Trivia: Areas where Sunday Bus Services have been restored

[Martin2013]

Given the news that Sandbach, Congleton and Macclesfield will soon be getting a Sunday service once again following the reinstatement of Service 38, I'd be interested to know whether there have been other areas which have benefitted from the return of a Sunday service in recent years and in such instances has it mainly been possible due to BSIP funding?

 

[Shauny]

Alderley Edge, Wilmslow, Handforth & Handforth Dean with the 130.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Stagecoach South route 65 between Guildford, Farnham and Alton sees a new Sunday service from next week's timetable change.

Unsure as to whether this would count as "restored" as I'm unsure if this section ever had a Sunday service previously.

 

[Gloster]

Not so long ago someone was whinging that the No. 9 between Newport and Ryde was less frequent on a Sunday. It is every fifteen minutes, rather than every ten on a weekday.

 

[Flange Squeal]

The East Surrey villages of Betchworth and Buckland gained a Sunday service from 28th August 2022 when Metrobus won the council contracted route 32 from Stagecoach. It previously ran between Guildford and Strood Green on Sundays, but when Metrobus took it over they extended two journeys in each direction to run east of Strood Green to and from Redhill. I have a suspicion this may have been more to do with them operating the route from their depot towards the eastern end of the route, and these journeys facilitating mid-shift driver breaks. Two buses are required to operate the service and these can be done with just one driver each with breaks built in however Strood Green has no facilities in the vicinity so buses would need dead running somewhere, so running to Redhill (where the route normally runs Monday to Saturday) saves dead running or having to involve a third driver in a ferry car to swap as well as adding potential for some shoppers to make an early afternoon shopping trip in Reigate or Redhill. These pass through the villages of Betchworth and Buckland along the way, thereby restoring a Sunday service to those locations.

I can't remember exactly when the Sunday service over Guildford - Dorking - Strood Green section was reinstated, but the overall Guildford - Dorking - Redhill route 32 Sunday service was withdrawn from 4th January 2004. Therefore the villages of Betchworth and Buckland had been unserved on Sundays from 04/01/2004 to 28/08/2022. Interestingly, in its last few years from the late 1990s to the mid 2000s, the Sunday tender had been awarded to Memory Lane, a heritage bus operator. You therefore had AEC Regals and Reliances and RF-class buses operating a proper stage carriage service well into the new millennium! Until 2000, Surrey County Council did contract out a weekend Surrey Hills Leisure Bus network that saw various heritage buses in use on special services to reduce car use to attractions, and while Memory Lane was contracted to some of these services, the Sunday 32 was to my knowledge contracted out as a "proper" service rather than as part of the summer leisure bus network.

Stagecoach South route 65 between Guildford, Farnham and Alton sees a new Sunday service from next week's timetable change.

Unsure as to whether this would count as "restored" as I'm unsure if this section ever had a Sunday service previously.

The overall section did, albeit not since the late 1990s when the Stagecoach 64A was withdrawn. Of note though, while the 64A did run Guildford - Farnham - Bentley - Alton (then on to Winchester) serving all the key population settlements along the route, it did make a few deviations between some of these points to additionally take in other communities. Between Guildford and Farnham it ran via Ash and Aldershot rather than direct along the A31, and likewise between Farnham and Bentley it ran via the A325 to Birdworld then up through Blacknest to Bentley again instead of direct along the A31.

If the original poster is after individual places that had no Sunday services at all before the restoration of route(s), then prior to next weekend then all key settlements on the route were served by other bus routes to other places on Sundays, except the village of Bentley (Guildford 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/20/32/34/71/91/479/715, Farnham 4/5/18, and Alton 64).

 

[HullRailMan]

Quite a few routes here in East Yorkshire land have new Sunday services where none existed thanks to BSIP….

55 corridor between Hull and Goole
361 Goole to Scunthorpe
747 Pocklington to York
136 Driffield to Bridlington
504 Bridlington to Bempton.

Almost none of the villages on these routes had a Sunday service.

There are alto two new routes running Sat/Sun only serving places with no other bus service at all.

71 to Spurn Point
200 Pocklington to Thixendale.

Plus a new Sunday town service in Bridlington.

 

[stevieinselby]

Quite a few routes here in East Yorkshire land have new Sunday services where non existed thanks to BSIP….

55 corridor between Hull and Goole
361 Goole to Scunthorpe
747 Pocklington to York
136 Driffield to Bridlington
504 Bridlington to Bempton.

Almost none of the villages on these routes had a Sunday service.

The 55 has run a Sunday service in various forms and route numbers over the years, up to 2017 it covered pretty much the whole route, then for a few years it only ran from Hull to South Cave or Gilberdyke – it was only completely cancelled from April 2022 until being reinstated in April 2024 with BSIP funding.
East Riding have also funded a Sunday service on the 401 between Goole and Selby, which had previously run up to April 2017.

So far, these routes have seen buses running with only a handful of passengers on – given how infrequent many of them are even during the week, many of them seemed odd choices for introducing a Sunday service.

 

[RT4038]

Stagecoach South route 65 between Guildford, Farnham and Alton sees a new Sunday service from next week's timetable change.

Unsure as to whether this would count as "restored" as I'm unsure if this section ever had a Sunday service previously.

I would surprised if many bus routes had never had a Sunday service (excluding deep rural services, or variants). Service 31 (Guildford-Hog's Back-Farnham) and Service 14 (Aldershot)-Farnham-Alton (-Winchester) both had two hourly Sunday services in 1970.

 

[MedwayValiant]

In Hertfordshire, Buntingford will have a Sunday service for the first time for a while as from 2 June.

Buntingford's main bus service has "always" been the 331, which runs Hertford - Ware - Puckeridge - Buntingford. It was a London Country route in days of yore, and has stayed with London Country's successors - currently Arriva - ever since. Arriva did actually announce the withdrawal of the entire route a couple of years ago, but for whatever reason changed their minds about that.

I'm not sure when this route last had a Sunday service - possibly not since the 80s - but it will have one from 2 June, operated by A2B Travel.

 

[rishtonlad]

Operated by Transdev Blackburn route 4 to Leyburn Road has seen its Sunday service introduced after many years without one. Also Blackburn routes 6&7 have seen the evening Sunday services brought back.

 

[The exile]

I would surprised if many bus routes had never had a Sunday service (excluding deep rural services, or variants). Service 31 (Guildford-Hog's Back-Farnham) and Service 14 (Aldershot)-Farnham-Alton (-Winchester) both had two hourly Sunday services in 1970.

Presumably amongst “deep rural” you include “market day only” services, of which there would have been quite a lot. I would also imagine quite a few of the Sunday services which did exist only ran late afternoon /early evening to get “weekenders” home. Every settlement big enough to make a bus service viable would have had its own church and its own pub, and pre-Sunday trading reform, that just about summed up the typical British Sunday.

 

[Busaholic]

Presumably amongst “deep rural” you include “market day only” services, of which there would have been quite a lot. I would also imagine quite a few of the Sunday services which did exist only ran late afternoon /early evening to get “weekenders” home. Every settlement big enough to make a bus service viable would have had its own church and its own pub, and pre-Sunday trading reform, that just about summed up the typical British Sunday.

It depends how far back you want to go! In the immediate post-war years and well into the 1950s, with car ownership low and petrol rationing during the early part of the period, also Saturday morning working for many office jobs, Sunday leisure bus travel from cities and large towns, to both seaside and more rural spots, was high, with many bus routes in London, for instance, offering Sunday extensions and a higher PVR than on Weekdays!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I would surprised if many bus routes had never had a Sunday service (excluding deep rural services, or variants).

Very true. The X34 Chippenham to Trowbridge service has just gained an hourly service; possibly went in c.1980/1 when Bristol OC cut a lot of Wiltshire services. Did try checking Timetable World and it didn't have a timetable from the 1970s but did have one from 1964 that showed a 90 minute frequency on a Sunday.

As an aside, the final journey 2230 from Trowbridge had the note - Special bus with limited accommodation, operated when required and subject to alteration and cancellation without notice. Some people on this board would implode at that these days!!

I would also imagine quite a few of the Sunday services which did exist only ran late afternoon /early evening to get “weekenders” home.

That was my recollection. Sunday mornings were reserved for religious observance and farming programmes on the telly - buses tended to be weighted towards the evening drinking trade or the cinema/bingo patrons. Sunday trading now sees more daytime emphasis whilst the decline of the pub trade sees evening services thinner.

In certain areas, the presence of military bases also used to see Sunday evening buses for servicemen (and women) returning back from leave.

 

[Martin2013]

Thanks to those who have responded to my post. Interesting that a good number of the areas that have recently had Sunday services introduced through BSIP funding had not had one for many years if at all.

Through looking at old bus timetables I've noticed a lot of areas had a more generous sunday offering in the past than nowadays with, in some cases services running later on Sunday than on other days. The previous post goes some way to explaining why.

Can't help but notice how places like Shrewsbury, Stafford and Yeovil still haven't seen the reinstatement of Sunday services that were lost under previous funding reductions (I understand Shrewsbury and Yeovil have no Sunday services at all and Stafford lost some routes several years ago).
A case of no BSIP funding for those areas or a case that any available funding has been concentrated on weekday provision rather than sunday provision?

 

[43055]

Diamond has just reintroduced a Sunday service between Burton and Litchfield via Barton and Fradley on route 12E every hour. This was withdrawn around 2017/8 when it was every 2 hours as number 811.

 

[RT4038]

Presumably amongst “deep rural” you include “market day only” services, of which there would have been quite a lot. I would also imagine quite a few of the Sunday services which did exist only ran late afternoon /early evening to get “weekenders” home. Every settlement big enough to make a bus service viable would have had its own church and its own pub, and pre-Sunday trading reform, that just about summed up the typical British Sunday.

Sunday morning provision, whilst never starting as early as on Monday to Saturday, was severely cut back by the Regional Traffic Commissioners in 1940 - only essential buses for war workers being permitted before 1pm, and by and large was not restored to their former degree (mainly 'inter-urban' type routes, and City services) after hostilities finished - I suspect mainly because of pressure from the staff, relations with whom were somewhat fraught in the post war period.

That was my recollection. Sunday mornings were reserved for religious observance and farming programmes on the telly - buses tended to be weighted towards the evening drinking trade or the cinema/bingo patrons. Sunday trading now sees more daytime emphasis whilst the decline of the pub trade sees evening services thinner.

In certain areas, the presence of military bases also used to see Sunday evening buses for servicemen (and women) returning back from leave.

After the war, on the six day week rota that most of the territorial bus companies worked, only every other Sunday was worked - the 'early' weeks being rest day and the 'late' weeks working in the afternoon/evening. The staff were happy with this new found arrangement from wartime and the management not really being in a position to challenge, especially as Sunday morning trade was quite thin for the reasons you state.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks to those who have responded to my post. Interesting that a good number of the areas that have recently had Sunday services introduced through BSIP funding had not had one for many years if at all.

Through looking at old bus timetables I've noticed a lot of areas had a more generous sunday offering in the past than nowadays with, in some cases services running later on Sunday than on other days. The previous post goes some way to explaining why.

Can't help but notice how places like Shrewsbury, Stafford and Yeovil still haven't seen the reinstatement of Sunday services that were lost under previous funding reductions (I understand Shrewsbury and Yeovil have no Sunday services at all and Stafford lost some routes several years ago).
A case of no BSIP funding for those areas or a case that any available funding has been concentrated on weekday provision rather than sunday provision?

In the case of Yeovil, it's been challenging enough to retain the current operation of the Taunton and Wincanton services under the threat of withdrawal or severe reduction by First (see also Taunton to Dulverton and Minehead. Yeovil, and most of Somerset (South Somerset, West Somerset, Taunton Deane) lost virtually all Sunday services from c.1981. When I first visited in 1991, Yeovil's sole bus service was a bingo bus that ran from Wincanton (I think) and return. It was only with the Rural Bus Challenge funds in c.2000 that Yeovil got Sunday services. So the fact that Yeovil still doesn't have bus services on a Sunday is very much par for the course.

 

[RT4038]

In the case of Yeovil, it's been challenging enough to retain the current operation of the Taunton and Wincanton services under the threat of withdrawal or severe reduction by First (see also Taunton to Dulverton and Minehead. Yeovil, and most of Somerset (South Somerset, West Somerset, Taunton Deane) lost virtually all Sunday services from c.1981. When I first visited in 1991, Yeovil's sole bus service was a bingo bus that ran from Wincanton (I think) and return. It was only with the Rural Bus Challenge funds in c.2000 that Yeovil got Sunday services. So the fact that Yeovil still doesn't have bus services on a Sunday is very much par for the course.

Even in 1970 the Sunday service in Yeovil was decidedly thin:

• 1 bus working every 45 mins on 461 Pen Mill Stn-Westfield Hotel (13h48 to 22h03)
• 1 bus working every hour on 462 Thorne Estate-Milford Estate (13h40 to 20h40 with an hour missing for a meal break)
• 1 bus working every 2 to 3 hours on 469 Yeovil-Sherborne with two trips extended to Stalbridge (13h27-22h40)
• 1 bus from South Petherton outstation doing 3 round trips to Yeovil on Service 472 (13h35-22h07)
• 1 bus working on 478 Yeovil-Yeovilton RNAS about every 90 min (12h30-22h30)
• In the summer 1 bus did a scheduled excursaion (Service 219) from Yeovil to Weymouth (1 round trip)

 

[Simon75]

Given the news that Sandbach, Congleton and Macclesfield will soon be getting a Sunday service once again following the reinstatement of Service 38, I'd be interested to know whether there have been other areas which have benefitted from the return of a Sunday service in recent years and in such instances has it mainly been possible due to BSIP funding?

Macclesfield has had the 58 to Buxton running on the Sunday

Thanks to those who have responded to my post. Interesting that a good number of the areas that have recently had Sunday services introduced through BSIP funding had not had one for many years if at all.

Through looking at old bus timetables I've noticed a lot of areas had a more generous sunday offering in the past than nowadays with, in some cases services running later on Sunday than on other days. The previous post goes some way to explaining why.

Can't help but notice how places like Shrewsbury, Stafford and Yeovil still haven't seen the reinstatement of Sunday services that were lost under previous funding reductions (I understand Shrewsbury and Yeovil have no Sunday services at all and Stafford lost some routes several years ago).
A case of no BSIP funding for those areas or a case that any available funding has been concentrated on weekday provision rather than sunday provision?

Stafford still has the 101 Hanley to Stafford on a Sunday (D&G)

 

[181]

In South Oxfordshire, Thames Travel resumed Sunday service between Wallingford and Henley (currently the 33, but the number has varied over the years) in August 2020 (Covid notwithstanding; I think this was before BSIP) after a shortish absence (maybe a couple of years). Henley and Wallingford have other buses on Sundays, and the places en route with no other buses are villages, but it's a useful link between the towns, and passes through good walking country.