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Fastest bus Preston to Blackpool?

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WestCoast

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The fastest bus is the Stagecoach 61, which takes on average around one hour and ten minutes. It runs every 30 mins Monday to Saturday daytimes, hourly on Sundays. It drops you off in Blackpool Town Centre on Market Street, near Talbot Square/North Pier and the shops.

It's quite a pleasant run through the suburbs of Preston onto the towns of Kirkham & Wesham and then Blackpool (coming in via Marton), passing through a few nice villages along the way. The single fare will be at least £5, perhaps up to £6. Not great considering a Lancashire Dayrider is £6.80, but that's often the case here with singles and dayriders.

The other option is the Stagecoach 68 running every 15 minutes, which takes the coastal route through Freckleton, Warton, Lytham St Annes and the South Shore of Blackpool. It takes around one hour and thirty minutes, but is better than the 61 if you want to be dropped off on the Central bit of the Promenade. Same prices.

There's also the Cumfybus/Coastal Coaches 75 (Fylde Villager), but that's not worth considering unless you're going somewhere along the route or you want to spend half the day on a bus.

The National Express coaches are the quickest and drop off at the new coach station, if you can call it that, near the Tower. They're scheduled to take around 50 minutes, but easily manage it in less. The downside being that they aren't all that frequent.
 
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Train is the best bet between those points!
BPS - PRE £6.60 single £7.30 cdr (NB service disruption during golf event) 36 mins
BPN - PRE £7.00 single £7.80 cdr 25mins approx.
 

WestCoast

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Yes, the train is indeed far quicker than the bus. The passengers I've seen using the bus for the whole journey are those with concession passes (so it's free off-peak) or those arriving on buses/coaches at Preston Bus Station (saving a walk to the rail station, which isn't around the corner by any means).
 

Statto

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Yes, the train is indeed far quicker than the bus. The passengers I've seen using the bus for the whole journey are those with concession passes (so it's free off-peak) or those arriving on buses/coaches at Preston Bus Station (saving a walk to the rail station, which isn't around the corner by any means).

Good point it's a good 10-15 min walk from Preston Bus station to the Rail Station & that's without carrying heavy luggage.
 

pemma

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Since the withdrawal of X61 whats the fastest rervice from Preston Bus Station to Blackpool and how much does it cost? Ta.

Surely the answer is the National Express Blackpool services which take 35-40 minutes between Blackpool and Preston Bus station, although the frequency is less than hourly. Fares on that service seem to range from £2.20 to £3.50 single, depending how far in advance you book.
 

142094

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The fastest bus is probably a 142 that runs on the Blackpool South - Colne services!
 

WestCoast

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The 142s are mostly confined to the Blackpool South services, although 150s are also a regular sight. 142s do appear on the Blackpool North - Man Vic services.
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142s are good enough for Blackpool any day!

As opposed to what, PPMs? :lol: Blackpool South line is playing a major role with the Open Golf at Lytham this week, it doesn't just serve Blackpool (in fact St Annes saw only 7,000 less users than BPS in the last count). I haven't checked out what stock is being provided this week on the shuttle.
 
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pemma

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142s are good enough for Blackpool any day!

They have donkey rides on real donkeys in Blackpool though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I haven't checked out what stock is being provided this week on the shuttle.

Doubled up Sprinters implied but on a revised shuttle service to and from Preston.

Northern Rail said:
During the Open Golf Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Northern Rail will run a specially amended train service, providing additional capacity for customers wishing to travel there by train. We anticipate that customers will travel to the golf from across the country and many customers are likely to buy tickets and reserve seats in advance for the long distance part of their journey. The additional seats that we are providing will enable those wishing to travel by train to connect with the local train service at Preston throughout the day.

From Wednesday 18 July to Sunday 22 July we will run a special shuttle train between Preston and Ansdell & Fairhaven. There will be two trains an hour for most of the day, with one service calling at Kirkham & Wesham only and the other service also calling at Moss Side and Lytham. The shuttle service is planned to run with four carriages providing up to 300 seats per train.

Our revised service covers the last day of practice and the four days of competition. There are no changes to train services planned for the first three practice days 15, 16 and 17 July.

At the end of the day’s play there are likely to be more customers wishing to travel from Ansdell & Fairhaven than we can accommodate on one train. We recommend that anyone with a connection at Preston allows plenty of additional time and advise customers to be prepared to wait for later trains.

Trains will not run beyond Ansdell & Fairhaven and customers who are not travelling to the golf are encouraged to use alternative services: a special bus service will run between Blackpool South and Kirkham & Wesham for those travelling to and from local stations, however customers connecting at Preston for Blackpool Pleasure Beach should travel to and from Blackpool North.

Full timetable: http://www.communityraillancashire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/1605-BPS-PRE.pdf
 
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142094

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Judging by some of the streets I walked through to get to Blackpool South station, a 142 actually looks decent.
 

142094

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Probably cheaper to take a ride on a Pacer than go to the Pleasure Beach - even about 5 years ago it was an extortionate price. We just stayed in the amusements all day and had fish and chips for less than what it would have cost to go on the rollercoaster.
 

pemma

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I have always though that these look like something that has escaped from a ride on the Blackpool Pleasure Beach....:D

They just need a donkey painting on the side of them with a name of "The Nodding Donkey" underneath, then a PIS fitted that makes a donkey sound when the train is about to stop at a station.
 

WestCoast

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:) :) :) :) are there any services round 13:00 or 14:00 ish to iether north or south guaranteed to produce a pacer? I love them and my mates never used one! Thats on a week day

13:02 and 14:02 to South are the most likely to produce a Pacer, there's rarely any guarantees with Northern.
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Judging by some of the streets I walked through to get to Blackpool South station, a 142 actually looks decent.

I grew up in Blackpool, so I know all about the pitfalls of the place, but I do find myself defending it quite a lot. I'd say South Shore is easily the most run down part of the town (not all of it mind), but sadly it's what visitors see the most of (and judge the place by). The station is nowhere near the actual Town Centre of Blackpool either, that's much closer to North station. North Shore and Marton (inland) are much better residential areas to live or stay in, not much in the way of 'attractions' though. Stanley Park area (where the Zoo and Model Village are) is a really nice area, again most visitors don't see this, but I've changed people's minds about the place by taking them there.
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Can I ask WHY Stagecoach North West withdrew the X61 service ?

The Blackpool - Preston portion of the route was gradually reduced to something like 4 or 5 times a day, when it was hourly just a few years ago. They kept changing the route too, it went through Kirkham and then it didn't and so on. Lack of demand was the official reason for its removal.

The Preston - Manchester portion of the route has been split up, hasn't it?
 
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142094

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I grew up in Blackpool, so I know all about the pitfalls of the place, but I do find myself defending it quite a lot. I'd say South Shore is easily the most run down part of the town (not all of it mind), but sadly it's what visitors see the most of (and judge the place by). The station is nowhere near the actual Town Centre of Blackpool either, that's much closer to North station. North Shore and Marton (inland) are much better residential areas, not much in the way of 'attractions' though. Stanley Park area (where the Zoo and Model Village are) is a really nice area, again most visitors don't see this, but I've changed people's minds about the place by taking them there.

TBH the work that they've done recently on the promenade is fantastic. Problem is, getting from both North or South stations to the promenade you have to walk through some areas that aren't as good. It is still suprising that Blackpool attracts quite a lot of people even in modern times - no idea how all of the B+Bs are able to support themselves. Must have the largest number of B+Bs in the UK I would have thought.
 

WestCoast

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TBH the work that they've done recently on the promenade is fantastic. Problem is, getting from both North or South stations to the promenade you have to walk through some areas that aren't as good. It is still suprising that Blackpool attracts quite a lot of people even in modern times - no idea how all of the B+Bs are able to support themselves. Must have the largest number of B+Bs in the UK I would have thought.

You're right about that, the actual promenade is very good now and a nice place to walk along, right the way down from North Pier to Starr Gate. It's some of the streets turning off it that are shoddy. It's years of neglect and run down establishments that's led to that and the council has limited resources and power to do anything about it.

They've made some improvements to the Town Centre's shopping areas including the pedestrianisation of Church Street/Abingdon Street into St John's Square, but I am not entirely sure about what they've done to Birley Street with music in the day and lights at night.

As for the B&Bs, well people just have to get by. A lot of them are small, acting also as homes for people's families and owners may take on second jobs to support themselves. My Auntie was a landlady in the early '90s, but she was also a midwife and often left her (teenage) children to run the place! Sometimes the owners are pensioners.
 
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mbonwick

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Can I ask WHY Stagecoach North West withdrew the X61 service ?


Losing money at an outrageous rate, the X25 was a last ditch attempt to stop the losses by restricting service to the busiest rimes of day. It didn't work.

Being truthful though, who would use the bus when the train is so much quicker and cheaper?
 

pemma

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The Blackpool - Preston portion of the route was gradually reduced to something like 4 or 5 times a day, when it was hourly just a few years ago. They kept changing the route too, it went through Kirkham and then it didn't and so on. Lack of demand was the official reason for its removal.

The Preston - Manchester portion of the route has been split up, hasn't it?

I thought it had become a Manchester-Preston service with summer extensions to Blackpool.

Losing money at an outrageous rate, the X25 was a last ditch attempt to stop the losses by restricting service to the busiest rimes of day. It didn't work.

Being truthful though, who would use the bus when the train is so much quicker and cheaper?

Stagecoach offered £1 tickets for Manchester-Blackpool if booked in advance via Megabus.

So in response to your first post, why as low as £1 if they were losing so much money? I'm guessing an attempt to undercut the faster National Express service that didn't work as National Express did £1 fare promotions and came out on top.

And in response to your second point - the bus was much cheaper if booked in advance. TPE advance singles were around £5 at the time. Also as the X61 was an express bus service not a coach service, wouldn't that have meant the pensioners with a pass travelled for free on it?
 

mbonwick

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X60/1 was always a Blackpool-Manchester service, different numbers to get round EU tacho rules.

Megabus services may well have run Manchester-Blackpool, there were/are nothing to do with the X60/1 or X25.

Yes, as the services were local registrations, pensioners could travel free.
 

WestCoast

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X60/1 was always a Blackpool-Manchester service, different numbers to get round EU tacho rules.

Megabus services may well have run Manchester-Blackpool, there were/are nothing to do with the X60/1 or X25.

Yes, as the services were local registrations, pensioners could travel free.

Megabus sold tickets for the X61 at one point.
 

mbonwick

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...but have not done so for several years.

They stopped doing that before the operation transfered from Preston to Chorley (and from coaches to DDs)
 

VTPreston_Tez

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Well I guess it's time for my views. I'd go for the train anyday over the bus, even though the bus is free for me and the 61 and 68 go through my estate <( because the ride quality is naff and you sometimes get this single-decker buses and even overcrowded midibuses operated by both Stagecoach and Preston Bus at night. Also from where you will be boarding the train will be quicker and provided you haven't got a concessionary pass then the train will be nearly identical value and at half the time and a better, more scenic ride what's to lose?
 
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