£2 Fare Cap Confirmed

 

Our two local bus operators, Stagecoach and Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire are confirmed as participants in the government's "Get Around for £2" fare-capping scheme, between January and March next year.

The scheme will see single bus fares (adult, child and young persons) capped at a maximum of £2 per single journey. Fares below £2 will not change and neither will the price of return, day or longer-period tickets, although it may now be cheaper for some passengers to buy two singles instead of these. The government is reimbursing bus operators for the reduced fare from a £60m fund.

The scheme includes most bus journeys in England, although special school and college buses are excluded. Local exclusions, on which the reduced fare won't apply, include:

Excluded services.

40A      Morecambe Bus Station - Preston College

500      Overton - Ripley St Thomas School

501      Morecambe - Ripley St Thomas School

502      Heysham towers - Ripley St Thomas School

504      Sandylands - Ripley St Thomas School

935      Morecambe Clock tower - Ripley St Thomas School

940      Lancaster Bus Station - Preston Bus Station

941      Lancaster Bus Station - Preston Bus Station

942      Lancaster Bus Station - Preston Bus Station

Coming soon to a bus near you!

The Lancaster area, having a number of lengthy bus routes, will benefit from a number of bargains. Places that will be reachable by bus for £2 (plus, of course £2 for coming back!) include:

Blackpool          normally £8.50  now £4  (saving on a return journey - £4.50)

Preston             normally £8.50 now £4 (saving £4.50)

Kendal              normally £12.40 now £4 (saving £8.40)

Ambleside         normally £12.50 now £4 (saving £8.50)

Keswick             normally £12.50 now £4 (saving £8.50)

Kirkby Lonsdale normally £8 now £4 (saving £4)

Skipton              normally £11  now £4 (saving £7)

The scheme starts on 1st January, although there are no buses on that day and only a Sunday timetable the following day, and runs until 31st March 2023.

The purpose of the scheme is to help bus passengers survive the "cost of living crisis" but it is also hoped that many people will be tempted to give up their car and give the bus a try. Stagecoach at least is anticipating a number of new customers and has published a handy list of "do's and don't" aimed at those new to bus travel (although its impact is lessened by it being hidden away in the small print of the website!)  Here they are:

(Given our recent post about the interaction between bus drivers and passengers and how many of the latter go out of the way to thank the former, point 7 is interesting!)

New to the bus

If you haven’t travelled by bus before, here are a few tips for a simple journey.

1. Plan your journey so you know which bus and route are right for you.
2. Make sure you take a note of the bus number.
3. When your bus is approaching the bus stop, just put out your hand so the driver knows to stop and let you on board.
4. When you get on the bus, ask the driver for a single ticket to your destination.
5. Your fare will be automatically capped at £2 and you can pay by cash, contactless or Apple/Google Pay. Don’t forget to take your ticket from the machine and keep it for the whole journey.
6. Once your payment is accepted, take your seat and enjoy the journey.
7. When you’re approaching your destination bus stop, press any of the stop buttons located around the bus. When the bus comes to a stop, thank your driver as you get off.                                           

"Thank you, driver...."

A Stagecoach driver hard at work in Keswick!

 It could be said that if a bus driver is doing his or her job well you don't really notice them. A bus journey is, after all, a routine affair and bus travel is something we do day-in, day-out without really thinking about it other than on the odd occasion when things go wrong. You get on, pay your fare, sit down...and then when you get to your destination, ring the bell and alight.

But it seems that many people do actually notice their driver and some of them have been getting in touch with the Bus Users' Group to tell us what they think.  And it seems that they like what they see: the Group has received several unsolicited testimonials concerning local bus drivers and Christmas seems as good a time as any to share them with you.  So here they are:

"All our drivers are nice and helpful"   (passenger on the no. 10 to the Ridge)

"On the whole, the local drivers are a good bunch"  (passenger from Scotforth)

"This driver is an extremely helpful person. Her anxiety about this matter (the state of the ungritted roads during icy weather last week) was prompted not only by personal inconvenience, but by the well-being of her passengers"  (passenger on the no.18 to Williamson Park)

"The drivers of the buses I use are patient and helpful, even when they are busy" (passenger from Bowerham)

Some passengers even know their drivers by name:

"J****" and "B**" are simply the best. Brilliant drivers who go the extra mile to make our bus journeys that much better" (regular passenger on the 81 to Kirkby Lonsdale)

Not just the drivers...

We've yet to hear from the drivers what they think of us passengers (!) but we hope they realise we appreciate the job they do.  A recent report stated that a typical bus driver is thanked 37 times a day for doing his job, which is five times more often than the average worker.  That was a national survey and all we can say is that there must be a lot of ungrateful passengers elsewhere in the country because it seems to us that the average Lancaster bus driver is likely to be thanked 37 times per trip!

The same survey showed that four-fifths of passengers claim that they thank their bus driver. An unscientific survey by the BUG confirms this and also that there is no difference between different ages or types of passengers - we are all equally grateful. It can be especially touching to see parents teaching young children to say "thank you" when alighting, to ensure the tradition continues.

Bus drivers have a lot to contend with in their daily job (your author knows from experience!)  and passengers' journeys can be stressful and unpleasant when things go wrong, But it seems that Lancaster passengers at least do appreciate their drivers and we hope the reverse is true!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Christmas and New Year Buses

 

Stagecoach has announced details of its timetables over the Christmas and New Year period. Service levels are very similar to what we have become accustomed to in recent years, with early evening closedowns on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve (two of the nights of the year when more people are out and about than ever) and no buses on Christmas Day and New Year's Day (in the Lancaster area).

A special service will operate on key routes in Lancaster and Morecambe on Boxing Day and the additional public holidays of Tuesday 27th December and Monday, 2nd January 2023 will see a Sunday timetable operating.

A Saturday timetable will operate on all services between 28th and 30th December, with an extra journey on certain services.

MegaRider tickets bought over the festive period will have extended validity to take account of the reduced services operating.

Full details, including the times of last journeys on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are Stagecoach Christmas Service Levels.

Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire will operate a similar level of service, with no buses on Christmas Day or Boxing Day and an early closedown on some routes on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Full details are on this link:

Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire Christmas Service Levels

Evening buses return as Bus Service Improvement Plan updated

 

Service 42 is set to gain new evening and Sunday buses.

Lancaster and Morecambe will see the first tangible benefits of Lancashire County Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) with evening buses set to return to services 5 (Overton-Carnforth) and 42 (Lancaster - Blackpool) from 28th November after a six-year gap.

Evening buses on these services fell victim to the County Council's cutbacks in 2016 but will now return following the award of £34.6M to the council to implement parts of its Bus Service Improvement Plan made under the National Bus Strategy for England.

Timetables on each service are similar to those that operated up to 2016 with services extended until after 2300 hrs six night a week.  Further enhancements are due on the 42 early next year when additional Sunday buses will be introduced as part of an overall review of services on the A6 south from Lancaster.

The Council has allocated £3.9M of its BSIP gant to bus service enhancements in the period ending March 2025 although at this stage no more Lancaster services are earmarked for improvement.

Timetables for the additional journeys can be seen on the following links

5 Overton - Morecambe - Carnforth

42 Lancaster - Garstang - Blackpool

There has been no advance publicity for the changes by either Stagecoach or the County Council due to the grant funding still not having been fully confirmed by the government, but a decision has now been taken to go ahead in the expectation that funding will soon be in place. The Bus Users Group is therefore pleased to be able to break the news and hopes that as many people as possible will find out and be able to make use of the new journeys.

BSIP Updated

As required under the National Bus Strategy, Lancashire's Bus Service Improvement Plan has now been subjected to its first annual review. The objectives of the Plan remain unchanged, but the document now contains details of how the £34.6M allocated by the Department for Transport (DfT) (out of a bid of about £170M) will be spent in the period up to March 2025, which is as follows

• 35 "Bus Priority Interventions" across the county, plus up to 80 sites for traffic signal priority. Cost £24.9M
• New bus stops and upgrades supporting local bus network enhancements - £0.3M
• Fares Support  - £3.8M to include:-
• £1 maximum fare after 19.00hrs initiative
• A pilot scheme on Fylde Coast for young people's season tickets that will be available on all operators' buses
• "Travel on Saturday, get Sunday free" offer
• Tap-on, Tap Off Ticketing development  £1.1M
• Bus service enhancements - £3.9M to include:-
• Better evening and Sunday services (including the 5 and 42)
• A new bus link between Skelmersdale and Kirkby / Headbolt Lane stations for trains to Liverpool.
• Demand Responsive Transport in the Hyndburn Council area and in Garstang - 
• Additional staff costs to support BSIP delivery (including on costs) £0.2M

In addition to the above, Lancashire County Council and Blackburn-with-Darwen Council have identified a further £16.7M for bus service improvements from their own resources, other funding sources and developer contributions.

The updated Bus Service Improvement Plan is on this link

 Whatever one's views on the legitimacy of an unelected body whose almost 800 members have guaranteed jobs for life, this report from  bus industry trade journal Route One shows that the House of Lords can sometimes hit the nail on the head.

House of Lords report slams poor bus services and ‘wasteful’ bidding processes

A new report released by the House of Lords Build Environment Committee has criticised ‘wasteful competitive bidding processes’, bus service cuts, and ‘services not designed around passenger needs’ as being a hindrance to public transport outside of London.

Public transport in towns and cities calls for government to address these factors, claiming that forecasted cuts of up to 20% risk a “downward spiral of reduced demand” on bus journeys.

It highlights the process of local authority bidding on central government funding, which it says is “costly, resource intensive, and inefficient”. It recommends switching to a system of periodic block grants, which would encourage “more coherent and long-term transport delivery” with “spending priorities determined locally”.

The report also calls for Enhanced Partnerships and franchising schemes to be monitored by local and central government to determine their effectiveness and “value for money”.

Says Lord Moylan, Chair of the Built Environment Committee: “We have called on the government to take action on the areas inhibiting the delivery of quality public transport services in towns and cities outside London. One of the immediate problems is the end of pandemic support funding for buses in March 2023, which could lead to bus cuts of up to 20% and risk a downward spiral of reducing demand. This would hit the poorest hardest.

“The government should also improve the way transport projects are funded, by moving away from local areas bidding for competitive central government capital funding, which is costly, resource intensive and inefficient. Instead, there should be a system of more periodic block grants.

“A framework should be set to allow local authorities to better coordinate local plans and transport planning.”

Other findings and conclusions from the report include calls to evaluate the feasibility of multi-operator ticketing in large towns and cities, improvements to data sharing for passengers, the publication of the review of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, and assessment of demand-responsive transport from Fflecsi trials in Wales.

Previous articl

Stagecoach Fares Increase

 

In what will be its second increase this year, Stagecoach is revising fares from next Monday, 7th November. Here we show you the change will affect passengers in Lancaster and Morecambe, whilst below we have some tips on how to save money on the new fares.

Singles and Returns

These will rise by about 5%, although some will rise by a greater or lesser amount as the company is seeking to reduce the number of individual fares it offers, presumably by taking out fare stages.

Day Riders

Good news is that the adult Bay Area Day Rider price remains unchanged at £5. This price has remained unchanged for a number of years and has increasingly replaced return tickets for longer and even medium range journeys across the district.

The Child and Young Person (under-19) version increases by 30p to £3.10

The "Family" Day Rider, which allows a day's travel for up to 5 people of whom no more than 2 may be adults, is renamed the "Group Day Rider". Validity remains the same but the price is REDUCED from £13 to £10.

The Bay Area Plus Day Rider ticket, which covers a wider area at a higher price is, however, withdrawn. This ticket lost a lot of its former value - and its customers - when Stagecoach withdrew from serving the Lune Valley and Ingleton.

Any passengers who still bought the Bay Plus ticket are directed to the Lancashire Day Rider, which covers a large area from Burton-in-Kendal in the north to Liverpool, Wigan and Bolton in the south of the county. This ticket remains priced at £8.50 for Adults, £4.90 for Under-19s and £18 for the "Group" version.

The North West Explorer ticket, which covers all the above and also extends northwards to Carlisle, Dumfries and Newcastle-upon-Tyne as well as southwards to Chester, rises by 50p to £12.50 for adults, and £9.50 for children and by £1.50 to £36 for groups.

Mega Riders (7-Days)

The seven-day Bay Area Mega Rider increases by £1 from £17 to £18 for adults and by 70p from £15.30 to £16 for under-19s

The Bay Area Plus Mega Rider is abolished, but as there is no 7-day version of the Lancashire Day Rider, any passengers currently using this ticket would seem to have no option other than a "North West Gold Megarider", which has the same area of validity as the North West Explorer and which increases from £30.60 to £32 for adults and £66 to £69 for Groups.

Mega Riders (28 days +)

Mega Riders for periods of 28 days and longer are not changing in price until 28th November, when an increase of approximately 5% is expected.

Tickets Withdrawn

As well as the Bay Area Plus tickets, the "Big Group Return" ticket, bizarrely listed under "Bus & Boat Tickets" on the company's website and the "Out and About with your Mates" ticket, seemingly not promoted at all, are also withdrawn from sale.

Fares in other parts of the Stagecoach network are also changing and details are on this link.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON THE NEW FARES 

If you will be affected by the increase, there are a number of ways in which you might be able to save money on the new fares.

• If you have a mobile phone with internet access and can use it for online purchases the Stagecoach Flexi-Rider is a good money-saver.

• A Flexi Rider is an electronic bundle or carnet of 5 or 10 Day Riders that you store on your 'phone and use as required over a period of twelve months.  A "Flexi 5" costs £20 (or £4 a day) and a "Flexi10" is £35 (or £3.50 a day). 
• Using a " Flexi 5" or "Flexi 10" ticket is cheaper than a SINGLE ticket from Lancaster to Morecambe and cheaper than a RETURN from Torrisholme to Lancaster or Heysham to Morecambe.
• If you currently buy a Mega Rider at £17 (to be £18) but use it for just 5 days a week then a "Flexi10" bundle would give you ten days travel for £35, a saving of £1 over two MegaRiders (although you would lose the freedom to make additional journeys on the other two days).

• Flexi Tickets are also available for the Lancashire Day Rider and North West Explorer at similar discounts of a Flexi 5 for the price of 4 Day Riders and a Flexi 10 for the price of 7.

• Two other ways of saving on bus fares are to be over 66 years of age, in which case you will qualify for a Concessionary Bus Pass (also available to persons with disabilities) giving free off-peak bus travel throughout England

• Or if you have the good fortune to be under 66, to wait until January 2023 when the government's promised cap on bus fares at a maximum of £2 comes into effect and lasts until March.

Winter Lakes Guide Published

Stagecoach has published its Winter guide to buses in the Lakes that takes effect on 7th November and runs until 26th March 2023. 

There are the usual seasonal changes to the 555 with the additional journeys that operate via the M6 motorway being suspended for the winter. The late evening buses between Kendal and Keswick will run on Friday and Saturday nights only, whilst on Sunday there are additional journeys at 0830 from Kendal to Lancaster and at 1845 from Lancaster to Kendal, both of which run via the M6.

For the first time in recent history there will be a service between Kendal and Keswick on New Year's Day with four journeys in each direction complementing the 599 that runs between Kendal and Grasmere.

There are no changes to the 755 between Heysham and Bowness-on-Windermere, with the extension to Ocean Edge Holiday Park being continued into a second winter.

A copy of booklet is already available on line.

Click here to download

Printed Copies?

As regular passengers will know, the printed version of the Guide is much easier to use, especially when out and about. Since the closure of the Travel Shop on the bus station Stagecoach seems to struggle to distribute its printed timetables in the Lancaster area, with both regular outlets - the library and the Visitor Information Centre -  reporting difficulties in obtaining stocks. The company meanwhile has failed to respond to requests from the Bus Users' Group to improve matters.  The Lakes Guide, however, is apparently distributed by a professional publicity company on Stagecoach's behalf, so hopefully stocks will be available soon both in the library and VIC and on service 555 buses.

STOP PRESS: Printed copies of the Guide have been reported as available at Carlisle railway station and Booth's in Keswick, and presumably they are more widely available.