On Trains & Buses

During the autumn of 2013, North Yorkshire County Council proposed considerable cuts to bus service funding and asked for public comment. Thankfully, the proposals were rolled back a little which service 74 between Ilkley and Grassington continuing, albeit with only three journeys each way a day every Monday to Saturday apart from bank holidays. To see even that when the council saying that bus services used for leisure were not a priority for council funding is a relief.

Unlike Moorsbus, there are a number of campaign groups in the Yorkshire Dales such as DalesBus, Friends of DalesBus and DalesConnect. Maybe their actions reduced what is coming, and the details are in the document used for council discussions on the last Thursday before Christmas. There is a blog collecting walking outings in the Yorkshire Dales too if you would like to see what’s possible with public transport.

Amazingly, Cumbria County Council has stated that it has no statutory responsibility for funding bus services (others thankfully do admit to the need to ensure access to public bus services) and seems to be proposing the complete withdrawal of bus service subsidies altogether and going for community transport instead. That sounds extreme so I hope that those very much affected will give their views on the proposals before 2014-01-20.

A few years ago, it was possible on Sundays to get from Stockport to Derby by bus with a change in Leek. First, we lost the Stockport to Leek portion a few years ago and that from Leek to Derby was lost recently. From the end of January, the section from Ashbourne to Derby is set to return with the introduction of a new timetable for Trent Barton’s SWIFT service. Any reversal of service cuts is a good thing that we need to see more often than we do.

First are overhauling their bus fare and ticket offerings in Cornwall. Simplification and price increases are a feature of the new package though some may see reductions too. Either way, it’s a case of all change from 2014-01-05.

Monmouthshire bus service details are to be found on their timetables page. On there, there are links to the service levels for supported services from Christmas Eve through to the second day of the new year. as well as last running times on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve for these. What is notable is the lack of evening services for all apart from service 69 between Chepstow and Monmouth.

Worcestershire want to save £3m on bus service support and are having a consultation on this and the proposals look very severe. In the associated questionnaire, the list of affected bus services is a long one so anyone that wishes to feedback on this needs to do it by 2014-01-17. Just when is this sort of thing going to stop? As things stand, Cheshire bus services are decimated enough already and I don’t want to see that everywhere.

Lothian Buses have published a booklet showing their Christmas and New Year services. What is apparent is that there is less of the service shutdown that is seen in places like Cheshire. In fact, some services even run of Christmas Day and there is a special effort to get folk home from Edinburgh’s famous Hogmanay festivities too. It all feels so different to what I had expected and is a world away from that fitting where I live.

Apparently, GHA are to be handing over responsibility for running Sunday journeys on bus service 130 between Macclesfield and Manchester to D&G. Also, there are likely to be some adjustments with the first Macclesfield-bound journey of the day starting from Handforth and something similar happening to the equivalent journey around 18:00 too. Other changes could be in the pipeline.

Public transport promotion may not be as lively as it once was but it has not gone away either; my efforts continue, of course. The EU does its bit too with its Do the Right Mix website. The ACT Travelwise association continues in the U.K. too.

Then, there’s Carplus which promotes car sharing. That may not be public transportation as such but, with traffic volumes getting in the way of buses, it is never a bad time to challenge single occupancy car use. Otherwise, we would need to open up more busways like the one opening in Luton next Wednesday.

There even is a website called Supemodals soliciting photos of public transport usage by running a competition with the prize of a trip to Amsterdam. Not so many have entered this already but anything trying to promote a rethink of our car use is only a good thing.

On next Monday (2013-09-16), Edinburgh gets a local public holiday and Lothian Buses mainly will be running a Saturday service. Otherwise, services X12, 35 & 45 will operate a public holiday timetable while services 61 & 67 will operate a normal weekday timetable.

Their Waverley Bridge and Hanover Street Travelshops will be open between 10:00 and 18:00 if you need to call into them. However, the Shandwick Place and Dalkeith Travelshops will be closed along with the Lost Property Office.