More Buses to Knott End

 

Service 89 will be joined by new service 88 to give more buses to Knott End

Improvements to bus services between Lancaster and Knott End-on-Sea will take effect from 27^th August following a decision by Lancashire County Council to utilise funding from its Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) and Local Transport Fund.

New Service 88 will be introduced between Lancaster and Knott End via Garstang, to operate in conjunction with existing Service 89 between Lancaster and Knott End, enhancing the overall service frequency across much of the route.  The services will operate between Lancaster and Knott End via Glasson Dock, Cockerham, Garstang (88), Nateby (88), Pilling and Preesall.

The combined Monday to Saturday service frequency will operate approximately hourly across the end-to-end route, with the unique sections approximately two-hourly

In a good example of integration between school and public bus services, certain new Service 88 journeys will additionally serve Garstang Academy on schooldays, replacing School Service 813 and partially replacing School Service 509 to improve sustainability by incorporating those duplicated sections of route.

The changes will restore long-lost links between Glasson, Cockerham and Garstang as well as between Garstang, Nateby, Preesall and Knott End, which will be welcomed by local residents.

Sunday Buses

The new timetable will also see the restoration of a Sunday service between Lancaster and Knott End, which was lost when the county council cut its own budget for bus service support in 2016.

Kirkby Lonsdale Coaches will continue to operate these services on behalf of Lancashire County Council.

After the proposed timetable was posted on this site the county council was contacted by passengers whose journeys were adversely affected by the changes.

Fortunately the council has been able to amend its proposals to take account of these issues and the UPDATED TIMETABLE is now on this link, with the journeys that have been changed highlighted in yellow.

A map and route description showing the new 88 and 89 routes is on this link

New timetables for the 1/1A and 4/4X

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

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

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!

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!

Buses Return to Mossgate Park, but Service 4 is reduced.

 

From Sunday, 2nd July buses will return to Mossgate Park in Heysham after an absence of just over a year.

Stagecoach re-routed services1/1A away from the area in May 2022 amid concerns that the poor quality of the road surface and in particular the anti-speeding humps were damaging the buses. Crucially, some of the roads on the estate had not been adopted by Lancashire County Council for maintenance purposes as they did not meet the standard required after being built by the developer.

Stagecoach promised that they would return to the area once the roads had been brought up to standard and it appears that this has now been done. The change of route will be introduced on 2nd July at the start of the Lancaster University vacation, which also sees the service level between the City Centre and the University reduced for the summer.

Service 4 reduced

Service 4 is being reduced during University vacations from July

From the same date the timetable on service 4 (Railway Station - University) is reduced from half-hourly to hourly.  This happened last year for the first time, but the difference this time is that the service reduction will in future apply during ALL University vacations.

The Bus Users' Group considers this a retrograde step, requiring as it does, many passengers who have no connection with the University to bear in mind  the dates during which the University is on holiday, which of course total more than half the year!

We also understand that it is planned to remove the service from Common Garden Street on the grounds of "improving reliability" and have asked Stagecoach for clarification.

Stagecoach Increases Fares

 

Stagecoach is increasing some of its fares from Sunday, 11th June.

Single and return fares are not changing and the government's fare cap of £2 per single journey will remain in place until the end of October, when it will rise to £2.50

The company is, however, raising the prices of its day, 7-day and 28-day tickets, with increases being around 10%.

Day Riders

The Bay Area Day Rider increases from £5 to £5.50, with the child and young person ticket rising from £3.10 to £3.50. 

The Lancashire Day Rider, which covers Stagecoach services as far south as Southport, Liverpool, Wigan and Bolton and east to Blackburn goes from £8.50 to £9.20 with the young person version rising from £4.90 to £5.30

The North West Explorer ticket, which covers all the above plus services in Westmorland, Furness and Cumberland and extends to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Dumfries actually falls in price from £12.50 to £12 and the child/young person price falls from £9.50 to £9

Flexi-versions of these tickets, which work out at 5 tickets for the price of 4 or 10 tickets for the price of 7 are available on the Stagecoach app.

Mega Riders

The seven-day Mega Rider for the Bay Area is increased from £18 to £20.  

THe Child/Young Person version rises from £16 to £18. 

The 28-Day Mega Rider for the Bay Area will be priced at £70,up from £66 with a young person version at £60, up from £59

Full details of the new prices are available on Stagecoach's website.

Fares were increased twice in 2022, in March and November, although not every fare was increased on both occasions.  The Day Rider has been held at £5 since at least April 2015

As well as the £2 cap on single fares, for journeys entirely within the Lancashire County Council area there is a separate cap of £1 on journeys starting after 19:00hrs, whilst Day Riders and Lancashire Day Riders bought and used on a Saturday can be used again on Sunday thanks to an initiative under the Lancashire Bus Service Improvement Plan.

Bus Stop Audit Brings Results

Last November, the Bus Users' Group conducted an audit of passenger facilities at bus stops on the route of service 7 (Lancaster Bus Station to Vale). The results were published here on 7th February (Broken Shop Windows Read Again) and were forwarded to Lancashire County Council for its attention.

Read the whole document here

In summary, we found a substantial backlog of maintenance all along the route, with leaning poles, loose signs, faded road markings and incorrect or out-of-date stop names, all contributing to a run down appearance and an atmosphere of neglect almost designed to turn away potential passengers.

The county council promised urgent action on those items we had identified as hazardous, and also a review of what could be done on some of the other matters we had raised, whilst warning us that they had over 8,000 bus stops in their part of the county to look after and limited resources and funding

So, what has changed?

Six-months on, the items identified as posing a hazard to the public were swiftly rectified. All credit to the council, but it might have been better if they hadn't allowed them to get into that state in the first place.

The leaning pole and loose sign at Clare Road:

BEFORE

Pole in danger of falling over and loose sign.

AFTER

New super-size pole, and new flag all set
back from the pavement edge.

Another loose sign on Barley Cop Lane at a stop still then called "Co-Op", despite the shop having become a branch of McColls. The out-of-date stop name was missing from the sign.

BEFORE

Loose sign and the stop name missing

AFTER

New sign and a new name.

The stop used to have the official name of Co-Op, despite the Co-Op shop having become a branch of McColls as seen in the "before" image. Sensibly, in view of yet another rebranding exercise the stop is now called "Hathaway Road" to match the inward stop nearby. 

Hathaway Road

The inward stop at Hathaway Road has a shelter provided by the City Council, to which the stop name had been applied by someone without any interest in Shakespeare!

BEFORE

AFTER

We were originally told that because of the way the names on this type of shelter are applied it is not actually possible to change them!  But someone appears to have had a go and has at least succeeded in removing the embarrassing misspelling!

Road Markings Refreshed

Many of our other complaints were regarding the dreadful state of the Bus Stop Clearways and box markings, which were so badly worn as to be illegible in many cases. We are sure it is co-incidental, but earlier this month the County Council decided to resurface Barley Cop Lane and Noel Road!

This actually caused a great deal of inconvenience to bus users as no alternative route was provided for buses whilst the work was taking place, but the improvements to the bus stop markings are remarkable.

As an example take another look at the stop previously called Co-Op and now "Hathaway Road":

BEFORE

"Bus Stop Clearway" completely worn out

                                                        AFTER

No doubt now that this is a bus stop!

Similar improvements have been made at all the stops on Barley Cop Lane and will follow on Noel Road when the resurfacing work there is completed.  This all makes life easier for bus drivers, for whom it helps keep the stops clear of parked cars as well as for motorists who no longer run the risk of parking illegally on a bus stop.  Perhaps most importantly,  taken together, all these improvements combine to give a more favourable impression to passengers and would-be passengers and might perhaps allow them to think that somebody actually cares!

Although the Bus Users' Group has no plans to conduct further audits at present, we are always happy to help resolve any problems with stops and shelters. These can be reported directly to Lancashire County Council by any of the methods suggested on this link 

Alternatively, you can let us know at busstops@lancasterbususers.com  and we will take them up on your behalf.

New Bus Shelters in £120,000 Upgrade

Lancaster and Morecambe's local radio station,  Beyond Radio has reported that bus shelters in Lancaster are being upgraded in a £120,000 scheme by Lancashire County Council. Here is their report:

Bus shelters across Lancaster and Morecambe are being replaced after inspections found 'some corrosion' in the brackets supporting the roofs.

The work to replace the 14 shelters began earlier this month and is expected to be completed in June.

The total cost of the replacements by Lancashire County Council is around £120,000 from a budget set aside to upgrade infrastructure on local bus routes.

The shelters being replaced in the Lancaster district are on Stanley Road, Bare Lane, Low Lane, Lancaster Road, Scale Hall Lane, Barton Road, Claughton Drive and Heysham Road.

Here is an example of the new style of bus shelter on Low Lane in Torrisholme.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We're currently replacing 14 bus shelters around the county which are of a particular style, with a cantilevered roof to protect passengers from the worst of the weather, but no side panels.

"These shelters have been in place for 20 years and recent inspections found some corrosion to the brackets which support the roof, which is why we're replacing them before this becomes a bigger problem.

"All of the new shelters will have side panels to help make people's journeys more comfortable."

Beyond Radio Post ENDS.

POST UPDATED TO INCLUDE A FULL LIST OF THE NEW SHELTER LOCATIONS

Stop Name                                                       Road Name

1. Sandylands, Cavendish Rd (opp)                 Stanley Road
2. Bare, Mayfield Dr (Opp)                                   Bare Lane
3. Torrisholme, Hexham Rd (opp)                      Low Lane
4. Torrisholme, Fell Rd (opp)                                Low Lane
5. Torrisholme, Fell Rd (by)                                   Low Lane
6. Torrisholme, Michaelson Ave (By)             Lancaster Road
7. Torrisholme, Michaelson Ave (by)             Lancaster Road
8. Scale Hall, Scale Hall Lane (by)                     Scale Hall Lane
9. Scale Hall, Scale Hall Lane (adj)                   Scale Hall Lane
10. Scale Hall, Spar (opp)                                    Scale Hall Lane
11. Scotforth, Wakefield drive (by)                     Barton Rd
12. Hala, Whinfell drive (By)                             Claughton Drive
13. Sandylands, Cross Cop (adj)                            Heysham Rd
14. Torrisholme, Hexham rd (by)                          Low Lane

 

Above information from Lancashire County Council's Public Transport Team.

BUS FARE CAP EXTENDED AND MORE FUNDING FOR BUSES

 

The cap on single bus fares at £2 per journey, which was due to end on 30th June has now been extended to 30th October. It will then be replaced by a cap at £2.50 per journey, which will be in place until 30th November 2024, when it will be reviewed.

The Government has allocated £200m to reimburse bus operators for maintaining the cap, which will effectively freeze most bus fares until after the expected date of the next general election. Interestingly, the move comes at a time when early evaluation of the scheme, carried out after just one month's operation, showed only a small increase in patronage, whilst admitting that the true impact of the scheme was difficult to judge due to the influence of other factors as bus patronage continued its slow recovery from the Covid pandemic.

Covid Recovery Grant Extended

The Covid-19 pandemic caused bus ridership to fall by 90% in the early part of 2020 and, despite a slow and uneven rise, patronage has still not returned to previous levels. Latest government figures for England outside London show ridership at 85 - 90% of January 2020 figures.

The government has sought to protect bus networks through a Covid Bus Recovery Grant, paid to bus companies to compensate for their lower income. A total of £210m has been allocated to cover the period from October 2022 to June 2023, but many bus companies were warning that the end of the grant would lead to service reductions. Operators and bus campaign groups were also critical of the short-term nature of government funding, which was leading to uncertainty over the future of networks.

The government has now announced that a further £300m Covid Bus Recovery Grant will be payable to keep networks stable until 2025, after which it (or its successor) will review future funding for buses.

Whilst this longer-term approach is welcome, bus operators have warned that even this amount of funding may not be sufficient to protect all bus services and that some cutbacks will still be necessary.