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Bus services that are increasing soon

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peterblue

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I thought it might be interesting to document that a few bus services across the country are starting to revise their timetables to cater for a slightly increased demand. Apparently, according to the Government and sources within, the lockdown is being gradually eased with a view that things will return back to normal from mid July. However, please note I'm not encouraging anyone to travel, particularly not anyone displaying any symptoms of Covid-19.

Let me know if you find any more examples!

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1. I saw Transdev announce via Twitter and also their website that they are increasing the capacity of several services. There have been some significant increases in some regions. For example, the "Shuttle" between Keighley and Bradford has been improved dramatically from every hour (under the current emergency timetables) to every 15 mins from next Sunday. Source: https://www.transdevbus.co.uk/_/coronavirus

2. Some Go-Ahead ops (but not all) are also increasing from the 1st June. The following GoAhead ops I found increasing services are: GNE, EYMS, Carousel, Brighton&Hove, Metrobus, Bluestar, Salisbury Reds, Swindon.

3. National Express (WM only - nothing for Dundee yet) have already increased most of their services.

4. NCT to operate more services from 31st May. No changes to Trent services.
 
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leedslad82

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First leeds are adding duplicates to some services and have added a new x4 service between seacroft and leeds that runs none stop bulk of journey. Runs into leeds morning peak only and runs out of leeds evening peak only
 

Robertj21a

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I think many operators in England are attempting to gradually return to nearer the usual frequencies from Monday, 1st June.
 

RELL6L

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Good news that services are starting to increase.
I imagine the three majors will increase too, either next week or at latest by 15th June when shops open. I imagine this will be published in a co-ordinated way within each company.

Still working through Go Ahead, some (eg Brighton) expect to return to virtually a full non schooldays timetable by the middle of June.
Go Ahead increases do not yet show for Oxford but I guess they have to be co-ordinated with Stagecoach.

That said the Stagecoach website is starting to publish some increases from next week in a few areas.

Stagecoach West
Some service back to normal, others reduced but with peak extras (eg Forest of Dean and Ross/Hereford). S6 to Oxford only every 30.
Note that the Cheltenham page says the 51 is staying 2 hourly, the Swindon page says it is increasing to hourly!

Stagecoach Midlands (although you have to look separately for Northampton and Warwickshire areas).
X4 to hourly, X46/47 to hourly, X18 to half hourly Coventry to Stratford (hourly to Evesham), 48 split into three separate services, every 15 minutes to Coventry.

Stagecoach Greater Manchester
No details provided, you just have to look at the services and see what has changed.
Some I think have changed:
192 every 5 mins
330 every 20 mins
383/384 every 30 mins
11 every 20 mins
43 every 10 mins
Wigan 7, 8, 9, 10 each every 20 mins

My perception is that local services are increasing more than long distance services. For example the Transdev Mainline services are up to every 10 minutes from Burnley to Padiham and to Colne, but the sections on to Accrington, Clitheroe, Trawden, Keighley, Barnoldswick and the Pendle Wizz to Skipton are all hourly. But the Hotline to Preston is up to a full service, while the Witchway to Manchester goes to every 20 minutes. Leeds to Harrogate up to every 15 minutes, every 30 to Ripon.

Lots still to analyse and discuss and more to come!
 

RELL6L

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More information appearing all the time now!

Stagecoach have added Oxford and South, but only some of South increases are shown. Oxford includes OBC times on shared routes. No mention of the Oxford Tube.

Arriva have everything accessible from one page which is helpful. They have updates (increases) for some regions - North East, Yorkshire, North West, Kent & Surrey so far. No doubt more to follow. The frequencies described should be taken with a pinch of salt. I don't perceive these to be as much of an upgrade as others, yet.
 

RELL6L

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Can we change the title to delete the word Trivia? This is an important thread to note service increases and I would hope more people can add to it.

I note since yesterday:

Stagecoach have added Yorkshire. Quite considerable increases in services. I think the timetable for the Chesterfield 77 excludes the journeys run by Worksop depot, which is in a different region (not shown yet). Confusing for the passenger. And yes, in Stagecoachland, Chesterfield is in Yorkshire!

Some of Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lances is on, but not all. Wirral and Chester updated, Liverpool and Preston still to come.

Arriva have added everywhere else (except Wales). Some increases but again more in local services than interurban ones.
Some surprisingly poor - eg 70 from Oswestry to Shrewsbury still every 2 hours.
In Hertfordshire it says the 508/510 is hourly, in Essex it says it is every 30 minutes. The Essex page claims the 724 to be hourly but the timetable doesn't.
A number of the frequencies stated are wrong, generally higher than the actual but not always. Many routes now have higher peak frequencies than off-peak when they are normally the same.
Interestingly in Luton the 321 is every 15 minutes in the peak (20 off peak), I think that is more frequent than the normal timetable! And that is an inter-urban service.

In Yorkshire Arriva split their timetables by depot. The Selby section shows the 405 from Doncaster to Hut Green on pages 10 and 11 and the rest of the route, from Selby to Hut Green, as a D405, on pages 18 and 19. Utterly useless. Although many services have increased quite a bit the 403 from Selby to Leeds is only two-hourly.

I haven't trawled through First's website yet. I have looked at West Yorkshire Metro though and that shows all operators' changes in West Yorkshire, including First. Many parts of First look like a return to completely normal, eg from Huddersfield to Slaithwaite x15, to Holmfirth x15, to Halifax x10. Halifax to Todmorden full x15. Neither Huddersfield nor Bradford shows the X63 so I don't know about that. I am less familiar with Leeds and Bradford times but the X84 still only runs to Ilkley.

WY Metro shows Yorkshire Tiger, I don't perceive so much increase here. Wakefield to Huddersfield still hourly, Wakefield to Holmfirth two hourly, X58 still a token 4 journeys. And the other independents are not offering much. Presumably as tendering authority Metro have not asked for much increase yet on their services. TLC's 901 (a fabulous route scenically) shows 2 journeys from Huddersfield to Hebden Bridge and 3 back. I think this is because the other journey to Hebden Bridge is a 900, which is not shown anywhere (and possibly even more scenic).

I'm sure there is and will be a lot more to report. Please, other people contribute to this too.
 

carlberry

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From a contributor on the First South West and Wales discussion thread:

From this Monday most services in Bristol will be back up to around 80% of their normal mon-fri timetable. Should expect a announcement soon.
 

RELL6L

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First appear to be rapidly adding theirs to their website.
Seen - Leicester, Norfolk & Suffolk, Potteries, Worcester
York - but not the rest of West Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
Surprisingly - Cymru - I thought Wales was still solidly locked down.
Most appear to be partial increases.
No doubt being added to as I write...
 

darloscott

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Stagecoach NE seem to have gone for a Sunday+ level for now with some of the busier services getting a bit of an upgraded frequency but otherwise not much different to a standard Sunday
 

madannie77

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Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancs have updated but seem to have no mention of Morecambe depot services as I type this.

The Carlisle local services look to be pretty much a normal pre-virus service. I haven't hadtime to look at Barrow & Kendal yet.
 

peterblue

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A lot of new updates since I wrote this on Tuesday! I'm quite surprised that so many operators and services are improving. I didn't anticipate this when I first wrote this topic.
 

peterblue

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Preston timetables have been added for Stagecoach MCSL. Still nothing for the Lancaster/Morecambe services from CNL.

Most services are running at around 80% of their normal M-F timetables. Some very small changes e.g. services may be running every 15 rather than every 12 minutes. The general trend is that local services have been increased before interurban services. Service 125 has been reinstated north of Preston to the hospital every 30 mins, and every 15 south to Chorley and Bolton.
 

Robertj21a

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A lot of new updates since I wrote this on Tuesday! I'm quite surprised that so many operators and services are improving. I didn't anticipate this when I first wrote this topic.

But they've now been told to reinstate most servìces, so there should be thousands.
 

Jordan Adam

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As of Monday First Aberdeen have converted all bar 4 duties to Enviro500 / Gemini operation. They're also running duplicates in the morning peak on the 3 using a pair of Streetlites.

Stagecoach Bluebird are currently preparing for timetable changes in the near future with coaches being fitted with bandit screens. Interestingly the Buchan Xpress Interdecks will have a higher capacity with social distancing in place than any other decker in the fleet.
 

RELL6L

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Stagecoach Morecambe is there. There is a "continued below" or some such wording you have to click on half way through the Kendal services to get more. Looks to me like reinstating pretty much a full winter service in this area. I agree that in the North East the increase is much less. Stagecoach East are hardly increasing anything, just Cambridge Park and Ride, with more promised from 14th June. South East looks quite modest too. Nothing yet on South West or East Midlands.

More of First has appeared, eg Berkshire. On the Halifax and Huddersfield page there is no mention of service changes, but if you to forthcoming timetables they are all there. I looked at the X63 (see my post above on WY Metro). You have to find it as 363 on page 2. Very bizarre - the full timetable is (I think) there, but in bus working order. So one bus working, giving a service apparently every 1hr 48 mins. Then the other bus workings. So its every 12 minutes, but a lot of working out for the general public!!

Thanks for changing the title. Looks more important now!
 

laira 2

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Plymouth City Bus & Travel for Cornwall are increasing services from Sunday. 80% in Plymouth nearly full service in Cornwall.
 

duncanp

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National Express West Midlands have increased the frequency of many services from 24th May, and there is a further increase in services from 31st May.


We are increasing our services back up to three quarters of pre-coronavirus levels after the prime minister encouraged more people to return to work if they can’t work from home. No routes will change, but buses will arrive more frequently.

Those bus routes that were suspended during lockdown will also operate again:

10 - Birmingham to Quinton

10A/C - Stourbridge Circulars

22 - Oldbury to Bearwood

25 - Birmingham to Selly Oak

32 - Hall Green to Acocks Green

50 - Wolverhampton to Wednesfield

54A - West Bromwich to Quinton

61 - Wolverhampton to Goldthorn Park

96 - Kingstanding to Chelmsley Wood (only currently operating part route)

Putting more buses into service will mean more room on each bus so safe social distancing can be practised. Wherever we can, we are using double deckers to make more space on board.

In this ‘new normal’, we are asking people travelling to stay apart to stay safe.

Customers should also follow government guidance on staying safe outside their home, including wearing a face covering and avoiding peak travel times where possible.

We have worked closely with Transport for West Midlands through the Bus Alliance to co-ordinate these latest changes and will continue to carefully monitor customer numbers adjusting timetables accordingly.
 

anthony263

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Adventure travel have re instated services 102 and 106 monday to saturdays instead of running just an hourly service 112 service.

However service 102 is only operating every 30 minutes Glyncoch-Pontypridd-Upper boat tescos with the tescos-nantgarw not being served at this time.

Service 106 Pontypridd-Ynysybwl is running now every 40 minutes instead of every 20 minutes

Seems passenger numbers in wales are starting to recover although I still think the 2m rule should be cut to 1m.
 

markymark2000

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Warringtons Own Buses can be added to the list. A week later than other operators but still an increase. Also changes to make the network simpler which I hope will be a long term thing not temporary.


Seems passenger numbers in wales are starting to recover although I still think the 2m rule should be cut to 1m.
I think operators would love for this to be in place as well allowing capacity to increase. Limiting the buses so much down to 20 passengers on a decker is just asking for trouble as passenger numbers increase. It should be done so that upstairs is 1/2 capacity with downstairs being just under half with wheelchair/buggy spaces always reserved for their respective users.

I would say on routes with a 15 min or less end to end or 30 minute or less circulars, you could do 1/2 capacity as the average journey will be less than 15 minutes and to catch the virus, they are saying be in close contact with someone who has the virus for 15 minutes. There is still risk there but not as much and it may help a lot of town circulars worry less about the distancing.

It will get to a point where people are being left behind because of the distancing.
 

anthony263

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Already happening have seen it happen recently in south wales with a stagecoach bus having to refuse entry in Cardiff.
 

RELL6L

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Most of the major operators now have changes from Monday shown on their websites.

Stagecoach appear to have all of England except the South West.

First have all of England (and Cymru) except Somerset, but times changed there on 11 May - not sure if this was for better or worse. It does seem odd there, traditional trunk services like the 30, 54, 77 are running every 3 hours whereas lesser service like the 29 and 99 run every 2 hours! I thought the 29 was to be chopped anyway. Wessex now on, includes proper reinstatement of the X51/X53 to each 2 hourly, combined to hourly Bridport to Axminster, decent increases in other services, eg 1 and 10.

Arriva are all posted, I think Go Ahead and Transdev are too. National Express changed last weekend.

It will take time to do a comprehensive summary but certainly some areas have done better than others and shorter services better than longer ones. Many services, including some frequent ones, will be up to normal levels. First Manchester 409 (Ashton-Oldham-Rochdale) is to be every 7/8 minutes - isn't this better than before?

I am impressed that many errors I noted above have been fixed. WY Metro now show the TLC 900 and the First X63 (separate to the other Huddersfield services). First's own timetable for the X63 now has the journeys in the right order. Stagecoach's inconsistency between Cheltenham and Swindon on the 51 was quickly corrected. Only the Arriva Herts & Essex ones haven't been.
 

markymark2000

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It will take time to do a comprehensive summary but certainly some areas have done better than others and shorter services better than longer ones. Many services, including some frequent ones, will be up to normal levels. First Manchester 409 (Ashton-Oldham-Rochdale) is to be every 7/8 minutes - isn't this better than before?
I'm not sure if it more than before. I think it is but all timetables have just said 'and at intervals of no more than 10 minutes' which is the TCs definition of a 'frequent service' where times don't have to be provided.
 

Robertj21a

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Adventure travel have re instated services 102 and 106 monday to saturdays instead of running just an hourly service 112 service.

However service 102 is only operating every 30 minutes Glyncoch-Pontypridd-Upper boat tescos with the tescos-nantgarw not being served at this time.

Service 106 Pontypridd-Ynysybwl is running now every 40 minutes instead of every 20 minutes

Seems passenger numbers in wales are starting to recover although I still think the 2m rule should be cut to 1m.

It seems that many experts in the medical profession disagree with you......
 

M60lad

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With services increasing from tomorrow can more people travel by bus or is the advice still to avoid travelling by bus/public transport wherever possible?

I'm not planning on massive trips out by bus but was wondering if it will be now possible to use the bus as part of my daily exercise to go for walks in different places instead of staying in my locality.

If it helps I've got an ENCTS pass and unable to drive due to disability so haven't been able to get out as much as someone in a car could.
 
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