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.