How D&G Bus Services Change Throughout Christmas 2025 and New Year 2026

Posted on December 15, 2025

Reading time: 7 minutes.

Overview

Everything runs as normal until Christmas Eve when most routes operate albeit with specific evening journeys cancelled. After a complete stop on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the weekend returns to normal Saturday and Sunday patterns, before the network moves into a more complicated late-December and early-January schedule. New Year’s Eve resembles that late-December pattern but also includes additional journey cancellations like on Christmas Eve, then New Year’s Day brings another full shutdown before a final day of mixed arrangements on 2^nd January. From 3^rd January, normal timetables resume.

Normal Service Days

On Monday 22^nd December and Tuesday 23^rd December, normal weekday timetables operate on all route, which this means that anyone travelling to work, college or appointments can plan as they would on a typical Monday or Tuesday. During the weekend immediately following Christmas, Saturday 27^th December and Sunday 28^th December, reverts to normal patterns for those days.

Christmas Eve (24^th December)

Christmas Eve, which falls on Wednesday 24^th December, is where the first significant changes appear. The overall framing is that normal weekday timetables operate on all routes, but there are two important exceptions and a series of specific journeys that do not run.

The exceptions are that no buses operate on services 11 or 22. For regular users of those corridors, this is a full-day suspension rather than an early finish, so alternative arrangements are needed throughout the day.

Beyond those two routes, the main Christmas Eve pattern is about trimming later journeys, a common approach as evening travel demand reduces, and staff availability can be more constrained.

Service 8 loses journeys from Wistaston Green at 19:40, 20:40 and 21:40 and also from Sydney at 20:10, 21:10 and 22:10, while service 8A does not run the 20:40 journey from Hanley.

Service 9 does not operate journeys from Biddulph at 19:18 and 19:48.

Service 12 is affected in both directions, with journeys from Leighton Hospital at 19:25 and 20:30 not running and journeys from Shavington at 19:54 and 20:59 not running.

Service 16 does not run the 19:30 journey from Hanley and the 20:15 journey from Leek.

On service 24, the 20:52 journey from Norton and the 22:08 journey from Trentham Lakes do not run, while on service 27A the 21:21 journey from Bentilee and the 22:08 journey from Trentham Lakes do not run.

Service 31 does not run the 19:08 journey from Crewe, service 32 does not run the 19:13 journey from Uttoxeter and service 85 does not run the 19:40 journey from Newcastle.

Some of the most notable reductions on Christmas Eve are on longer cross-town and interurban routes where later departures can be important for shift workers and evening social travel.

Service 37 does not run from Sandbach at 20:04, 21:04, 22:04 and 23:04 and from Northwich at 19:00, 20:05, 21:05, 22:05 and 23:05.

Service 38 does not run from Crewe at 19:45, 20:35, 21:35 and 23:05 and from Macclesfield at 19:15, 20:20, 21:50 and 22:50.

Service 41 does not run from Chester at 19:00 and from Whitchurch at 19:12.

Service 42 does not run from Congleton at 18:45 and from Leighton Hospital at 20:15.

Service 84X does not run from Crewe at 18:58, 19:58 and 20:58 and from Nantwich at 19:31, 20:31 and 21:31.

Taken together, these changes mean that while daytime travel is broadly weekday-normal, evening options narrow, sometimes earlier than passengers might assume if they simply look at a standard Wednesday timetable.

Christmas and Boxing Day Shutdown

After Christmas Eve, the network moves into its clearest cut-and-dried phase. On Thursday 25^th December (Christmas Day) and Friday 26^th December (Boxing Day), no buses operate. This is a full network shutdown with no route exceptions. Anyone needing to travel on either day will need to look at other ways of getting around in places where no other operator is running services, including walking or cycling where possible.

Late December Mixed Operations

The more intricate part begins on Monday 29^th December and Tuesday 30^th December. On these days, normal weekday timetables operate, but only on services 27, 33, 35, 47, 48, 96, 316, 318, 319 and N1. That group, running as a standard weekday, is important for those whose work continues between Christmas and New Year or for anyone making regular weekday trips such as medical appointments. Alongside that, there is a clear set of routes that do not operate at all: no buses run on services 6, 32, 32A, 34 and 150.

For all other routes not already named, Saturday timetables operate. This pattern of weekday on some routes, Saturday on many routes and no service on a few can catch passengers out if they assume an all-or-nothing bank holiday pattern. It makes checking the right timetable for a specific route essential, particularly where Saturday services are less frequent or start later than weekday ones.

New Year’s Eve (31^st December)

New Year’s Eve, Wednesday 31^st December, broadly follows the same structure as 29^th and 30^th December but with additional constraints. Normal weekday timetables operate on services 27, 33, 35, 47, 48, 96, 316, 318, 319 and N1, matching the late-December approach, while Saturday timetables operate on all other routes.

However, the list of routes not operating expands compared with 29^th and 30^th December. No buses operate on services 6, 11, 22, 32, 32A, 34 and 150. The inclusion of services 11 and 22 in this no-service group echoes the Christmas Eve position for those routes, reinforcing that they are not running on that day.

New Year’s Eve also brings a second set of journey-level reductions, similar in style to Christmas Eve, which effectively means that some routes running to a Saturday timetable lose some later journeys.

Service 8 again does not run from Wistaston Green at 19:40, 20:40 and 21:40 and from Sydney at 20:10, 21:10 and 22:10, while service 8A again does not run the 20:40 journey from Hanley.

Service 9 does not run from Biddulph at 19:48.

Service 12 does not run from Leighton Hospital at 19:25 and 20:25 and from Shavington at 19:54 and 20:54.

Service 16 does not run from Hanley at 19:30 and from Leek at 20:15.

Service 24 does not run from Norton at 20:52 and from Trentham Lakes at 22:08, and service 27A does not run from Bentilee at 21:21 and from Trentham Lakes at 22:08.

Service 31 does not run the 19:08 journey from Crewe.

On service 37, the New Year’s Eve reductions mirror the late-evening pattern but with slightly different detail from the Christmas Eve list. Journeys from Sandbach at 20:04, 21:04, 22:04 and 23:04 do not run, while journeys from Northwich at 19:20, 20:05, 21:05, 22:05 and 23:05 do not run and there is also a journey from Winsford at 19:25 that does not run.

Service 38 again loses multiple evening trips, with journeys from Crewe at 19:45, 20:35, 21:35 and 23:05 not running and journeys from Macclesfield at 19:15, 20:20, 21:50 and 22:50 not running.

Service 41 does not run from Chester at 19:00 and from Whitchurch at 19:12.

Service 84X does not run from Crewe at 18:58, 19:58 and 20:58 and from Nantwich at 19:31, 20:31 and 21:31.

Service 85 does not run from Newcastle at 19:40.

Although the day often involves later travel for celebrations, these reductions mean the network does not provide a late-night uplift and instead finishes earlier on a selection of routes, so return journeys may need particular attention.

New Year’s Day (1^st January)

New Year’s Day, Thursday 1^st January, is another complete stop, with no buses operating. As with Christmas Day and Boxing Day, this is a network-wide shutdown rather than a modified timetable, making the overall message simple but with the travel impact being significant for anyone working on the day or trying to reach any rail and coach services that do operate.

Return to Near-Normality (2^nd January)

Friday 2^nd January then reprises the late-December weekday mix. Normal weekday timetables operate on services 27, 33, 35, 47, 48, 96, 316, 318, 319 and N1. No buses operate on services 6, 32, 32A, 34 and 150. Saturday timetables operate on all other routes. For passengers, this means that even though the calendar has moved into January, the network does not yet fully return to standard weekday operation across the board. That waits until after Saturday 3^rd January, when normal timetables resume.