More buses will be introduced in Cumbria as travel firm Stagecoach introduces its new summer timetable.
Extra funding has made some of the changes possible, the company said, as it strives to improve bus journeys across the county.
The new summer 2024 bus timetable comes into force on March 23, and will remain in operation until November.
Changes include:
- The 555 service will see extra journeys at peak times, such as a service from Keswick until 9.25pm on Monday to Saturday, and extra journeys on Sundays including two additional return trips from Lancaster via the M6.
- The 77 and 77A service makes a comeback this year, offering new morning and evening links between Cockermouth and Keswick.
- The 77C weekend and bank holiday shuttle service between Cockermouth and Buttermere will return between May and August, thanks to funding from the Lake District National Park Authority’s visitor management group.
- The 516 daily service will also run every 60 minutes throughout summer – rather than the current two-hourly frequency.
- The number 6 bus between Barrow and Windermere will now run eight times a day, with the addition of a new early morning Sunday service and a daily late evening bus, thanks to funding from Westmorland and Furness Council.
- X4/X5 buses will increase in frequency between Penrith and Keswick, with customers able to hop on board every 30 minutes.
- Service 73, which runs between Carlisle and Keswick via Caldbeck in the summer, will be rebranded as the 553 and will operate on Sundays and bank holidays, as well as Saturdays. It will tie in with the 554 service to greatly increase the number of buses running between the two destinations at weekends and bank holidays.
- The 554 will also have an additional return service from Keswick to Carlisle on Monday to Friday, plus a later last bus from Keswick at 6.10pm on weekends and bank holidays.
- A new service – the 509 – will also run at weekends and bank holidays, offering links from Penrith to Keswick via Lowther Castle, Pooley Bridge and Aira Force. The Ullswater Hopper will, for the first time, operate between Aira Force and Howtown.
The expansion of services in the Ullswater valley with the introduction of the 509 and return of the Ullswater Hopper bus is the result of a partnership between Sustainable and Integrated Transport for Ullswater and Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire.
It allows the smaller vehicle to access routes that the larger vehicles could never previously get to.
