Christmas Day Bus Services

[ValleyLines142]

I'm off to my parents Christmas day, about 5miles away so not walk-able, no public transport so I've gotta to drive and not drink anything all day.... I imagine Christmas day has more drink drivers than any other day of the year due to no public transport!

We have that same issue in Cardiff. We all go down my Nan's on Christmas Day, so on Christmas Eve my Aunty drops her car off at my house, then she walks the dog in the park then back home, and then I drive her car down on Christmas morning to her house and then we can have a drink and she brings us back home. Otherwise we'd have to do what you do as there is no public transport available. A very confusing practice but it works! Unfortunately Rich I feel for you being 5 miles away, my Aunty/Nan's house is only a mile away.

It's also the same as Boxing Day, Cardiff Bus used to run on Boxing Day but as of last year they no longer do!

 

[Butts]

It seems First and Lothian Bus in Edinburgh are putting the rest of the UK to shame.

Is demand greater in this area or are "grandfather rights" in existence to provide services sadly lacking elsewhere.

To have any service on Christmas Day let alone four each way between Edinburgh and Linlithgow just as an example seems incredible.

If only they were as efficient when it came to the trams (The Council)

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Someone has mentioned the Isle of Wight previously but it seems to have a pretty comprehensive service on Christmas Day with pretty much the whole island covered from early till late.

http://islandbuses.info/pdfs/xmas2011.pdf

 

[radamfi]

It seems First and Lothian Bus in Edinburgh are putting the rest of the UK to shame.

Is demand greater in this area or are "grandfather rights" in existence to provide services sadly lacking elsewhere.

To have any service on Christmas Day let alone four each way between Edinburgh and Linlithgow just as an example seems incredible.

If only they were as efficient when it came to the trams (The Council)

Christmas Day is less of a big deal in Scotland compared to England. I thought that Christmas is a relatively recent import from England and was hardly celebrated in Scotland 50 years ago.
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Oxford Tube website says 'a premium fare of £25 will apply'.

Is that a flat fare, and therefore applies from Heathrow to central London?

I believe so.

But the Heathrow Express is running replacement buses so I suppose there is no need for anyone to use the Oxford Tube on this section, especially at £25.

 

[Butts]

Christmas Day is less of a big deal in Scotland compared to England. I thought that Christmas is a relatively recent import from England and was hardly celebrated in Scotland 50 years ago.
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I don't know where your information is coming from with regard to Christmas in Scotland, but I can assure you it is not "a recent import from England".

You may be confusing the enhanced New Year Celebrations which result in an additional Bank Holiday on January 2nd in Scotland. There is also a bus service on January 1st and 2nd by the way

 

[radamfi]

I don't know where your information is coming from with regard to Christmas in Scotland, but I can assure you it is not "a recent import from England".

Just did a bit of research and Christmas Day only became a holiday in Scotland in 1958, and Boxing Day wasn't a holiday until 1974.

 

[Zoe]

Is demand greater in this area or are "grandfather rights" in existence to provide services sadly lacking elsewhere.

The big question here is how they are able to get staff to work that day when it was previously suggested that in London almost all the drivers would refuse to work so there would be no way of running a service.

 

[Butts]

The big question here is how they are able to get staff to work that day when it was previously suggested that in London almost all the drivers would refuse to work so there would be no way of running a service.

Well I would assume they drive in, or the company picks them up or lays on taxis.

Where theres a will theres a way....I think the will is probably lacking in most areas

 

[Zoe]

Well I would assume they drive in, or the company picks them up or lays on taxis.

I wasn't asking what form of transport they used to get to work, sorry it wasn't clear. I was asking how they actually get them to give up their day at home and go to work that day. If almost all of the drivers in London would refuse to work then why are Edinburgh able to get the staff needed to run a service on that day?

 

[Butts]

Just did a bit of research and Christmas Day only became a holiday in Scotland in 1958, and Boxing Day wasn't a holiday until 1974.

That being the case I can assure you it was still celebrated - have you got the relevant dates for England ?

If you go back to the dates you quoted I suspect not only bus but train services would be operating in England on Christmas Day.

 

[radamfi]

That being the case I can assure you it was still celebrated - have you got the relevant dates for England ?

If you go back to the dates you quoted I suspect not only bus but train services would be operating in England on Christmas Day.

It might explain why some trains always seem to operate on Boxing Day in Scotland.

Boxing Day became a holiday in England due to an Act in 1871. It was not deemed necessary to call Christmas Day a holiday as it was already considered a day of rest like Sunday.

I'm not making excuses for a lack of service in England. The last time I got a bus on Christmas Day was in 1986, the first Christmas after deregulation, when I got a bus from Rochdale to Manchester and back, and I was the only passenger each way. AFAIK buses haven't run in Greater Manchester since then, apart from some airport services.

It doesn't matter to me this year as I will be in Groningen and I will be getting a train across the border into German to Leer on Sunday.
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I've just spent the day on Arriva trains going from Groningen to Leer and Veendam, yes it is Christmas Day, and yes, I've been on trains.

Of course, we are talking about the Netherlands and Germany. I was going to accept that they have trains running because Christmas isn't THAT big a deal compared to the UK, but it turns out that hardly anything that normally opens on a Sunday is open. So the UK can't even use that excuse. In fact the only things that I can find that are open are shops in rail stations and the odd restaurant. Even most restaurants (including fast food chains such as Subway and McDonalds) are closed.

As for the trains, they seem pretty busy. The Intercity trains that I saw this afternoon leaving Groningen were packed with standing room only. Local buses in Groningen seem fairly busy and middle distance buses (Qliners) to regional towns were very busy.

 

[Blindtraveler]

well Edinburghs Xmas busses seam popular with a friend reporting on FB that during his 2 cus journey to work earlies the vehicles were full and standing

 

[Harlesden]

Is Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes the only company providing No Service on New Year's Day or are there more?

 

[radamfi]

Is Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes the only company providing No Service on New Year's Day or are there more?

I think you will find the majority of companies are not running at all on New Year's Day!

 

[scotsman]

Christmas Day is less of a big deal in Scotland compared to England. I thought that Christmas is a relatively recent import from England and was hardly celebrated in Scotland 50 years ago.

It's as big a deal here as it is elsewhere...

 

[krisk]

For gods sake let people have a day off, shops close, transport doesnt run, end of and get over this fact. It won't hurt for a couple of days a year.

 

[radamfi]

For gods sake let people have a day off, shops close, transport doesnt run, end of and get over this fact. It won't hurt for a couple of days a year.

But cars are allowed to operate. Therefore there is discrimination against those dependent on public transport. As I pointed out, most things ARE closed in the Netherlands on Christmas Day (and actually are closed on most Sundays anyway) but still operate a normal public transport service.

Trains and buses are not only used for going to the shops. Surely that is obvious because shops are mostly closed on Sunday in most places in Europe outside the UK, yet public transport still operates. Whether shops are open or not is irrelevant. Transport is required so that people can visit their friends and family. There IS a lot of travel in the UK on Christmas Day and Boxing Day done for this purpose, but it has been decided by British society that only car users are important enough to be able to do so, because the UK is a less civilised country.

 

[pemma]

Is Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes the only company providing No Service on New Year's Day or are there more?

Bowers are offering no services at all, neither are Centrebus in the Midlands, with Centrebus in Yorkshire only running an Airport service: http://centrebus.info/BankHolidays.aspx

You also should note many bus routes don't operate on any Sunday or Bank Holiday, meaning some of the smaller operators never operate scheduled services on Sundays or Bank Holidays.

 

[anthony263]

First cymru not operating any buses on new years day.

As for public transport on chritsmas day, yes it should run but 1 of the problems is that a lot of staff will want to spend time with family for example.

However I am sure there will be some staff who will be happy to work on christmas day especially those of other religions if it means they can get 1 day off on their religious days.

 

[starrymarkb]

Last year seemed to have a lot more running boxing day then this year, wondering if some gave it a shot last year but found it not worth doing
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Should probably add that First Group seem to be running a very reduced service between Christmas and New Year - in Cornwall it is Sunday service until next year!

 

[dzug2]

So, maybe for all new rail staff, it should become part of their contract that they will be available to work on 100% of the year, no special pay rates for weekends / Bank Holidays. They would still get decent pay & annual leave, but they might not always be able to take leave on Bank Holidays or weekends. O.K. - it would take a few years to build up enough staff levels able to operate a worthwhile service , but I suspect that plenty of people currently unemployed would accept such a working contract.

That does imply that their NORMAL pay will be a bit higher to cover averaged out special rates for weekends/holidays - possibly difficult to negotiate.

 

[Deerfold]

I enjoyed travelling on a bus on Christmas day - I'd done a fair bit of setting up for Christmas dinner and disappeared with my father-in-law and Grandmother-in-law for an hour whilst the kitchen was at its busiest. The hourly RM service past my house saw about 30 people catching it whilst I was on it with a peak of about 20.

 

[Polarbear]

Apologies for bumping this thread, but having recently received the current bus timetable booklet for Denbighshire, I've noticed that one bus service (X52) runs in the county on Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years' Day.hock:

http://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/www/cms/live/content.nsf/lookupattachments/English~DNAP-85ZLGW/$File/X50,%20X52%20(Wrexham%20-%20Ruthin%20-%20Denbigh%20-%20Rhyl)%20-%202012-01-03.pdf

Can anyone shed any light on why this one service would run (and for that matter, the reason for the broad spread of the 3-4 services on these days)?

 

[anthony263]

Does it serve any hospitals etc? if so that may be teh case.

There is a limited service between Merthyr Tydfil & Abergavenny on service X4 on christmas day, Boxing day & new years day which is partially subidised by the council and the NHS and was operated using an optare solo by a driver who lived along the route

 

[Polarbear]

Does it serve any hospitals etc? if so that may be the case.

Yes, that's it of course. It passes Glan Clwyd hospital. Still a fairly generous service though but I'm sure those that use it to see their nearest & dearest won't complain.

 

[Smethwickian]

Yes, that's it of course. It passes Glan Clwyd hospital. Still a fairly generous service though but I'm sure those that use it to see their nearest & dearest won't complain.

The spread of journeys probably reflects patient visiting times and/or main staff shift patterns, perhaps?