Christmas 2017 and New Year 2018 Alterations to Public Transport Services in the U.K.
Posted on November 21, 2017
Reading time: 4 minutes.
It may be November but news about festive transport arrangements is starting to appear. It has been a while since I collated these because of other things happening in my life but this is where I plan to collect anything I find on an ongoing basis. It could be worth checking this again, especially as we get closer to the time in question.
Rail Travel
Network Rail generally schedules a lot of engineering work for the Christmas and New Year period so it is best to check their travel summary before making big plans. In some ways, their choice of timing always amazes me because more people have time for travel when they are not working. Is it reduced by family activities and the visiting of friends? The answer to that question may reveal a lot.
We seem to be seeing a lot of strike activity this year and some are set to continue into 2018 too. Virgin Trains and CrossCountry are affected by one-day stoppages that mean reductions in the service levels that they can offer. Not all operators are affected though and Great Western Railway is one of those who only need to contend with engineering works on parts of their network.
English Midlands
This year First Potteries is early off the mark with details of how its services will look between Christmas Eve and New Years Day, inclusive. No doubt, others will follow suit and both Arriva in the Midlands and Stagecoach Midlands already have done so. Network West Midlands has its port of call for similar information about their patch.
Northeast England
Both Arriva in the North East and Arriva in Yorkshire has posted details of their seasonal service levels and there are more details like this from transport authorities like South Yorkshire Transport, West Yorkshire Metro and Nexus.
Northwest England
Industrial action at Arriva Northwest has been continuing with strike days planned for the run-up to Christmas. Some of these were to come in multiples and there is one foursome immediately preceding Christmas Eve itself, which hardly is in the spirit of the season though many in Merseyside supported the strike. Thankfully, much of this has been avoided and the dispute resolved so we can focus on planned seasonal service changes instead.
In keeping with the time of year, Merseytravel has created a booklet summarising the services available over the Christmas and New Year period and Transport for Greater Manchester has its posting on the subject. Operators such as Stagecoach Manchester, High Peak Buses and D & G Buses are getting in on the act too so their websites are worth checking. The last two of these also extend into places like Derbyshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire so it was tricky to know where to put them. Boundaries can be very artificial at times.
Southern England
Stagecoach South has announced its arrangements for the winter holiday season. Only Christmas Day will see no buses operating which should see something for shoppers and others to use on the next day. Arriva’s bus operations in Bedfordshire & Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire & Essex and Kent & Surrey seem to be something similar, albeit on a more limited basis. Greater provision of public transport services over the festive season also appears to be a theme for the arrangements described by Transport for London. Only Christmas Day sees an absence of services though engineering work affects London’s railways throughout the period.
Scotland
Dumfries and Galloway Council have created a summary of service levels over the festive period. Given how rural this part of Scotland is, this is a useful thing to have. For this and other parts of Scotland, Traveline also has its summaries of seasonal alterations over the same period. That should help when information is unavailable elsewhere. If you prefer to check what individual operators have to say, some are helpful like Stagecoach North Scotland, Borders Buses and Lothian Buses so what they provide should come in handy.
Wales Like Llew Jones International, Arriva in Wales has posted their summary of service changes for the festive period as has Gwynedd Council for their part of Wales. While Traveline Wales offers a principality-wide compilation, more should follow as I find them.