More evening buses launched in Lancashire thanks to funding boost

People will enjoy more frequent and later bus services thanks to improvements taking effect from this week.

Extra journeys will start from July 21 on a number of key routes which are already popular, but where services were limited.

The extra services are to be funded thanks to Lancashire’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, for which Lancashire County Council has secured £41.9m of funding to date. It means that passengers on these routes can take advantage of the £1 after 7pm single fare.

The buses will be operational from July 21, and will cover locations including Preston, Hoghton, Blackburn, Padiham, Burnley, Bamber Bridge, Lostock Hall, Leyland, Rawtenstall and Haslingden.

 The details are as follows:

Service 152 between Preston and Burnley

The 152 bus service between Preston and Blackburn will be extended from its existing journeys at 10pm and 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays to Mondays to Thursdays.

Meanwhile, the Friday night and Saturday night 8.28pm and 9.28pm buses from Burnley to Blackburn via Preston will be extended to Mondays to Thursdays. Some further updates to timetables can be expected to improve reliability.

Service 113 between Preston and Leyland 

A new hourly 113 bus service covering Preston, Gregson Lane, Bamber Bridge, Lostock Hall and Leyland will run on  Monday to Saturday evenings, leaving Preston at 6.35pm, 7.40pm, 8.40pm, 9.40pm and 10.40pm,with a last 11:20pm shorter one stopping at Lostock Hall. Meanwhile, the return service will leave Leyland at 8.24pm, 9.24pm and 10.24pm, and some minor tweaks will be made to the morning Monday to Friday journeys at peak time to improve reliability.

Service 481 between Rawtenstall and Blackburn

There will be enhanced evening service from Mondays to Saturdays on bus service 481, covering Rawtenstall, Haslingden and Blackburn.

The new services will run at 8.36pm and 10.06pm from Rawtenstall to Blackburn, at 11.36pm from Rawtenstall to Haslingden and at 9.47pm, 9.17pm and 10.47pm from Blackburn to Rawtenstall, with some timetable updates expected in future to improve reliability.

Service 483 between Rawtenstall and Burnley

More evening buses will run on the 483 bus route, covering Rawtenstall, Water and Burnley, from Monday to Saturday.

The new journeys will start at 11.08pm from Rawtenstall to Burnley, and at 9.20pm and 10.20pm from Burnley to Rawtenstall, while several updates to the timetable are expected in future to boost reliability.

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said:

"Thanks to the funding we have secured from the Department for Transport for our Bus Service Improvement Plan, we're making some big improvements to services in Lancashire.

"One of our main aims is to encourage more people to use the bus by providing extra journeys at times that people find convenient.

"Later services are often helpful to people who use the bus to get to and from work, as well as being convenient for anyone going out for the evening or visiting friends and family.

"I'm also really pleased that we are providing better links right across Lancashire so that more people have easy access to bus services, with more to come in September.

"We've been working closely with operators Transdev Rosso, Transdev's The Blackburn Bus Company and Vision Bus to build passenger numbers with the aim of making these services sustainable over the long term.

"Our aim is to get more people using buses by making them a more attractive and convenient option, and the funding we've secured for our Bus Service Improvement Plan gives us the chance to make some really significant improvements.

"For the people of Lancashire, this is a huge benefit as they can now travel on any bus in Lancashire for £1 for  each journey, after 7pm, 7 days a week and all day Sunday.  I'd encourage as many residents as possible to try them out.''