "costs us nothing".  The economic illiteracy of this approach should be obvious to everyone as giving away car parking spaces at a time of maximum demand for them has clear implications for council income. 

The Bus Users Group is disappointed that a council that has declared a climate emergency, has known air quality management issues in the city centre and has recently had to close its visitor information centres to save £250,000 can apparently afford to turn down income, whilst providing an incentive for shoppers to forsake bus services and use their cars instead.

Lancashire County Council has long had a reputation for a completely car-centric transport policy and its disappointing that Lancaster City Council is taking the same approach.