Stagecoach Increases Fares

 

Stagecoach is increasing some of its fares from Sunday, 11th June.

Single and return fares are not changing and the government's fare cap of £2 per single journey will remain in place until the end of October, when it will rise to £2.50

The company is, however, raising the prices of its day, 7-day and 28-day tickets, with increases being around 10%.

Day Riders

The Bay Area Day Rider increases from £5 to £5.50, with the child and young person ticket rising from £3.10 to £3.50. 

The Lancashire Day Rider, which covers Stagecoach services as far south as Southport, Liverpool, Wigan and Bolton and east to Blackburn goes from £8.50 to £9.20 with the young person version rising from £4.90 to £5.30

The North West Explorer ticket, which covers all the above plus services in Westmorland, Furness and Cumberland and extends to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Dumfries actually falls in price from £12.50 to £12 and the child/young person price falls from £9.50 to £9

Flexi-versions of these tickets, which work out at 5 tickets for the price of 4 or 10 tickets for the price of 7 are available on the Stagecoach app.

Mega Riders

The seven-day Mega Rider for the Bay Area is increased from £18 to £20.  

THe Child/Young Person version rises from £16 to £18. 

The 28-Day Mega Rider for the Bay Area will be priced at £70,up from £66 with a young person version at £60, up from £59

Full details of the new prices are available on Stagecoach's website.

Fares were increased twice in 2022, in March and November, although not every fare was increased on both occasions.  The Day Rider has been held at £5 since at least April 2015

As well as the £2 cap on single fares, for journeys entirely within the Lancashire County Council area there is a separate cap of £1 on journeys starting after 19:00hrs, whilst Day Riders and Lancashire Day Riders bought and used on a Saturday can be used again on Sunday thanks to an initiative under the Lancashire Bus Service Improvement Plan.

Bus Stop Audit Brings Results

Last November, the Bus Users' Group conducted an audit of passenger facilities at bus stops on the route of service 7 (Lancaster Bus Station to Vale). The results were published here on 7th February (Broken Shop Windows Read Again) and were forwarded to Lancashire County Council for its attention.

Read the whole document here

In summary, we found a substantial backlog of maintenance all along the route, with leaning poles, loose signs, faded road markings and incorrect or out-of-date stop names, all contributing to a run down appearance and an atmosphere of neglect almost designed to turn away potential passengers.

The county council promised urgent action on those items we had identified as hazardous, and also a review of what could be done on some of the other matters we had raised, whilst warning us that they had over 8,000 bus stops in their part of the county to look after and limited resources and funding

So, what has changed?

Six-months on, the items identified as posing a hazard to the public were swiftly rectified. All credit to the council, but it might have been better if they hadn't allowed them to get into that state in the first place.

The leaning pole and loose sign at Clare Road:

BEFORE

Pole in danger of falling over and loose sign.

AFTER

New super-size pole, and new flag all set
back from the pavement edge.

Another loose sign on Barley Cop Lane at a stop still then called "Co-Op", despite the shop having become a branch of McColls. The out-of-date stop name was missing from the sign.

BEFORE

Loose sign and the stop name missing

AFTER

New sign and a new name.

The stop used to have the official name of Co-Op, despite the Co-Op shop having become a branch of McColls as seen in the "before" image. Sensibly, in view of yet another rebranding exercise the stop is now called "Hathaway Road" to match the inward stop nearby. 

Hathaway Road

The inward stop at Hathaway Road has a shelter provided by the City Council, to which the stop name had been applied by someone without any interest in Shakespeare!

BEFORE

AFTER

We were originally told that because of the way the names on this type of shelter are applied it is not actually possible to change them!  But someone appears to have had a go and has at least succeeded in removing the embarrassing misspelling!

Road Markings Refreshed

Many of our other complaints were regarding the dreadful state of the Bus Stop Clearways and box markings, which were so badly worn as to be illegible in many cases. We are sure it is co-incidental, but earlier this month the County Council decided to resurface Barley Cop Lane and Noel Road!

This actually caused a great deal of inconvenience to bus users as no alternative route was provided for buses whilst the work was taking place, but the improvements to the bus stop markings are remarkable.

As an example take another look at the stop previously called Co-Op and now "Hathaway Road":

BEFORE

"Bus Stop Clearway" completely worn out

                                                        AFTER

No doubt now that this is a bus stop!

Similar improvements have been made at all the stops on Barley Cop Lane and will follow on Noel Road when the resurfacing work there is completed.  This all makes life easier for bus drivers, for whom it helps keep the stops clear of parked cars as well as for motorists who no longer run the risk of parking illegally on a bus stop.  Perhaps most importantly,  taken together, all these improvements combine to give a more favourable impression to passengers and would-be passengers and might perhaps allow them to think that somebody actually cares!

Although the Bus Users' Group has no plans to conduct further audits at present, we are always happy to help resolve any problems with stops and shelters. These can be reported directly to Lancashire County Council by any of the methods suggested on this link 

Alternatively, you can let us know at busstops@lancasterbususers.com  and we will take them up on your behalf.