Stagecoach Lake District by Bus 2024

[Open top 80]

The Summer 2024 Lake District is now available on the Stagecoach website.

Lake District Buses - Visit The Lake District | Stagecoach

Exploring the Lake District is easy with Stagecoach! Travel to and around the Lakes including Windermere, Ambleside and Penrith and enjoy our Open Top Bus.

www.stagecoachbus.com

Welcome to the Lake District!

Getting around the Lake District by bus is easy, relax, take a break from driving and explore the tranquil waters and outstanding scenery of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Enjoy unlimited all-day travel in the central Lakes from as little as £9.50, or hop on for a single journey for just £2! Amble around Ambleside, Wander round Windermere or go carefree in Keswick - all without the palaver of parking.

The timetable is attached below.

 

[northern506]

The Summer 2024 Lake District is now available on the Stagecoach website.

Lake District Buses - Visit The Lake District | Stagecoach

Exploring the Lake District is easy with Stagecoach! Travel to and around the Lakes including Windermere, Ambleside and Penrith and enjoy our Open Top Bus.

www.stagecoachbus.com

The timetable is attached below.

Quite a few improvements there compared to last year?

From what I can see: the 77C is new, the 509 and UB1 are brand new services, the 516 has been increased to hourly and improved weekend service on the 553/554.

 

[Megafuss]

The big change is the half hourly X4/X5 all the way to Penrith.

On the Stagecoach website there are some other changes from the same date to the 104 and Penrith/Appleby service which look quite exciting to.

 

[northern506]

The big change is the half hourly X4/X5 all the way to Penrith.

On the Stagecoach website there are some other changes from the same date to the 104 and Penrith/Appleby service which look quite exciting to.

Excellent changes - it's interesting that they aren't advertised on the Stagecoach website until you click onto the leaflet though.

 

[Red Onion]

It’s a shame it doesn’t start a week earlier for my week in Keswick. I’ll benefit from the new timetable for the last couple of days of the trip though.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

The big change is the half hourly X4/X5 all the way to Penrith.

On the Stagecoach website there are some other changes from the same date to the 104 and Penrith/Appleby service which look quite exciting to.

I'd have to look up the details of when but the X5 was previously every 30 minutes Penrith to Keswick. It carried fresh air backwards and forwards at a cost of £500,000 per year - in old prices back then.
EDIT ran every 30 minutes from July 2000, reverted to hourly by summer 2005.

Cockermouth to Lorton (77C) has had service previously, the 'placing journeys' operating from Cockermouth, rather than Keswick ex Penrith is a new feature.

The new 509 via Lowther is an interesting one, an area poorly served since the Kendal to Penrith service (near enough) disappeared overnight, one day after Reays took it over.

The hourly 516 to Dungeon Ghyll is an excellent move, not sure how it will fare in terms of passenger numbers but it is the sort of frequency needed to at least try and get people out of their cars and de-congesting the valley. I think I would have filled that two hour gap in the evening though. Probably the best service up the valley, ever. At a quick look there had been a service of 8 journeys plus a couple of shorts to Chapel Stile in the 1960's.
EDIT June 1949 had 8 full trips and 1 short M-F, 8 full trips and 3 shorts Sa, 5 full trips and 1 short Su. Much the same through to 1966 when the service started to be cut back.

 

[gnolife]

The big change is the half hourly X4/X5 all the way to Penrith.

On the Stagecoach website there are some other changes from the same date to the 104 and Penrith/Appleby service which look quite exciting to.

For the benefit of anyone reading who may struggle to find them on Stagecoach's website, the changes to the 104 and 563 are

104 (Carlisle – Penrith)

We are pleased to announce that service 104 will increase to a half-hourly frequency, Monday to Saturday daytimes, throughout the route. One journey an hour will continue to Center Parcs at Whinfell Forest. This means that some departure times have changed. Journeys are also speeded up between Carlisle and Penrith during the daytime where journeys will alternate between operating via Cumwhinton & Carleton Clinic or via Peterill Bank Rd providing hourly service to each. This enhanced frequency has been funded by HM Government ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’ monies, in partnership with Westmorland & Furness Council. Click here to view the updated timetable.

563 (Penrith - Appleby - Kirkby Stephen - Sedbergh – Kendal)

On Monday-Friday, this service is extended from Appleby to Kendal via Kirkby Stephen & Sedbergh. This change facilitates through journeys from Penrith to Kendal. This extension has been funded by HM Government ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’ monies, in partnership with Westmorland & Furness Council. Click here to view the updated timetable.

(This appears to be two trips Kendal to Penrith, one Kendal to Sedburgh and one Penrith to Appleby)

 

[Baxenden Bank]

For the benefit of anyone reading who may struggle to find them on Stagecoach's website, the changes to the 104 and 563 are




(This appears to be two trips Kendal to Penrith, one Kendal to Sedburgh and one Penrith to Appleby)

Thanks (and to @Open top 80), I struggle to view or download anything from Stagecoach of late. It is a Firefox browser 'situation'.

 

[Bletchleyite]

From what I can see: the 77C is new, the 509 and UB1 are brand new services, the 516 has been increased to hourly and improved weekend service on the 553/554.

Hourly Langdale Rambler is a massive improvement - has it ever been that good? I don't think so.

The one thing it could probably do with adding is an evening run connecting with a Windermere train around 2100 for weekend trippers staying at the various campsites and hotels down that way.

This is a pretty great package to be honest, I hope it does well.

 

[Open top 80]

The 505 Coniston bus will no longer be hourly from Windermere train station during the day. It will be terminating at Ambleside instead.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The 505 Coniston bus will no longer be hourly from Windermere train during the day it will be terminaing at Ambleside in instead

With 3 per hour on the open tops to Grasmere plus two 555s that probably barely matters that much. Though it'd be nice if the 0900ish through service ran on Saturdays too.

 

[TheManOnThe172]

The hourly 516 to Dungeon Ghyll is an excellent move

Back in the late 1970's or 80s, I remember that on a Bank Holiday weekend, the last 516 after mid-afternoon Saturday was on Tuesday morning. Quite incredible for the only service in arguably the prime valley of the country's "top" National Park.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Back in the late 1970's or 80s, I remember that on a Bank Holiday weekend, the last 516 after mid-afternoon Saturday was on Tuesday morning. Quite incredible for the only service in arguably the prime valley of the country's "top" National Park.

Given the traffic issues down there, one could almost argue in favour of a much more intense bus service (say half-hourly 6am-midnight) and removing all the parking, with the only people able to park down there being those with prebooked accommodation at the hotel or one of the campsites. Not sure where would be best for a park and ride car park though, certainly not Ambleside which is a nightmare.

 

[RELL6L]

It's great to see some positive changes. Improvements to the 77 after several years without change. The 77C makes sense, hope it works. Odd to see a 77A and a 77C on a circular service but the 77A is clockwise.....
The 78 probably has a more realistic timetable with a couple of catch-up periods, implying it will simply be a two vehicle operation (breaks presumably supplied through the gap in the 77/A service). From my experience punctuality could get a bit flaky in the afternoon as queues bunged up Keswick and the Borrowdale road is narrow. In the summer I guess this reverts to Lillyhall losing the splendid open top journeys we have on the 555 at the moment).
The hourly 516 is good, as are the weekend / occasional extras such as the 509 and 593.
The X4/X5 going half hourly throughout is quite surprising. Interesting that the X4 and X5 now each provide a straight hourly service, reducing the service to the village of Braithwaite. It looks like Penrith now put one bus out on this, something new.
I love the extension of the 563 to Kendal! I can't see anyone taking it all the way from Penrith to Kendal at 2hrs 15minutes when the train to Oxenholme takes under half an hour. This provides interesting trip opportunities!
So much doom and gloom around this really cheers me up!

 

[BlueFox]

From what I can see: the 77C is new, the 509 and UB1 are brand new services,

The 77C and UB1 ran last summer, there was also a UB2 and UB3. They weren't included in last year's lake district booklet, they didn't start until later in the year.

Last year's 77C was just a weekends only shuttle between Cockermouth and Buttermere from May to the end of August, and came after the success of a free service which ran on that route in 2021.

The 509 replaces and extends last year's UB2 service, last year's UB1 and UB3 have been combined to becomes UB1. The UB services started in July last year. They were hoping to make it a daily service this year, so I'm a bit disappointed they're still only running at the weekend.
Some of the 509s replace some of last year's 73. The rest of last year's 73s have now become 553.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Back in the late 1970's or 80s, I remember that on a Bank Holiday weekend, the last 516 after mid-afternoon Saturday was on Tuesday morning. Quite incredible for the only service in arguably the prime valley of the country's "top" National Park.

I don't have a complete collection of timetables. The Sunday service disappeared after summer 1986, I guess at deregulation. It had been summer only for a few years prior to that. The situation remained the same until after 1991 but before 1996.

The 505 Coniston bus will no longer be hourly from Windermere train station during the day. It will be terminating at Ambleside instead.

Having had a very quick look, the 505 and 516 interwork, with recovery time. There is no way you could run the 516 on itself all day long, congestion in Ambleside requires recovery time. Some operators (hello Hulleys) may try impossible timings, Stagecoach don't!

Given the traffic issues down there, one could almost argue in favour of a much more intense bus service (say half-hourly 6am-midnight) and removing all the parking, with the only people able to park down there being those with prebooked accommodation at the hotel or one of the campsites. Not sure where would be best for a park and ride car park though, certainly not Ambleside which is a nightmare.

A gate at the town end of both Langdale and Borrowdale (with intensive bus shuttles) would be an excellent idea. Also very unpopular though!

 

[MisterSheeps]

I love the extension of the 563 to Kendal! I can't see anyone taking it all the way from Penrith to Kendal at 2hrs 15minutes when the train to Oxenholme takes under half an hour. This provides interesting trip opportunities!

I caught this Wednesday, 8:30 from Kendal, 14:17 from Kirkby Stephen. Both ways there were 3 passengers on it. No information in Kendal about it (times, stand ... stand D), no passengers travelling north of Kirkby Stephen. A notice on Kirkby Stephen information office by Western Dales Community Bus effectively advised locals to boycott it. Catch it while you can, is the only effective access from Kendal to the Howgills and Upper Eden. Only runs Monday to Friday south of Kirby Stephen.

 

[Tetchytyke]

A notice on Kirkby Stephen information office by Western Dales Community Bus effectively advised locals to boycott it.

They’ve timetabled it just in front of the WDC bus, so I can definitely see why they’re as unhappy as they are. Seems a needlessly aggressive thing to do in thin bus country.

 

[MisterSheeps]

They’ve timetabled it just in front of the WDC bus, so I can definitely see why they’re as unhappy as they are. Seems a needlessly aggressive thing to do in thin bus country.

Maybe serves different users, the 563 enables people from Kendal or further (calls at Oxenholme station) to have a day out in the area served (or access the Settle Carlisle railway), the WDC bus is 1 day a week for shoppers. Sedbergh (previously very limited), and the road via Cautley were previously only served by 1 bus a week. I don't blame the locals for sticking with the existing service though, may be around much longer. Is a mystery to me why there wasn't a daily service Kendal to Sedbergh before.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Maybe serves different users, the 563 enables people from Kendal or further (calls at Oxenholme station) to have a day out in the area served (or access the Settle Carlisle railway), the WDC bus is 1 day a week for shoppers. Sedbergh (previously very limited), and the road via Cautley were previously only served by 1 bus a week. I don't blame the locals for sticking with the existing service though, may be around much longer. Is a mystery to me why there wasn't a daily service Kendal to Sedbergh before.

There was.
Woofs of Sedbergh used to run 4 inbound to Kendal and 5 outbound. This was cut back to two round trips by Summer 2013.
Stagecoach ran 4 times per day Kendal to Kirkby Stephen. Kirkby Lonsdale took it over by summer 2010.

I used the Woofs service to get from Kendal to walk in the Sedbergh area. Only managed the ride from Kirkby Stephen to Kendal once.

 

[Megafuss]

They’ve timetabled it just in front of the WDC bus, so I can definitely see why they’re as unhappy as they are. Seems a needlessly aggressive thing to do in thin bus country.

If you look at the timetable It's clearly happenstance rather than anything underhand when you factor in the first southbound bus actually does a Penrith school bus AM and PM plus a short Sedburgh before a meal break.

.

 

[Andyh82]

I’ve just visited the lakes. I’ve said this before but I think it’s a shame the Lakes livery isn’t a bit more widespread, I think they should aim for most services that serve either Windermere or Keswick to be in Lakes livery. That would mean the buses at Lilyhall for the X4/X5, buses at Barrow for the 6 and a few buses at Carlisle for some of their runs including their board on the 508.

A timetable musing, I think the late afternoon 599 timetable is unnecessarily complicated with the Kendal runs going by one of three different routings. I don’t think it helps that at quite a lot of places in the lakes buses in both directions serve the same stop, so you get lots of tourists boarding buses and then getting off again

Personally I think they should run all these 6 trips a consistent Grasmere - Ambleside - Bowness Pier - Windermere - Kendal

Also if there is ever any funding available, it’d be nice to see some better bus infrastructure, a better bus station at Keswick (maybe if they removed a few parking spaces they could build a drive in reverse out bus station), a better shelter at Ambleside and maybe real time information at both locations and also at Windermere station.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

The 599 journeys mentioned are complicated, the way the information is presented doesn't help, where some buses run Windermere to Bowness and back, then on to Kendal. Getting a composite timetable for buses between Windermere and Bowness, including the 555 journeys that go that way, requires a certain amount of effort. Plus 755 and 6 trips. The same applies to planning a journey Kendal to Windermere. I guess I should rely on artificial stupidity of journey planner solutions instead of trying to think for myself! Showing them as a through bus to Kendal may be useful for a small number of through travellers at that time.

Better facilities at Keswick and Ambleside you say, perhaps a bus station!

:
Pictures show a panoramic shot of Keswick Bus Station, from the coach park to what is now Booths Supermarket, then a Mountain Goat bus at Ambleside. The low roof to the right being the roof of the bus depot.

 

[freddiem]

I have also recently visited the lakes and spent a bit of time using the buses. I would agree with the above comments on the 599, I certainly ended up having to choose a different one at Ambleside at least once with 2 screened for Kendal sitting together.

I also used the 555 from Keswick with is DESPERATE for a frequency increase with people left behind at the bus stance on a Wednesday afternoon, the facilities there are crying out for an upgrade, however booths was handy for a loo!

Overall the service was pretty good and the 508 is a useful and stunning connection to Penrith.

 

[M803UYA]

I also used the 555 from Keswick with is DESPERATE for a frequency increase with people left behind at the bus stance on a Wednesday afternoon, the facilities there are crying out for an upgrade, however booths was handy for a loo!

It will get one in high summer - Stagecoach redeploy buses from Lancaster University services when they are off to the 555s.

 

[mangad]

Also if there is ever any funding available, it’d be nice to see some better bus infrastructure, a better bus station at Keswick (maybe if they removed a few parking spaces they could build a drive in reverse out bus station), a better shelter at Ambleside and maybe real time information at both locations and also at Windermere station.

Whilst it would be nice if Keswick had a bigger bus station, reality is the traffic is unlikely to justify an extension. Stand 1 is mostly the X4 and X5 - two of each, each hour (with a short break for the driver). Stand 2 is almost entirely the 555 which is hourly (half hourly in summer holidays). And Stand 3 is the 77, 77A, and 78, which works out 2-3 an hour. Yes, there's other services, but they don't add much to the hourly traffic.

Given the number of cars using the Booths car park, there's not much chance of them reducing parking spaces. Best we can probably hope for are some bus shelters rather than relying on the Booths canopy.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Also if there is ever any funding available, it’d be nice to see some better bus infrastructure, a better bus station at Keswick (maybe if they removed a few parking spaces they could build a drive in reverse out bus station), a better shelter at Ambleside and maybe real time information at both locations and also at Windermere station.

I think Booths would be opposed to losing any parking spaces - there's precious few as it is. There are two solutions that might be workable. One would be to lose the current Keswick bus station (and have a coach rendezvous point instead) and try to create something better with the coach park with the coach parking moving to out of town. However, that's going to be quite tricky. More realistically, just some decent shelters might be more readily doable.

EDIT: was typing this whilst @mangad was doing so. Great minds....

I’ve just visited the lakes. I’ve said this before but I think it’s a shame the Lakes livery isn’t a bit more widespread, I think they should aim for most services that serve either Windermere or Keswick to be in Lakes livery. That would mean the buses at Lilyhall for the X4/X5, buses at Barrow for the 6 and a few buses at Carlisle for some of their runs including their board on the 508.

Problem is that you need some form of critical mass of vehicles. Having a couple at Carlisle is tricky especially as you have both main depot and Penrith outstation duties. Cue the excited gricer who goes on about a Lakes vehicle on a Carlisle local etc. The X4/X5 were also largely Lakes liveried except the Gold deckers that are overdue a repaint. Guess the uplift means more standard liveried vehicles and perhaps see if the frequency increase persists.

I was last up in August 2022, and being fair to Stagecoach, they were doing a decent job. In fact, there's a few who will hark back to the asset stripping etc of Keswick bus depot/station but Stagecoach has done wonders in the area over 30 years.

 

[Andyh82]

Whilst it would be nice if Keswick had a bigger bus station, reality is the traffic is unlikely to justify an extension. Stand 1 is mostly the X4 and X5 - two of each, each hour (with a short break for the driver). Stand 2 is almost entirely the 555 which is hourly (half hourly in summer holidays). And Stand 3 is the 77, 77A, and 78, which works out 2-3 an hour. Yes, there's other services, but they don't add much to the hourly traffic.

Given the number of cars using the Booths car park, there's not much chance of them reducing parking spaces. Best we can probably hope for are some bus shelters rather than relying on the Booths canopy.

I think the two issues for me are that Stand 1 is for the X4/X5 in both directions, and with traffic as it can be, both can turn up at the same time, ideally there would be two stands, but also that buses at Stand 1 can block in buses at Stand 2 meaning they have to reverse to get out

I wonder if an idea might be for the Booths car park to take over the bus station, and for an equal sized area next to the coach park to be taken over.

The space currently allocated to the coach park and bus station combined would be a decent space to maybe have a line of pull in stands and a line of coach parking bays

It’d be a slightly further walk, but could end up with better facilities

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I think the two issues for me are that Stand 1 is for the X4/X5 in both directions, and with traffic as it can be, both can turn up at the same time, ideally there would be two stands, but also that buses at Stand 1 can block in buses at Stand 2 meaning they have to reverse to get out

I wonder if an idea might be for the Booths car park to take over the bus station, and for an equal sized area next to the coach park to be taken over.

The space currently allocated to the coach park and bus station combined would be a decent space to maybe have a line of pull in stands and a line of coach parking bays

It’d be a slightly further walk, but could end up with better facilities

I did suggest that a rejig of the coach park could work but depends who's going to pay? Also, Booths probably aren't going to want that level of disruption so think the most likely would be some shelters. The former Cumbria isn't known for its great bus stations!

 

[Open top 80]

Penrith bus station is probably the best one on Cumbria