The Mystery Of The Missing One

A service 1 that doesn't exist?

 The Bus Users' Group would always recommend checking carefully before making an unfamiliar journey by bus. There are at least four possible sources of information online: Bus Company websites; Traveline; Google Maps/Transit and BusTimes.org, an independent site. We'd also recommend that you check more than one as the following tale will tell.

The week just ended was Lancaster University's Freshers' Week when Stagecoach normally enhance the service on routes 1/1A along Greaves Road. Service 1, which in the holidays runs only between Heysham and the City Centre, is extended to the University to give a 10-minute headway with the 1A, whilst the evening and Sunday service on 1A is similarly extended to give more buses to the University. 

Paper timetables make this clear, but in their "temporary" (or is it now permanent?) absence how would the online enquirer get on?

Stagecoach

Copies of the paper timetables appear on Stagecoach's website and have been clearly annotated (in red, bottom right) to show the start date of the enhanced service.

But bus companies seem to think that we passengers won't - or can't - read timetables and that what we need are Journey Planners. Stagecoach's own Journey Planner, however, doesn't seem to know about the change! In the screenshot below, the 1507 and 1527 from the Bus Station are missing, giving the impression that the service along Greaves Road is less frequent than it actually is.

Similarly, the journey planner tells you that in the evenings, apart from occasional buses on service 40, the only service to the University is the 100, the three 1As an hour are ignored.

Both sets of Stagecoach information can't be right - so what about Traveline? 

Traveline

 Traveline, which is maintained by local authorities using data from a national database populated by bus companies, knows all about the new times, both during the day...

...and (although we aren't showing it)in the evenings.

Google

Google Maps, which also uses the national database, is also on the ball, showing the day time and evening service correctly, even though it uses the American 12-hour clock system to do so.

Bus Times 

Bus Times is an independent site, originally aimed at bus enthusiasts but increasingly used by the general public. It doesn't offer a Journey Planner, but does have a timetable for every bus service in the country. It's usually very reliable, but in the case of the 1 and 1A it still shows the "holiday" times that applied up until last week, with the 1 running only between Heysham (Overton on a few journeys) and the City Centre

and the evening service on 1A doing the same

What's Going On?

Traveline and Google use the national database, which gets its data from bus companies, including Stagecoach. It's not surprising then that they are showing up-to-date information.  Bus Times uses a variety of sources for its timetables. In the case of Stagecoach services it uses information supplied directly from the company as indicated on the timetable page

Stagecoach's own journey planner, unlike those of Traveline and Google, only gives information on the company's own services. It won't, for example, tell you about Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire's buses in the Lune Valley even when they complement its own. It therefore does not draw its data from the national database, but from a separate company-specific one, also accessible to Bus Times

What seems to have happened is that Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancs has successfully supplied the current timetable data to the national database, but - for whatever reason - has been unable to send it to its' own Journey Planner, which is maintained at Group level and outside local control.

The Bus Users' Group has previously identified many faults in the Stagecoach planner - could this be another one?

We Missed The Bus...!

UPDATE: This service no longer appears on National Express' website and has apparently been withdrawn.

 ...or, rather, the coach.  Just before lockdown, in early March, National Express withdrew the last of its routes serving Lancaster, leaving the city without a long-distance coach service for the first time since long-distance motor coaching began. At about the same time Megabus, which served the University, but not the city centre, also ceased its operations.

But a chance discussion at a recent BUG committee meeting led to the discovery that both operators are once again serving our area.  We must admit that we don't know exactly when this happened.  Long distance coach services do not require any formal notice to operate and can come and go as operators see fit.  Both these compnaies choose to publicise their services and sell tickets solely over the interent. This is all very well and the information is relatively easy to find -  if you already know it is there!  The continued closure of the Travel Shop at Lancaster Bus Station means that it isn't possible to ask anyone there about coaches, but there is no gaurantee that they would have any information either.

National Express and Megabus are presumably happy with this operating model, but we doubt that we are the only Lancaster residents unaware of the return of long distance coaches to the city.

Unfortunately, the services now operating are a lot less useful than those we previously enjoyed, although the National Express website suggests that services are being gradually increased so improvements may follow.

National Express

National Express provides one journey per day between Birmingham and Edinburgh, calling at Lancaster at 11.55 northbound and 16.10 southbound.  Although the route serves the National Express hub at Birmingham, the northbound coach leaves at 07.30 whilst southbound it arrives at 20.30 meaning that it offers few, if any, useful connections to anywhere else.  

Here is the timetable:  National Express 182 Birmingham - Lancaster - Edinburgh

Megabus

Lancaster is served by the London to Glasgow service, although the only stop locally is at the University and the city centre isn't served.  The northbound bus runs overnight,leaving London at 22.30 and reaching the University at 04.00 before continuing to Glasgow, which is reached at 06.30

In the opposite direction it's a daytime service: 11.00 from Glasgow and 14.05 at the University continuing to Preston, Manchester, Birmingham and London, which is reached at 22.10

Because of the user-unfriendly way Megabus presents its services online it's not possible to link to an actual timetable. You just have to pretend you want to buy a ticket - and start the purchasing procedure -  before you can find out what's actually on offer!  But here's a link to their website.

Megabus

Disclaimer:  These services can come and go without formaility or notice to the public and the Bus Users' Group cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information or how long it will be current.  Good Luck!