Thirty Years Later

The new picture on our masthead celebrates the introduction of Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire's new service 582 between Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale, introduced on 5th March.

Lancaster to Skipton by bus in 2018

Buses on this service continue through to Settle and Skipton as services 581/580 and restore the link between Lancaster and Skipton. Buses were first operated between the two towns by Pennine Motor Services of Gargrave in 1926 and from 1931 the service was jointly-operated with Ribble Motor Services of Preston (which eventually became part of the Stagecoach empire).

How things were in 1981: A Pennine bus at Settle bound for Ingleton, where it would connect with a Lancaster service

1981 Again: This bus is at Clapham, heading for Skipton from Lancaster.  Service 582 now provides this link.

The joint service was numbered 580 in the Ribble series and had co-ordinated timetables and common fares with inter-available tickets.  By the 1980s only Pennine buses completed the whole route, with four through journeys per day. At other times, Ribble buses ran from Lancaster to Ingleton and connected with Pennine buses on to Skipton to give an hourly link. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when the government decided that such co-operation was bad for passengers and what was really needed was competition.  Unfortunately, the decline in the use of rural bus services  meant that there was no room for two competing companies on the route and the operation was soon split into two halves, with Ribble operating between Lancaster and Ingleton and Pennine running between Ingleton and Skipton, with all the benefits of a through service being lost.

Pennine Motor Services ceased to trade in 2014, although by then it had retreated from Ingleton to Settle, and after a short period when replacement services between Settle and Skipton were provided by North Yorkshire County Council using its own 16-seater minibuses, Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire, which was by then operating between Kirkby Lonsdale and Settle, extended its service to Skipton, marketing it as "The Craven Connection"

The Ingleton to Lancaster section continued to be operated by Stagecoach, the successors to Ribble Motor Services, as its service 80 and continues to follow the original joint route via Bentham. The Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire services link Lancaster and Skipton in a slightly different way, taking passengers through Kirkby Lonsdale rather than Bentham, but the reintroduction of through buses is very welcome and restores the historic connection.

If you fancy a ride on the new service you will find a link to the timetable here.

Easter Start for Dales Bus This Year

See Malham Tarn with Dales Bus

Fans of the Dales Bus services that link Lancaster and Morecambe to the Yorkshire Dales and Forest of Bowland will be pleased to learn that one of their favourite services - the "Malham Tarn Shuttle" - will have an extended season in 2018 starting at Easter and continuing through until 21st October.

Service 881, which will be operated by Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire, runs on Sundays and Bank Holidays linking Morecambe, Lancaster and the Lune Valley with Ingleton, Settle, Malham and Malham Tarn.  The bus leaves Morecambe at 0825, Lancaster Bus Station at 0850 and Kirkby Lonsdale at 0930 and arrives in Settle at 1020, Malham Tarn at 1038 and Malham village at 1050.

The timetable allows either a full day at Malham, with the return bus leaving at 1605 or there are earlier buses at 1125 and 1330 to Settle and Ingleton allowing passengers to spend some time in one or both towns before returning to Lancaster for 1805 and Morecambe at 1825.

A full timetable can be found via this link

Unfortunately, concessionary bus passes cannot be used for free travel on the Malham Tarn Shuttle because Lancashire and North Yorkshire County Councils say that it should only be used by "tourists" rather than local people (who actually make up the bulk of the ridership), but good-value discounted tickets are available to all bus pass holders.

Lancaster's other Dales Bus services, the 830 Northern Dalesman to Ribblehead, Wensleydale and Swaledale and the 833 to Ingleton, Gisburn Forest, Slaidburn and Clitheroe will re-start on 20th May and full timetable details will be posted here as soon as they are available.

The Bus Users' Group wishes to offer its congratulations to the Dales & Bowland CIC, which organises the services, for once-again securing the funding for the network in what are still very challenging times for public services and we will be encouraging our members to make full use of the services over the coming summer.

Stagecoach, Don't Park Here!

Greyhound Bridge has been closed to all traffic for four weeks now, with all buses - and other traffic - diverted over Skerton Bridge. Initial impressions are that the disruption has not been as severe as everyone thought and, with some exceptions, buses appear to be coping very well.  But there continue to be a number of problems.

Stagecoach:  Don't Park Here   DON'T"!

The bus station continues to be clogged up with all the extra buses that perhaps aren't actually needed and which therefore spend more time in the station waiting for their next trip instead of being stuck in the traffic as was expected.  There can be queues of buses waiting for a free stand at times and, unfortunately, passengers are still missing their buses despite the efforts of drivers and inspectors to direct them to whichever stand their bus is on.  The Park & Ride service has been badly affected by this, which is a shame as its passengers, not being used to using buses, need a bit more mollycoddling than the regulars. It has been allocated its own dedicated stand to help in this, but it looks as if this might not always work and perhaps a certain amount of desperation is setting in after problems keeping it clear as the hand-written notice on Stand 4 implies.

Temporary stop at Ryelands Park

Elsewhere in the city the bus stops at Common Garden Street and George Street are now correctly signed and have the right timetables in the right cases, after the Bus Users' Group pointed out some errors and we have had another success - this time at Ryelands Park

Due to the alterations to the traffic flows following the bridge closure the stop on Morecambe Road opposite Our Lady's school cannot be used by buses heading out of the city to Torrisholme, Vale or along the A6 north.  Instead a temporary stop was created on Owen Road outside Ryelands Park. Despite it having a projected life of at least six months it was initially marked only by an "A" board, weighted down with a couple of sandbags and placed on the footway.

Needless to say, the stop quickly became rather more "temporary" than intended and kept going for a walk in the park or even disappeared altogether, leading to much confusion amongst bus drivers and passengers.  When the BUG became aware of the problem we asked the county council whether they could provide a proper bus stop, with a fixed pole and sign. After all, given the multi-million pound cost of the repair scheme surely they could find a few quid to stick a pole up!

To the fair to LCC, they agreed to do so almost immediately and the pole was in place just two days after our request, although we are not sure why the gang who put the new pole up didn't take the A board away! But it seems that the county council will listen to the concerns of passengers where the bridge works are concerned, so if you become aware of any similar issues please let us know. A "comment" at the bottom of this post will suffice,