BUS PASS RESTRICTIONS ARE BACK

The restriction whereby Concessionary Bus Passes cannot be used for free travel before 09.30 on Monday to Friday is coming back.  Use of the pass during the morning peak travel period has been allowed since March to allow passholders to make best use of the reduced bus services operating in the county.

However, with services now returning to normal, or nearly normal, and social-distancing rules reducing the number of passengers buses can carry by 75% bus operators are concerned that as more people begin travelling their services will be unable to cope.

Lancashire County Council has therefore issued the following notice to take effect from
Monday, 15th June

As lockdown is further reduced and non-essential retail starts to open from 15 June concern has been raised by operators that they may struggle to meet demand at peak times and have requested that the pre 0930 concession is now withdrawn. This is not only to create some capacity, on a socially distanced bus even one seat being used by a pass holder could prevent a worker being carried, but potentially more importantly on public health grounds. With demand increasing there is real concern that the current lifting of restrictions now risks those most vulnerable to Covid-19 being more exposed as the rush hours become busier and social distancing harder to maintain.

Following these requests Blackburn with Darwen Council, Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council have considered this and have agreed to reinstate the 0930 concession restriction, and this should take effect from Monday 15th June 2020. Therefore from Monday 15th June 2020 ENCTS, NoWcard pass holders will be required to pay full fare for travel before 0930.

The Council notice also confirms that holders of Disabled Persons Passes will be able to travel before 09.30 on Monday to Friday on payment of a £1 fare.


The change will also apply in the North Yorkshire County Council area, where the restriction ends at 09.00. 

Cumbria County Council had previously announced that it would review the restriction at the end of July.

BUG Steps in to Keep Passengers Informed

The government's additional funding to keep bus services operating during the Covid pandemic comes with a few strings attached.  One of these is that bus operators should take steps to keep passengers informed of changes to services by all the usual means.
Our local operators have been good at keeping their websites up to date, although as most of the usual outlets for paper timetable leaflets are closed, we haven't seen any updated timetable booklets yet.

But the government's guidelines include keeping roadside timetable cases up to date and in Lancashire these fall under the remit of the county council who have been letting the side down, having diverted all the staff resources usually assigned to this task to other duties.

Ironically, now that Stagecoach has restored normal service to most of its routes from 1st June, many of the Council's timetable cases that were wrong have now become correct again - although some minor changes that have been made won't be shown. But in some cases, especially the 7, 49, 55, 80 and 81, the new timetables are completely different from before and the roadside displays are now more misleading than ever.

The BUG would love to help put matters right and in a small way we have been able to.  On the North Yorkshire section of service 80, between Bentham and Ingleton, neither the County Council nor Stagecoach were particularly interested in keeping displays updated, so the people at Dales Bus - who organise the summer Sunday services to the Dales (not running this year of course) -   have taken it upon themselves to maintain them. We offered to help and so, following changes to service 80 from Monday, we have been out and about making sure that residents of Bentham know when to expect a bus.

BUG Volunteers updating timetables in Bentham

Of course, the Lancashire section of service 80 also has a new timetable and the changes on the 81 between Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale are even greater, so the BUG just hopes that Lancashire County Council and/or Stagecoach will soon be able to fulfil their obligations to keep the travelling public fully informed of the services available to them.

Stagecoach Service Changes from 1st June

Following the government's extension of its £1-per-kilometre "Covid Bus Service Support Grant" beyond the original end date of 12th June and the continuing expectation that local councils will maintain school contract and concessionary travel payments at their pre-Covid levels, bus operators have been required to take steps to restore services to their prevous frequencies.  The expectation is that with buses restricted to 25% of their carrying capacity due to social-distancing requirements, as travel restrictions are gradually eased then the reduced services currently operating will not be able to cope.

Locally, Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancs is introducing new timetables from Monday, 1st June which restore pre-emergency timetables on most routes, albeit with substantial changes to some services.

Govrnment advice is still that travel by bus should be restricted to those making essential journeys, but you can check here to see how your service is affected.  "Normal" means the service operating prior to 23rd March 2020 and all comparisons are with service levels before that date.

Service 1A will go through to the University again

Service 1/1A  University - Lancaster - Heysham
Normal service restored (University Vacation timetable)

Service 2X  Morecambe - Bay Gateway - Lancaster
Normal service restored

Service 4/4X  Railway Station - University
Normal service restored. (University Vacation timetable)

Some changes in the mornings to service 5

Service 5  Overton - Morecambe - Carnforth
Normal service restored but with the following changes on Monday to Friday

• 0730 Battery to Carnforth, Windermere Road retimed to 0707
• 0809 (Sch) Heysham (Stanley Road) to Carnforth High School replaced by two journeys at 0755 from Heysham Towers and 0800 from Hawksworth Avenue
• 0830 Overton to Euston Road and 0902 Battery to Carnforth replaced by a new journey at 0840 from Overton to Carnforth
• 0805 Carnforth, Windermere Road to Battery and 0805 Morecambe Bus Station to Overton replaced by a single journey at 0745 from Carnforth, Windermere Road to Overton
• 1440 Carnforth, Windermere Road to Overton will not call at Morecambe High School.                                                                                                         Saturday and Sunday services revert to pre-Covid timetables.

Back to normal on service 6 and 6A

Service 6/6A  Lancaster - Westgate - Morecambe
Normal service restored

Service 7  Lancaster - Vale
Revised service previously due to be introduced on 20th April now implimented.
New timetable with buses running every 30 minutes.
(The timetable on Stagecoach's website suggests that a 20 minute service might be operating, but this is not the case)

Service 10 Lancaster - Ridge
Normal service restored

Service 11  Lancaster - Marsh
Normal service restored

Full service restored on the 18

Service 18 East Lancaster Circular
Normal service restored with buses from 1510 running a regular 40-minute headway. Last joiurney from Bus Station at 1830.

Services 40/41  Morecambe - Lancaster - Preston
Normal service restored. On Sunday the 0735 Morecambe to Preston runs 20 minutes earlier at 0715 and the 0910 Preston to Morecambe is retimed to 0900

Service 42 Lancaster - Blackpool
Normal service restored

Service 49 Lancaster - Halton - Carnforth - Warton 
 Revised service previously due to be introduced on 20th April now implimented.

• The 0750 from Halton to Lancaster is extended to start from Warton at 0720 replacing journeys previously provided on service 55
• The 0756 from Over Kellet to Lancaster is withdrawn and replaced by the new 0720 from Warton (0736 at Over Kellet).
• The 1520 from Warton will operate to Lancaster on Saturday and to Carnforth on Monday to Friday throughout year.
• There are new journeys from Warton at 1720 to Lancaster and 1820 to Carnforth replacing journeys previously provided on service 55
• The afternoon service between Lancaster and Halton is reduced with buses leaving Lancaster at 1500; 1530 (Saturday only); 1615; 1715; 1815 and 1915.
• See services 80/81 for a new service to Halton, Low Road                                                      

  

  New timetable on services 49 and 55

Service 55  Lancaster - Carnforth - Warton/Over Kellet

Revised service previously due to be introduced on 20th April now implimented.

• Service revised to operate between Lancaster and Carnforth only.
• Peak hour services to Warton and Over Kellet are now provided by service 49.
• Changes to morning peak service to towards Lancaster including the withdrawal of journeys from Windermere Road at 0724 and 0739 (service 49 provides a limited replacement from Highfield Shops)

Some welcome changes in the Lune Valley

Service 80 Lancaster - Ingleton 

Service 81 Lancaster - Kirkby Lonsdale

Revised service previously due to be introduced on 20th April now implimented.

• Most journeys re-routed via Halton, Low Road between Caton Road and Caton village.
• Some journeys on service 81 extended beyond Kirkby Lonsdale to Ingleton
• Service 80 diverted between Wennington and Low Bentham to run via Goodenbergh Caravan Park and Burton Lane. Bus stops at Low Bentham, Punch Bowl and Main Street will not be served.
• The 1615 Lancaster to Kirkby Lonsdale will run on Saturday and School Holidays only.
• The 1840 Lancaster to Kirkby Lonsdale will run 10 minutes earlier at 1830
• The 0705 Hornby to Lancaster will start at Ingleton at 0615
• The 0700 Ingleton to Lancaster service 80 is retimed to 0650 and will run as service 81 via Kirkby Lonsdale (0705), replacing the 0715 to Lancaster. There will be no service from Burton-in-Lonsdale, High Bentham or Low Bentham at this time although an alternative is provided by the new 0615 from Ingleton
• On Saturday, the 0751 from Hornby to Lancaster is retimed to 0739
• Most off-peak journeys on both services are re-timed by up to 15 minutes.

Service 100  University - Lancaster - Bare - Morecambe
Normal service restored

Winter timetables on the 555

Service 555  Lancaster - Kendal - Keswick
Normal WINTER service restored except for late evening journeys between Kendal and Keswick.

Service 755  Morecambe - Bowness-on-Windermere
Normal service restored

Other school services and the University Night Service N1 remain suspended.

Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire has not notified us of any service changes at this time.

But don't forget, all buses will be running with only 25% of their normal passenger capacity, so please only travel if you have to and leave a seat for key workers and others making essential journeys.