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Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire
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dsjs1990
New Member
It's a park and ride service for the Sellafield workers.
Ah right, thanks for the explanation.
How reliable have the services around the Lakes been over the last couple of weeks?
Reason being, I'm planning a day in the lakes in a week or two before the end of the summer timetable season and I did the same last year in late November and wasn't too impressed with Stagecoach, everything seemed to run late and random buses were missing, it may be that I just visited on a bad day but it's left me with a sense of doubt...
Reason being, I'm planning a day in the lakes in a week or two before the end of the summer timetable season and I did the same last year in late November and wasn't too impressed with Stagecoach, everything seemed to run late and random buses were missing, it may be that I just visited on a bad day but it's left me with a sense of doubt...
northern506
Member
I was there last week and everything was great - I used the 505, 555 and 599 all of which operated more or less on time. Great value too with the £2 tickets.
I think the main issues with Stagecoach Cumbria are in West Cumbria as opposed to Central Lakes (Kendal depot).
YorkRailFan
On Moderation
A series of service changes have been announced for Stagecoach services in Cumbria from 4 November:
www.stagecoachbus.com
Good to see the introduction of a Millom Town service, and better connectivity between different services, such as the 300 and 600.
ServiceUpdatesArticle
www.stagecoachbus.com
Good to see the introduction of a Millom Town service, and better connectivity between different services, such as the 300 and 600.
Excellent to see these changes. The return of the 60 between Maryport and Silloth is very welcome - this is extremely scenic along the coast on a decent day. Please use it!A series of service changes have been announced for Stagecoach services in Cumbria from 4 November:
ServiceUpdatesArticle
Good to see the introduction of a Millom Town service, and better connectivity between different services, such as the 300 and 600.
Good to see some buses return to Millom too - once there was even a depot there - now just push on up the coast to meet with buses from Whitehaven...!
The 300 looks good but might this just abstract traffic from the trains rather than create new journeys?
YorkRailFan
On Moderation
Buses in the Lakes will switch to Winter Timetables from 4 November, meaning the following services will not operate until 30 March 2025:
The 555 will see some improvements on evening services into Lancaster:
www.stagecoachbus.com
Good news regarding the 555, looking forward to seeing the Summer buses back up and running next year!
The 555 will see some improvements on evening services into Lancaster:
ServiceUpdatesArticle
www.stagecoachbus.com
Good news regarding the 555, looking forward to seeing the Summer buses back up and running next year!
Closure of the Honister Pass for roadworks is causing some complications for the 77/77A Keswick to Buttermere circulars. Buses are running Keswick to Seatoller via Catbells, and Keswick to Buttermere via the Whinlatter Pass. Honister to Buttermere is unserved. And they appear to be setting off from Keswick at the normal times. But there's absolutely no information (that I could find) about when the buses return back. They don't seem to be sticking to the normal times (at least I was waiting for a bus at Braithwaite that didn't turn up), and there's no temporary timetable published anywhere.
Stagecoach's website and bustimes.org just have the normal timetable up, and the bus tracking is all over the place. Their Twitter account is silent (unlike other depots, Lillyhall appears to be terrible at giving updates), and the Stagecoach website lists the 77A as running to Honister (it isn't) and the 77 as not running at all (it is). For good measure the 77 destination board leaving Keswick says "Buttermere Circular via Whinlatter and Honister" (the 77A just says Seatoller.)
Whilst obviously not Stagecoach's fault there's roadworks, there's a complete disconnect between what's online and what's going on the ground.
And that's before we even consider the realibility of the open top buses on the 78. Yesterday I was looking online to check all was well on that, only to see one of the vehicles limping away towards Cockermouth! A single decker appeared later in the day to ensure a half hour service.
It could be a tracking issue, but looking at bustimes.org today one of the open top buses abruptly stopped running at lunchtime, and the other has a big gap in service, arriving in Keswick at half two and not departing again until 4:30.
All of which is making travelling around the quieter parts of the northern Lakes complete pot luck.
Stagecoach's website and bustimes.org just have the normal timetable up, and the bus tracking is all over the place. Their Twitter account is silent (unlike other depots, Lillyhall appears to be terrible at giving updates), and the Stagecoach website lists the 77A as running to Honister (it isn't) and the 77 as not running at all (it is). For good measure the 77 destination board leaving Keswick says "Buttermere Circular via Whinlatter and Honister" (the 77A just says Seatoller.)
Whilst obviously not Stagecoach's fault there's roadworks, there's a complete disconnect between what's online and what's going on the ground.
And that's before we even consider the realibility of the open top buses on the 78. Yesterday I was looking online to check all was well on that, only to see one of the vehicles limping away towards Cockermouth! A single decker appeared later in the day to ensure a half hour service.
It could be a tracking issue, but looking at bustimes.org today one of the open top buses abruptly stopped running at lunchtime, and the other has a big gap in service, arriving in Keswick at half two and not departing again until 4:30.
All of which is making travelling around the quieter parts of the northern Lakes complete pot luck.
Severe delays this afternoon on the A6 between Preston and Lancaster because of the closure of the M6 following a serious accident.
Stagecoach completely abandoned the 40,41 and 42. Per online tracking, the last bus from Lancaster to Preston left at 12:00, and the last bus to Blackpool at 12:20. Am I wrong in thinking this is a pretty poor state of affairs?
The roads were open, albeit at a crawl. Everyone in a car will have got to their destination eventually. Garstang and the surrounding villages are a sizeable population with no other public transport options. The 40/41 are a (usually) double decker every half an hour, not exactly some obscure rural route. People will have gone out this morning as usual, and then found they have no way of getting home. Stagecoach did run their school services from Lancaster this afternoon, which ended up about 1h20 late, but nothing for other passengers, including the 40C journey that starts at Preston College.
I get that there will be issues with drivers hours especially with these already being fairly long routes run from one end (though Stagecoach must have facilities at Preston, so could drivers not take breaks there if necessary?), but is it not possible to run at least some limited service to get people home in this situation?
Stagecoach completely abandoned the 40,41 and 42. Per online tracking, the last bus from Lancaster to Preston left at 12:00, and the last bus to Blackpool at 12:20. Am I wrong in thinking this is a pretty poor state of affairs?
The roads were open, albeit at a crawl. Everyone in a car will have got to their destination eventually. Garstang and the surrounding villages are a sizeable population with no other public transport options. The 40/41 are a (usually) double decker every half an hour, not exactly some obscure rural route. People will have gone out this morning as usual, and then found they have no way of getting home. Stagecoach did run their school services from Lancaster this afternoon, which ended up about 1h20 late, but nothing for other passengers, including the 40C journey that starts at Preston College.
I get that there will be issues with drivers hours especially with these already being fairly long routes run from one end (though Stagecoach must have facilities at Preston, so could drivers not take breaks there if necessary?), but is it not possible to run at least some limited service to get people home in this situation?
Aaron Ashton
Member
Whilst you are correct in thinking about driver hours, you also have to think about where the driver could end up running out of driving hours, there were a few drivers where it took 3 hours just to get to Preston...
Another day of it today. The M6 is still closed southbound but the northbound side is open.
The buses which did run this morning look to have been about 60 to 80 minutes late southbound but roughly normal northbound. Is that enough of a delay to pack it all in for the day?
The buses which did run this morning look to have been about 60 to 80 minutes late southbound but roughly normal northbound. Is that enough of a delay to pack it all in for the day?
Stan Drews
Established Member
- Joined
- 5 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 1,698
It’s potentially easier for users to know their bus definitely isn’t coming rather than maybe waiting well over an hour for a bus that may or may not appear, depending on the drivers hours.
And may also be full...assuming in this day and age anyone who has an alternate option is going to wait around. The schoolkids got sorted (another possible rostered drivers/buses might have been kept back). For everyone else, begin the purge!
Three hours is still well within a legal stint for a driver. I've been stuck in traffic snarl-ups for longer than three hours at a time.
There is also the issue of vehicles and drivers spare to maintain the service when the round trip is taking over an hour longer than it should do.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Isn't the issue also that the driver boards will interwork with other services and so there's an impact across the network.
Whistler40145
Established Member
Presumably, the services are operated by Lancaster based drivers as those based at Preston are Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire?
So you reckon that, if it's not possible to maintain a full service on a particular route, it's better to abandon it altogether?
How do you convey to passengers the information that their bus isn't coming?
On Wednesday, services were apparently abandoned partway through the day, inevitably stranding passengers miles from home.
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TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
That's my understanding so would they be causing massive service issues for services around Morecambe or Lancaster Uni (as examples)
chiltern trev
Member
Yes - 40, 41 and 42 (and schools 940, 941 and 942) are operated by Morecambe (White Lund)
garage (covers all Morecambe and Lancaster) which has an outstation at Garstang where quite a few of the buses on this group of services overnight.
I was just pointing out that the issue was more than drivers hours.
Whistler40145
Established Member
The main problem being no alternative routes between Preston and Lancaster, without going towards Blackpool
I know its unfortunate but I can actually see the logic in why they abandoned the 40/41/42 services earlier this week due to the situation on M6, in the past when they've actually continued running them during disruption I've seen services tracking up-to 2 hours or more late and that's just in one direction so what are drivers supposed to do say when they get to Preston or Blackpool and they can't legally run the service back due to driving hours?
I've even seen services take the best part of the afternoon to go in one direction to get to their outer destination in the past.
Drivers are miles away from Depot and can't seriously get back to Depot due to the problems so their realistically stuck where they are.
I've even seen services take the best part of the afternoon to go in one direction to get to their outer destination in the past.
Drivers are miles away from Depot and can't seriously get back to Depot due to the problems so their realistically stuck where they are.
cumbrianbill
Member
- Joined
- 21 Jan 2014
- Messages
- 23
I was out on the B5300 between Silloth and Maryport and saw a couple of Stagecoach buses on the route. Not much opportunity to get lost, but maybe checking timings.
Buses in the Lakes will switch to Winter Timetables from 4 November, meaning the following services will not operate until 30 March 2025:
The 555 will see some improvements on evening services into Lancaster:
ServiceUpdatesArticle
Good news regarding the 555, looking forward to seeing the Summer buses back up and running next year!
These service changes are now up and running. Looking at BusTimes:
The 300 to Carlisle is now every 30 minutes and links to the main 30 service. Instead of virtually all double deckers this route and the 30 see all types of bus. A few deckers, most full size saloons and even a handful of Solos.
The new 7 to Millom and M1 local service, also the 60 to Silloth use Solos.
Of interest and not mentioned in the service update article (but shown in the timetables) are two extra 555 journeys each way from Kendal to Keswick using open top buses. This is to supply the Keswick 78 which is run from Kendal in the winter using the newer Volvo open toppers, during the summer older buses are used from Lillyhall. These extra journeys could be useful and one each way may attract custom on sunny days (10am ex Kendal, 3pm ex Keswick) although perhaps not the journeys at 7am or 6pm!
aswilliamsuk
Member
- Joined
- 10 Jul 2016
- Messages
- 278
I also see Barrow have received their first new Solos in twenty years (until now, some of the original 54-reg batch have been replaced by cascades from elsewhere): 48195-99 are in service according to Bustimes. Do we know how many are due in total for Barrow?