Christmas and New Year Bus Services 2022

[TheGrandWazoo]

Depending whether shops are open on Boxing Day, there seems to be a growing trend for more shops to remain closed, as reported here:

Full list of stores that are closed on Boxing Day - from Poundland to Aldi

Stores from across the UK are beginning to announce their festive opening hours ahead of the holiday season, with Home Bargains vowing to give staff time off over Christmas

www.mirror.co.uk

And that is reflected in few bus services on Boxing Day with Go North East really scaling things back.

 

[Geordie driver]

The garage my mate runs out of in London doesn't have enough space for all its buses and has to rent space on Christmas day to park them up.

My old company (Arriva) would not pay extra for bank holiday working, no staff would volunteer for Christmas day and they couldn't make you work.

They do pay a bit extra now but nowhere near double time.

 

[Andy Pacer]

The garage my mate runs out of in London doesn't have enough space for all its buses and has to rent space on Christmas day to park them up.

My old company (Arriva) would not pay extra for bank holiday working, no staff would volunteer for Christmas day and they couldn't make you work.

They do pay a bit extra now but nowhere near double time.

Interesting how the regions must vary for Arriva, in Leicestershire there would typically be too many volunteers for Boxing Day due to the rates and lieu days on offer etc.

 

[James H]

One small change this year is that the ex-Yellow Buses routes in Bournemouth now run by Morebus will get a full (Saturday) service on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve till close of service, whereas the Yellows used to shut down at 6pm on both days.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

In the north many places have no New Year's Day service. Until 2019 it was the only day of the year with no buses past my house. In West Yorkshire only the Leeds - Airport service ran on New Year's Day for many years until 2019 which was the last year for that.

The H11 (Scholes - Holmfirth - Holme Valley - Huddersfield) operated by Rodger Batley, with permission of E. Stott & Son, hasn't ran on Boxing Day since 2019. When it did run it had always been a freebie.

 

[Woolos 22]

Stagecoach south wales have advertised 3 sevices on boxing day. X24 bleanavon to Newport . 151 blackwood to Newport 132 mardy to cardiff
Hourly in the day

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

And I wonder if the special Christmas Day vintage bus service on part of London route 430, between Putney Bridge station and Roehampton Danebury Avenue, will run again this year. It has run every Christmas since 2017 (except probably not 2020 because of the Covid lockdown) using an RT. The 1950s Vintage Bus Hire website still mentions this service as having run in 2021 but hasn't been updated for 2022 yet.

This is running again this year https://1950s-vintage-bus-hire.co.uk/christmas-430/. Seems the extension to South Kensington run in 2021(?) is not repeated.

Apart from some services at Heathrow it is the only 'local' public transport in the capital on Christmas Day. Oxford Tube and National Express might offer some local journeys as part of the longer service

 

[JD2168]

South Yorkshire services on Boxing Day & New Year’s Day are Sheffield only again with most running Boxing Day from First, Stagecoach & TM Travel, only First run on New Year’s Day.
Boxing Day services are:
1, 7, 11, 20A, 24, 25, 30, 31, 50, 51, 52A, 56, 57, 75, 76, 81, 86, 88, 95, 95A, 97 & 120.
New Year’s Day services are:
1, 11, 20A, 24, 52A, 56, 57, 75, 81, 86, 95, 97 & 120.

 

[paulmch]

https://cbwmagazine.com/brighton-hove-christmas-services-a-success/

Looks like Brighton and Hove are satisfied with their Christmas Day buses for 2022 - 3,000 passengers for the day, plus 30,000 on Boxing Day representing a near-return to pre-Covid levels. I wonder if there's anywhere else in the UK that could justify giving Xmas Day services a go?

Christmas Day services in Brighton & Hove routes, which operated for the first time this year, have been hailed a success. Brighton & Hove Buses reported more than 3,000 local residents taking advantage of its Christmas Day services, whilst buses also ran on Boxing Day when they carried nearly 30,000 people, a 52% increase on last year, and almost reaching pre-covid usage levels, the operator said.

“We’re extremely pleased to have introduced Christmas Day services this year, and even more thrilled to see many people taking advantage of them. It’s important to us to keep our local community connected all year round, making it easier for passengers to get to their place of work, attend church or visit their families on Christmas Day,” said Nick Hill, Commercial Director at Brighton & Hove Buses.

 

[Deerfold]

https://cbwmagazine.com/brighton-hove-christmas-services-a-success/

Looks like Brighton and Hove are satisfied with their Christmas Day buses for 2022 - 3,000 passengers for the day, plus 30,000 on Boxing Day representing a near-return to pre-Covid levels. I wonder if there's anywhere else in the UK that could justify giving Xmas Day services a go?

It surprises me that there's nothing at all in London. Obviously, a lot of people get the day off, but not everyone.

I wonder if they worry that if a skeleton service was provided, it'd be swamped.

 

[johncrossley]

It surprises me that there's nothing at all in London. Obviously, a lot of people get the day off, but not everyone.

I guess any bus service in London costs money, so there would inevitably be a cost. In Brighton they probably made money. TfL run a substantial network of buses at 3 o'clock in the morning when hardly anyone is up so it less to do with the level of demand. If buses in London ran on Christmas Day they would probably be at least as heavily used as they are in Brighton, especially given the lack of tube. Basically, if TfL ran buses on Christmas Day, they would have to cut something else.

 

[MotCO]

It surprises me that there's nothing at all in London.

There is an RT operated route 430 which runs on Christmas Day from Putney, but it is not a TfL service.

 

[Deerfold]

There is an RT operated route 430 which runs on Christmas Day from Putney, but it is not a TfL service.

Yes, this has been mentioned in this thread. We were looking at whether routes would be commercially viable.

I'd like the (free) Keighley services back which ran for 25 years until 2019, but I don't think anyone could argue they'd be a commercial proposition.