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WHAT'S NEW ? Preston Bus & ODEON Cinema (Apr 2008) Preston Bus users can now pick up a discount at the city’s ODEON Cinema on Port Way. Pick up a leaflet from our buses and offices, complete the details and hand it over when paying for your film. Adults will receive a student discount. Catch the Orbit to the ODEON. The offer lasts until 3rd July 2008. For more information about screenings go to www.Odeon.co.uk Revised Fare from Sunday 16th March 2008 (Mar 2008) The £1.10 Adult single fare will increase to £1.20 on Preston Bus Services from Sunday 16th March 2008. All other fares as well as Family, Day and longer period tickets stay the same. Preston Bus regrets having to revise the £1.10 fare but t is the first time it has been increased since June 2005. Easter Services (Mar 2008) The following arrangements will apply for Easter 2008. Good Friday 21st March 2008 - Enhanced Sunday Service to cater for shopping and leisure. Full timetable details available Minor Changes to Ingol Timetable Most daytime journeys on this service will be revised to operate slightly later than at present. Saturday early morning times are also changed slightly, please check before traveling. An amendment sheet is available now from our offices or online. Diversion for the Orbit 88A anticlockwise service (Jan 2008) Owing to road works a diversion for this service is expected to be introduced from about the 7th January. Buses will be diverted at the Blackpool Road junction right onto Blackpool Road, Ribbleton Avenue, Gamull Lane, Watling Street Road to the bus turning circle where they will rejoin their normal route. The diversion is expected to last for about 3 weeks. The Orbit 88C (clockwise) will operate via its normal route. We are sorry for the delays to the service this diversion will cause. Diversion for the 7 service to Brookfield (Jan 2008) Owing to road works a diversion for this service is expected to be introduced from about the 7th January. Buses will be diverted on the journey to Brookfield but will follow their normal route on the return trip. The division will be from Watling Street Road, left onto Sharoe Green Lane, Eastway and then via the normal route to Brookfield. The diversion is expected to last for about 3 weeks. We are sorry for the delays to the service this diversion will cause. Diversion for the 19 service to the Royal Preston Hospital (Jan 2008) Owing to road works a diversion for this service is expected to be introduced from about the 7th January. Buses will be diverted on the journey to the Hospital but will follow their normal route on the return trip. Buses will diverted at the Blackpool Road junction left onto Blackpool Road, right Garstang Road, right Watling Street Road and left onto Sharoe Green Lane to join the normal route. The diversion is expected to last for about 3 weeks. We are sorry for the delays to the service this diversion will cause. Route 24 & 25 Lea to City Centre (Jan 2008) From Monday 14th January 2008 minor changes will take place. Most journeys on service 24 will be rerouted as service 25 omitting Thorntrees Avenue and Hawthorn Crescent. Departure times from both the Bus Station and Lea Aldfield Avenue will remain unchanged. This change is being made to improve reliability on this service. Route 24 from Monday 14th January 2008 City Centre to Lea via Tulketh Road Lea to City Centre via Tulketh Road Road Closure - Sir Tom Finney Way (Jan 2008) Major Road Closure beginning Friday 4th January 2008 The closure is from Sir Tom Finney Way / Sainsbury’s via Watling Street Road to junction of Eastway – Eastbound Only The following Diversions will be in operation for about 3 weeks: Service 7: diverted outbound via Sharoe Green Lane, Sherwood Way and Eastway (Inbound Normal Route) Boxing Day Bus Services (Dec 2007) Preston Bus will for the first time for many years trial the operation of a service on Boxing Day. We will see how much demand there is for the service before deciding how to proceed in future years. Peter Bell, the Managing Director of Preston Bus, said “we are following the changes introduced by the retailers in our City. In the past shops did not open on Boxing Day but our City businesses have responded to the changing demand and Preston Bus is pleased to support this initiative”. An hourly service will operate on the following services, 3 Penwortham, 7 Brookfield via Garstang Road, 8 Moor Nook, 11 Gamull Lane, 16 Farringdon Park, 19 Royal Preston Hospital via Deepdale Road, 35 Tanterton via Fylde Road and the 89 Lea via Larches, Riversway and the Rail Station as well as a half hourly service on the 23 Royal Preston Hospital route via Plungington Road Road. Full details will be published shortly. The services will run between the house of approximately 09:40 and 17:30 giving customers plenty of opportunities to take full advantage of the post Christmas sales. The services will be operated by volunteer drivers giving up their opportunity to have another go at the turkey or to take advantage of the sales in our city. Christmas and New Year Period Services (Dec 2007) Some limited changes will be made to the services we provide over the Christmas and New Year period. Christmas Eve (Monday): Christmas Day: Boxing Day: December the 27th to the 29th: December 30th (Sunday): New Years Eve: New years Day: Tuesday 2nd December: Park & Ride Service Update on Fares and Improved Timetable (Nov 2007) The Park & Ride service is going to see a major improvements in both quality and with extended hours of operation. The Port Way and the Walton-le-Dale service are both operated in association with Lancashire County Council with the terms of the agreement changing so that the County Council no-longer need to subsidise its operation. To finance all the change and to pay for the improvements the fares have to be changed from the 19th November. FREE TRAVEL within the City Centre (area bounded by the Rail Station, the Bus Station and to the north the junction of Friargate and Walker Street) on Preston Bus services for users of the Park & Ride service will also be introduced. Buses link the various points every few minutes. The Christmas Sunday and the Wednesday and Thursday late night shopping services start on the 21st November. The new timetable will start on the 1st December with both the services starting at 07:00 with the last departure from the City Centre at 19:30. Late night shopping services will be provided on a Wednesday and a Thursday until 21:30 until Christmas and then on Wednesdays throughout the year until 20:30. A Sunday service will also operate throughout the year with the exception of Easter Sunday. The new ticketing options are available from 19 November 2007 and are as follows:-
# The Preston Bus Easiday and Easiweek tickets provide unlimited travel on all Preston Bus Services and the standard children travel free offer and restrictions apply to these tickets. While they are available on the Park and Ride services there is a supplement for pre-0930 travel with the Easiweek. The Saverstrip gives 10 journeys for the price of 9. The £11 (but not the £6) Easipark gives 7 days unlimited travel on any Preston Bus Service. New buses built with many extra features have been ordered with delivery due in February 2008. The buses will have leather seats - just to add that extra comfort! Service 8 - Moor Nook, Pope Lane & Grizedale Crescent (Nov 2007) Lancashire County Council will be carrying out a series of road closures throughout both of these roads during the installation of traffic calming measures. These works may overrun into December. Preston Bus will endeavour to continue serving as much of the Moor Nook Estate as we can during these closures but it will be necessary to operate a number of differing diversions to account for each closure. This is likely to cause confusion and we will do our very best to try and minimise this. Once the work begins no firm timetable can be given as to when certain closures will take effect. Lancashire County Council inform us that the length of time require for each closure is dependent on many things including the weather conditions. Preston Bus thank you for your patience and understanding at this time. For further details please see the attached notice. Service 14 Fairfax Road via Holme Slack service diversion (Nov 2007) Owing to road works from Preston Bus regrets that for about 5 days starting at 08:00 on Monday the 5th November Holme Slack Lane will be closed and therefore the 14 service will need to terminate shortly after crossing Blackpool Road. The 14 service will therefore not be able to serve the Holme Slack Lane, Roaldsway nor around the Fairfax Road areas. To assist LCC and Preston Bus have arranged for a free shuttle bus to operate between St Gregory Road via Blackpool Road, Ribbleton Lane, Cromwell Road and around Fairfax Road with the first departure at 09:37 from Fairfax Road then every 30 minutes to 14:37. Buses will leave St Gregory Road approximately 10 minutes after these times. We will return to the normal route as soon as we can. Improved services for Ingol, Savick and Penwortham (Oct 2007) From the 12th November the Savick 31 service will be improved with buses running every 12 minutes rather than every 15. From the same date the Ingol 44 service will be increased from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes at peak times and 15 minutes during the day time. The service 3 to Penwortham will have two extra departures from the Plough via the estate to the Bus Station at 05:55 and 06:37 on Mondays to Fridays again starting on the 12th November. Gamull Lane and Moor Nook services re-routed (Oct 2007) From the 12th November with the exception of the 05:25 and the 05:55 Monday to Friday departures to Red Scar all the departures on the 11 service to Gamull Lane service will be re-routed to operate via the day time route of Grange Avenue and Fir Trees Avenue. For those travelling during the early mornings, evenings and Sundays to the Red Scar area the Orbit services will still be available. The 8 service to Moor Nook after 18:00 and all day Sunday will, for an experimental period, be rerouted to follow the day time route of via Grizedale Crescent. We hope that the two changes to the services will be beneficial to our customers. Diversion for the 88A (anticlockwise) Orbit service starting 27th October (Oct 2007) Preston Bus apologies for the short notice about a diversion to the 88A Orbit (anticlockwise service) but regrettably unless somebody gives us notice we cannot inform our customers. From Saturday the 27th October the 88C Orbit (clockwise has returned to its normal route but the 88A is now the one that cannot use the eastern section of Anderton Way and Blue Bell Way. As a result the 88A will operate as normal to the roundabout at Gamull Lane. It will then have to double back along Watling Street Road to Eastway and then via Anderton Way to the Anderton Arms where it will turn left onto Longsands Lane back onto its normal route. Regrettably the section of the clockwise Orbit between Gamull Lane and the Anderton Arms will not be served but the option of changing buses on Longsands Lane or Brookfield onto or off the clockwise Orbit 88C to travel to/from the Blue Bell Way area will be available. The road closure is expected to last for about 4 weeks. Road works on Black Bull Lane (Oct 2007) Owing to the closure of Black Bull Lane near to its junction of Garstang Road the ASDA/Royal Preston Hospital 23 as well as the Orbit 88A and 88C services will be diverted for about one week starting at 09:00 on Monday the 22nd October. The 23 service to the Hospital and Asda will be diverted via Lytham Road, Garstang Road and back onto its normal route at Sharoe Green Lane. It is understood that the Stagecoach service will follow the same route and that they and Preston Bus will provide a frequent free shuttle bus starting at the Spar stop on Black Bull Lane near to Lytham and operating via Black Bull Lane, Conway Drive to Janice Drive and back onto Black Bull Lane to the Lytham Road roundabout. At Lytham Road customers will be able to transfer back onto the regular services via Plungington Road to and from Preston. The Orbit 88A and 88C services will be diverted from Black Bull Lane to operate via Queens Drive and Garstang Road back onto their normal route again on Sharoe Green Lane. The same route will be followed in both directions. The free shuttle bus will start at 09:00 on Monday and then at 07:00 hours the following morning until 19:00 each day until about Saturday the 27th October. We have been advised that the road may be open within about 5 days but services will resume as soon as possible. Preston Bus apologises for the inconvenience the diversion will cause for our customers and for the nuisances for those who live in the area of having buses on Queens Drive. Lancashire County Council are working with us to try and limit the impact and we are grateful for their help with this difficult road closure. Road Works Ribbleton Lane/Avenue Diversion to the 8 and 11 Services (Oct 2007) Sorry but buses from the City will have to be diverted via Stanley Street, New Hall Lane and Blackpool Road back onto Ribbleton Avenue on their way to Moor Nook and Gamull Lane from Monday the 8th until about the 19th October. The route to the City Centre will be as normal. Customers who want to travel to the stops on the closed section of road will be able to change buses on the trip from the City Centre and travel back on a bus towards the City without paying again by showing their bus ticket to the driver. Ingol Service – Evening and Sundays (Oct 2007) Preston Bus is pleased to announce that following concerns raised by the local residents in the Ingol area about the lack of an evening and Sunday service arrangements are being made for the Tanterton service to be diverted via Cottam Avenue, Whitby Avenue, Redcar Avenue back onto Tag Lane on its way to Tanterton. Customers wanting to travel back into the City from the estate will be able to board on the estate and travel around Tanterton before the bus makes its way into the City. The new arrangements will start on the 7th October with all departures on Sunday following the diversion as well as all after 20:10 on Mondays to Saturdays. New Bus Scheme set to Boost City Retailers (Oct 2007)
Preston Bus in partnership with Preston Chamber of Trade has created a bus ticket discount scheme called ‘Deals On Wheels’. The scheme allows Preston Bus passengers to use their bus ticket to get a discount of £1 (the average fare on Preston Bus) at participating outlets across the city centre, provided they spend a minimum agreed amount, which is set by each outlet. So far, over 50 city centre outlets have signed up to the initiative, which is due to be launched from Monday 8th October 2007 onwards. Managing Director of Preston Bus, Peter Bell, said the scheme was an excellent way of encouraging people to use public transport and shop locally. He said: “Preston Bus has a proven track record of supporting local schemes that benefit the city and we believe ‘Deals on Wheels’ “Preston Bus is at the cutting edge of city centre initiatives such as Quality Bus routes, the Real Time system, Nicholas Watson, Joint Chief Executive, Preston Chamber of Trade, said: “We’ve been delighted with the response shown to the scheme by retailers in Preston city centre. The majority of participating retailers are independents because it is easier for them to sign up to such a scheme from a logistical viewpoint.“It’s vital we continue to support our city centre and I am sure that shoppers will love this scheme as there is something for everybody both during the day and at night. “Essentially, the more times you use the bus and the more times you shop locally, you will be pocketing a discount which can be used for future purchases.” A huge marketing campaign will be mounted through the Preston Bus network, city centre and selected outlets across Preston. Shoppers are asked to look out for window stickers and posters at participating outlets in the city centre. Initially, the scheme will be run on a trial basis until 31st January 2008 and is thought to be the first of its kind in the North West. If successful, it may be rolled out across other parts of the Preston Bus network and involve more outlets. Central Lancashire Junior Football League (August 2007) Preston Bus is please to announce that it is sponsoring the Central Lancashire Junior Football League. The league has grown in many ways and this year will have 5 new teams and Preston Bus is proud to be able to be associated with this very successful local organisation. Preston Bus wishes all the teams an enjoyable and successful season. Service changes from the 30th July 2007 (July 2007) We are making a series of changes partly following suggestions from our customers and partly to secure the future of Preston Bus following the actions by Stagecoach to try and undermine our business. The changes involve some improvements as well as the reluctant suspension of two of our services. They are the 21 Broadgate and the 36 Lightfoot Lane via Garstang Road. Unlike other bus companies, for years we have cross subsidised the losses we make on them with the profits we have made on others. Regrettably with the extensive competition Stagecoach have initiated this is no longer possible. However, before deciding to take this action we discussed the issue with the County Council and they agreed to ensure that the service continued by paying another operator to run the services involved. The main changes are: 11 Gamull Lane - Minor retiming with with the last bus at 23:05 on Mondays to Saturdays and 22:35 on Sundays. 21 Broadgate - Please see above notes as to why this services is having to be suspended. However, alternative services are available along Liverpool Road with our service 3 to Penwortham and the Orbit services. The service around the estate will be replaced by one run by another operator subsidised by the County Council. 22/23 ASDA via Royal Preston Hospital - On all departures the service number 23 will be used although not all journeys will continue to ASDA. Please check the destination if you are catching a bus for points beyond the hospital. 24/25 Lea - On journeys into the City the bus will continue to St Andrews School turning right into Tulketh Road. It will therefore no-longer use Pedders Lane or Egerton Road. Alternative services are available along Pedders Lane using the Orbit route. 33/35 Tanterton services - All the departures will now operate via Fylde Road. The Eldon Street area will still be served by the 31 Savick service and by the re-routing of the Ingol service via Eldon Street (service 44). The late evening and Sunday service will be increased to operate every 20 minutes providing a part replacement for the changes to the 44 service and the 36 services Service 34 Ingol via Fylde Road - Will be rerouted from Ashton Street and Fylde Road to operate instead via Eldon Street. The Ashton Street area will be served by a new service (the 87) which operates every 15 minutes between 09:30 and 15:30 from the Bus Station to Lea via the Rail Station, Ashton Street, Lane Ends, Blackpool Road and Larches. Details of the changes to the late evening and Sunday services are shown under the 44 service section. Service 44 Ingol via Eldon Street - Tthis reinstated service replaces the existing 34 Ingol via Fylde Road. On Monday to Saturday the last departure to Ingol will be at 19:35 with the last return trip from the estate being at 19:53. No service will operate to the estate on a Sunday. An alternative late evening and Sunday service will be provided by the improved 35 service along Tag Lane. Service 36 Tanterton via Garstang Road - Please see above notes as to why this service is having to be suspended. However, alternative services are available from the Tanterton area with our 35 service via Fylde Road and between the Bus Station and the Withy Trees with our 7 Brookfield service as well as from the Black Bull with the 23 service via Plungington Road. The County Council has entered into a contract with another operator who will be paid subsidy to run a service number 81 via Lightfoot Lane, Garstang Road, Black Bull Lane, Cadley Causeway, Mill Lane to the Bus Station. Service 87 Lea via Rail Station, Lane Ends and Larches - This is a new service which will provide a link from Lea and Larches to the Rail Station. It will also provide a replacement service for the Ashton Street area following the diversion of the 34 Ingol service. Service 99 Royal Preston Hospital - The 2 departures per day on this service will be suspended. Minor timetable changes are being made to all the other services so please ask Service 16 Farringdon Park (July 2007) Minor improvements are being made to this service with effect from Monday 2nd July 2007. Please click on link to view new timetable guide. Under 16’s given boost as 60p fare is extended across city network (June 2007) No restrictions as Preston Bus simplify fare structure USING the bus in Preston will now cost less for under 16’s after Preston Bus announced an extension to its 60p fare across its entire city network. Previously, Preston Bus had adopted a staggered fare structure of 80p, 70p and 60p depending on distance travelled for youths in addition to a 60p flat fare for under 16’s at weekends and Bank Holidays. However, a new simplified fare of 60p for under 16’s is to be introduced from Monday 18th June 2007 onwards. Managing Director of the independent, employee-owned Preston Bus, Peter Bell, explained the decision was based on their mission to simplify fare structures, enable greater community access and provide outstanding value for money to customers. Mr Bell said: “Following a period of change on our fare structures for under 16’s, we have chosen to introduce, from June 18th 2007 onwards, a flat 60p fare across all routes, excluding school services, at all times, seven days a week, including Bank Holidays. “Having listened to our customers needs’, we’ve acted quickly to provide a consistent and affordable fare that will enable children and teenagers to use our superb network across the city for trips to the city centre, leisure facilities, places of interest and general commuting purposes. School services will remain unchanged at £1 as they are determined by Lancashire County Council policy.” Over recent years, Preston Bus has reduced its fare structure for children from 10 different types to now one, with its adult fare structures also reducing from 10 to four fares, giving customers a simple, easy-to-follow tariff. Mr Bell added that under 16’s are still able to use the easifamily return ticket which allows up to four people travelling together a return journey on the city network for only £4. School Services for Corpus Christi Catholic Sports College (March 2007) Revised Services with Money Saving Tickets Available Preston Bus is delighted to announce that by working in partnership with Chorus Christi Catholic Sports College the cuts the County Council were planning to make to the school buses will be avoided. Even better news is the fact that Preston Bus Easilink Rambler tickets will become available on the special services to the school. Apart from saving money children travelling to the school will be able to use these tickets at other times to travel on our extensive network of services without paying any extra money! To assist the children the school plans to sell the Preston Bus Easilink Rambler tickets at their premises. This will provide children with a useful alternative sales point for our tickets. The services have been operated under contract to the County Council but instead of being paid by LCC for operating the services Preston Bus has decided to operate the routes without any subsidy. Special arrangements have been made with LCC for those children who are entitled to free travel on the service. The new arrangements will start on the 23rd April and will involve some minor changes to the services. The 576 service will be replaced by extending the 577 to start at the Preston Bus depot and by the 0810 36 service to Cottam being diverted via Friargare and Moor Lane. In the evenings the 246 service from the school will be diverted via Friargate. Easilink Rambler Sales Points – As One Closes Another Opens (March 2007) The very popular sales point for Easilink Rambler tickets at The Magazine Shop on Fishergate is now closed but we are pleased to announce that the very large Post Office in Theatre Street is now a sales points for our tickets. Traffic lights go green for buses (January 2007) The clever traffic light experts at Lancashire County Council have been working hard to develop in association with ASIS (the provider of the real time system) advanced software which gives priority to buses at the traffic lights. The Orbit service is the first to benefit from the scheme which is aimed at keeping the service on time. The results have been positive with a surprising number of people noticing what has been happening with the traffic light sequences. Previous systems gave priority to some buses regardless of the vehicles schedule compliance. While this had its attractions such systems could not provide optimum capacity at the lights for all road users. The new system checks to see if the vehicle is on time and were possible either extends the green time at the lights for the bus or returns them in favour whenever the bus is running late. Once the bus has passed the lights the clever team at Lancashire County Council then make the traffic lights adjust the time for the other road users by giving back any green time that they lost. Orbit Service
January sees the launch of two new Scania buses, costing £300,000, bringing the number of new ‘easiaccess’ buses delivered since September 2006 to 26. They will operate on our ‘Super Routes’ between the city centre and the Royal Preston Hospital, ASDA and Tanterton. They offer significant improvements to customers over older types, most noticeably the wheelchair access and low floors benefiting those with mobility problems and those with buggies. The new buses have Scania chassis with the bodywork being constructed by East Lancashire Coachbuilders, Blackburn.
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PASSENGERS on Preston Bus will be able to save money on their shopping in over 50 outlets, bars and cafes across the city in a new scheme designed to boost public transport and retail in Preston.
As customers become accustomed to the benefits the Orbit service provides customer numbers continue to increase. Up to 30,000 customers a week now use the service for a whole range of different reasons. While it has not been designed as a Park & Ride service we now have regular customers who travel from outside of Preston and leave their cars at one of the many alternative points around the route and then travel by bus to such locations as the Hospital where parking can be a nightmare. With the service linking so many different locations people want to travel to the customers have found that using the service can be much quicker than changing buses at the Bus Station but also cheaper. Many positive comments have been received about the Orbit. The new buses which incorporate all the latest technology have been well received.
More Investment in Preston’s Bus Services (January 2007)