School Bus Solution Found

 

The now withdrawn S24 school bus

The withdrawal of school bus service S24, between Marsh and Central Lancaster High School from the start of the new school term in September was set to cause problems for significant numbers of children who would have been faced with a two mile uphill walk to school.

The children's walk to school.

Following lobbying by parents, the county council proposed a solution that would have seen the children leaving home half-an-hour earlier and using two Stagecoach local services (services 10 and 11), which would have got them to school twenty minutes before the school gates opened. The only concession to the children's wellbeing was that Stagecoach agreed to amend the bus workings so that both services were operated by the same vehicle, allowing the children to remain on board, albeit with a nine-minute wait at the bus station. 

This "solution" was hailed as a "campaigning success" by the local MP who had also been lobbying the council. Parents whose children would have to leave home half-an-hour earlier and hang about in the streets outside the school gates for twenty minutes in all weathers felt otherwise and vowed to continue the fight.

The campaign continues...

Obvious Solution

To the Bus Users' Group the real solution was always obvious. The Stagecoach services both run half-hourly and catching the following buses would allow the children to leave home at more or less the same time they do now. The only drawback was that they would arrive at the school a minute or two after the official start of the school day.  Stagecoach made it clear that they were unable to alter the bus times without a major reorganisation of schedules, whilst we were told that altering the start time of the school day or making an exception for these particular children was a non-starter as the school would never agree.

Realpolitik wins the day

However, with the start of term rapidly approaching, a last-minute meeting between the Bus Users Group, the City Councillors leading the campaign and the school authorities reached agreement that the children could use the later buses even though they would technically arrive after the start time. This arrangement will run for a trial period of the first half-term during which Stagecoach will be asked if these two journeys could also be linked and worked by the same vehicle. In the longer run efforts will be made to persuade Stagecoach to alter the timetable so as to allow the children to arrive on time.  The children can now use the service 11 bus at 08.09 from the Marsh and change to service 10 in the bus station, which leaves at 08.28 and also picks up in Common Garden Street five minutes later.  A Young Person's Day Rider ticket at £2.60 will cover the full return journey and can also be used on all Lancaster buses for the rest of the day!

In the afternoon, when the return bus is due to leave only five minutes after the end of the school day the school agreed that a staff member would wait at the bus stop to ensure the bus did not depart without the children on board.

So, after much hard work, a genuine "campaign success" has been achieved by a well-organised local campaign. The Bus Users' Group is pleased to have been able to assist and would be happy to help again in any similar circumstances that may arise in future.

Road Closures Cause Major Diversion for Dales Bus

 Two unrelated sets of road works in Wyresdale and Bowland have caused a major upheaval to a Dales Bus summer Sunday bus service.

The locations of the road closures that will affect the 881 Dales Bus

No doubt when Lancashire County Council gave permission for the works, at Marshaw Tower and in Slaidburn village centre, they would have considered the effect on local road users, but did they realise the enormity of the effect they would have on the bus service.

In Slaidburn, the road isn't completely closed, but a width restriction of 6ft 6in (1.92m) has been imposed on Church Street to allow building work on the wall of what the council erroneously refers to as the "Hark and Hounds" (sic) public house. With even a slim-line Optare Solo bus measuring 2.35m and a standard version 2.5m this is effect a road closure as far as Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire is concerned.

Even if it were possible to get through the restricted section of road, the closure at Marshaw Tower, for repairs to a retaining wall still makes it impossible to follow the registered route.

Neither are these short-term measures. The closure at Marshaw runs until 26th September, whilst the restriction at Slaidburn runs until 18th October, which is when the Dales Bus 881 is due to finish for the winter.

Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire and Dales Bus have had no option but to re-route the service. It's not a trivial diversion either. Because of the nature of the road network in the Bowland area there are no suitable routes for buses anywhere nearby.  Instead the 881 will have to run on a completely different route along the northern boundary of the Forest of Bowland AONB through Bentham and Ingleton, missing out the Trough of Bowland road, which was one of its attractions to passengers, completely.

The following maps show the extent of the diversion.

Route until 8th August:

New route from 16th August:

Fortunately, the main function of the 881, which is to provide a link between Northern Rail trains at Settle and Malham Tarn and Village is unaffected, whilst for the rest of the summer there will be new direct links between Bentham, Ingleton and Malham.  Passengers looking forward to a scenic ride through the Trough of Bowland will, however, be disappointed, whilst the sizeable settlements of Dunsop Bridge and Slaidburn will be unreachable by bus.

The new 881 timetable can be seen here:  881 New Timetable