Fares Please!

Stagecoach fares are going up from next Saturday, 6th April  with between 10p and 20p added to single and return fares.

However, many passengers will be either unaffected or suffer lower-than-inflation rises.  The popular Bay Day Rider, which effectively caps return fares in the core urban area, remains unchanged at £5, so whilst a single ticket between Lancaster and Morecambe increases by 10p to £3.80 the return remains at £5.

Day Rider Plus, which covers a wider area as far as Ingleton, Kirkby Lonsdale, Burton-in-Kendal and Forton also increases by 10p to £7.20 - a 1.4% rise.

Shorter urban journeys from Lancaster city centre to Marsh, Vale, Ridge and Torrisholme are up by between 5 and 6.25%  although a greater discount is given for returns, which are up by 3.6%. Strangely, although the single fare to Vale rises by 10p to £2.10 the return is unchanged at £3.60.

Passengers who complain that the University services are given preferential treatment may wish to note that the single fare to the University rises by 20p which is a 10% increase and by far the largest increase applied throughout the network.

BUG's researchers have uncovered a number of apparent anomalies  whereby fares on service 1 for the same journey seem to vary according to the time of bus - some by as much as 50p - and we have asked Stagecoach for clarification. And spare a thought for passengers travelling between Lily Grove and the Bus Station along Greaves Road

According to this screengrab, from the 6th April the fare on service 40 will be £2.20. On service 42 a mere £1.60, whilst passengers on the much more frequent service 1 will be advised to ask the driver!

Full details of the changes are available on Stagecoach's website via this link

New Bus Stops for Service 11

Service 11, which runs between Lancaster Bus Station and Marsh, has a long section of route through Abraham Heights and on to Willow Lane without any formal bus stops. In fact, there are no marked bus stops between Coolidge Avenue and Denmark Street in Marsh at all - a distance of over a kilometre. See map: (There is currently no stop at Leighton Drive, the BUG had to put that into Google Maps to get it to follow the bus route between Coolidge Avenue and Denmark Street)

At some stage in the past (and before the BUG's time), the Marsh service was diverted via Abraham Heights and the top end of Willow Lane, but the only stop added was at Coolidge Avenue.  Official government guidance suggests a distance of 400m between stops.

When we were approached for advice by local County Councillor Gina Dowding, who herself had been approached by local residents, the BUG naturally assumed that "hail and ride" provisions had been put in place for such a lengthy section of residential road and that therefore buses would stop "anywhere where it is safe to do so".  But it appears that this is not the case. 

Perhaps there were fewer houses in those days, but whoever decided to route the 11 along Roosevelt Avenue, Leighton Drive and Willow Lane didn't seem to think it mattered if it didn't actually stop to pick up passengers!

But as so often happens, drivers and passengers between them developed a system of "unofficial stops" whereby passengers could board and alight at convenient - and safe - points along this section. Whilst this is fine for the regulars it isn't much good for occasional  - or potential - passengers. As well as indicating where one should wait for a bus, bus stop signs also act as an advertisement for the fact that a service exists in the first place - even more so if the county council can be persuaded to add a timetable case.

Armed with this information, County Councillor Dowding and City Councillor Jon Barry have, since January, been asking Stagecoach and the County Council to provide some marked bus stops on the route. It's taken some time for Stagecoach to decide where they would like the stops to be placed but they have now formally asked Lancashire County Council to provide them on Leighton Drive and on Willow Lane, near Hoghton Close.  Stagecoach themselves have added a request for a stop on Westbourne Road itself, near the Laurel Bank Care Home, which seems a good idea.

New and existing stops (approximate locations)
(The Laurel Bank stop would be on Westbourne Road, not as shown)

So, if anyone feels that a new bus stop needs to be provided on their route - and has good reason for doing so -  the Bus Users' Group may be able to help

Dales Bus 2019 - First Details Announced

The Northern Dalesman at Reeth

The popular Dales Bus network of summer Sunday & Bank Holiday bus services linking Lancaster and Morecambe to the Yorkshire Dales returns for 2019 in stages from Easter Sunday.  Three services are being offered this year, including a new route over the Trough of Bowland and the return of a Sunday service on the linked 580/581/582 routes that link Lancaster with Skipton.  The "Bowland Explorer" to Clitheroe will not, however, run in 2019.

Stage one starts on Easter Sunday, 21st April when Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire will introduce two round trips between Lancaster and Skipton via Kirkby Lonsdale, Ingleton and Settle for the summer period. The BUG understands that this is a commercial initiative on the part of KLCH and therefore is to be applauded, especially as the service will be timetabled to offer connections into the integrated Dales Bus network at key points.

Also starting on Easter Sunday is Coast & Cove Dales Bus 881. This service starts in Morecambe and runs via Lancaster and the Trough of Bowland to Settle and Malham. There is one round trip between Morecambe and Malham and a middle-of-the-day round trip from Malham to Lancaster and back, which will be useful for anyone wanting a shorter day out to places such as Dunsop Bridge or Slaidburn.  The BUG also understands that timetables will be arranged in such a way as to allow a round trip between Lancaster and Settle going one way on the Coast & Cove service 881 and the other on the 580/1/2.

Last year's service to Malham ran via Kirkby Lonsdale and Ingleton to Settle but connections from these points are available on service 581.

So far, only the 881 timetable has been released

Stage two comes in May with the return of the Northern Dalesman service 830 one week earlier than last year on the 19th. This will once again be operated by Preston Bus, which proved very popular with passengers last year, and will again start at Preston calling at Lancaster University. From Lancaster Bus Station it will follow last year's route via Ingleton, Ribblehead, Hawes, Buttertubs and Swaledale to Richmond.  Final timetables are still awaited by are expected to be very similar to last year with perhaps some adjustments to maintain train connections at Ribblehead.

Full details of all Dales Bus Services can be found on the Dales Bus website, which will be updated as the new times become available.