Don't Forget Dales Bus this Easter.

Here is a press release from Dales Bus concerning their "Malham Tarn Shuttle 881" service.

EXTENDED DALES BUS SERVICE LINKS LANCASTER & MORECAMBE WITH THE YORKSHIRE DALES NATIONAL PARKS.

The popular Dales Bus service 881 from Morecambe, Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale has been extended to operate from Easter weekend to provide a direct link for walkers and sightseers to Malham, one of the most iconic visitor destinations in any UK National Park.

Malham Tarn: Visit it on service 881.

The Malham Tarn Shuttle 881 will operate every Sunday and Bank Holiday from April 1^st until 21^st October.  It will pick up from Morecambe Bus Station at 0825, Lancaster Bus Station at 0850 and Kirkby Lonsdale (Market Square) at 0930 for Ingleton, Clapham (for access to Ingleborough), Austwick and Settle before crossing over some of the most spectacular limestone countryside in England, past Malham Tarn National Nature Reserve before descending to the village of Malham and terminating at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Centre.

Malham is a paradise for walkers. There are beautiful and spectacular walks – to Malham Cove, Janet’s Foss and Gordale, or for keen walkers along the Pennine Way to Malham Tarn or the Pennine Bridleway back to Settle.

To keep prices as low as possible to encourage everyone to get out into the National Park for their health and wellbeing, Dales Bus offer a range of good-value day tickets purchasable from the bus driver. A Western Dales Explorer Ticket covers a day’s travel on Dales Bus from Morecambe or Lancaster as far as Malham for just £9 (adult), or £15 for a family ticket for up to 2 adults and 3 children. A £7.50 Dales Privilege Rover Ticket is available for anyone with a senior or disabled bus pass, railcard or student ID. 

The Northern Dalesman services from Lancaster to Wensleydale and Swaledale and the Bowland Explorer bus service will both commence at Spring Bank Holiday weekend on May 27^th following new rail timetable changes.

Full details of all Dales Bus services for 2018 are now on the Dales Bus web site – www.dalesbus.org.   

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.