Bus timetables will change later this month to provide more buses on some routes around Penrith and Carlisle, while others will be withdrawn.
Stagecoach will change the timetables on March 31.
There is a major upgrade to the weekday 563 between Penrith and Kirkby Stephen including new early morning and tea-time journeys for commuters.
A new service 105 provides up to seven journeys per day, Mondays to Saturdays, between Penrith and Greystoke, while Stagecoach will run two extra return journeys on the 106, from Penrith to Shap, Mondays to Saturdays.
There is a significant improvement to the Sunday timetable on the 79/179 between Carlisle, Longtown, Annan and Dumfries.
And a later last bus on the 554, from Keswick to Carlisle at 8.25pm on Mondays to Saturdays, allows trippers to have a longer day in the Lakes.
Other changes include:
- Alterations to times on Sunday evenings affecting the 61, 62, 63/63A and 67 city services in Carlisle;
- Minor changes Mondays to Saturdays in Carlisle on the 62, between Lowry Hill and Morton Park, and the 63/63A between Sandsfield Park and Durranhill;
- Revisions to the 64 between Rockcliffe and Durdar, with buses to Durdar leaving Carlisle city centre an hour earlier;
- A new weekday timetable on the 69 in Carlisle, from Edentown to Holme Head – buses no longer run on Saturdays
- Revised times on some 300 journeys between Carlisle and Workington while evening departures from Carlisle now serve Thursby and the 7.50pm Cockermouth-Carlisle 600 journey no longer runs.
- In Penrith, Stagecoach is providing additional morning and late afternoon peak-time journeys on the 646 town service and an afternoon school bus on route 2 from North Lakes School, while the 563 to Kirkby Stephen no longer has two journeys continuing to Sedbergh and Kendal.
The improvements to the 2, 105, 106, 563 and 646 have been funded by Westmorland and Furness Council.
Tom Waterhouse, managing director of Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire, said: “We are always looking to improve our services and the adjustments we are making to times in Carlisle are, in the main, designed to achieve better punctuality and reliability.
“We’ve also improved some evening and Sunday services, creating opportunities for leisure trips, and we’re delighted to work with Westmorland and Furness Council to help plug gaps in rural services in and around Penrith.”
