Row over axe of Lancashire’s bus timetables

4:30pm Tuesday 12th June 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

IN PRINT Passenger Jenny Swerdlow checks the times on Blackburn Boulevard IN PRINT Passenger Jenny Swerdlow checks the times on Blackburn Boulevard

ELDERLY passengers are being left in the lurch by a decision to axe timetable information from three-quarters of Lancashire’s bus stops, it has been claimed.

Public transport bosses decided earlier this year to withdraw printed timetables from all but around 1,000 of the county’s bus stops.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 locations were affected as part of a £100,000 savings package, which also saw electronic noticeboards withdrawn at interchanges in Burnley, Nelson, and Chorley.

But the Conservative-run authority has insisted that bus operators should share the costs of providing timetables for their customers in future.

County Coun Frank De Molfetta said: “How can you expect an elderly person to pick up the telephone and text for when their next bus will arrive?”

Many elderly can ill-afford phones, he told a full council meeting, and both he and Labour colleagues across the county had been inundated with complaints from concerned passengers.

But Coun Tim Ashton, cabinet member for highways and transport, said that withdrawing the timetables was ‘not a decision taken lightly’.

He said: “The bus companies have to play their part and I have challenged them to work with us.

“We have asked them before about providing timetables and they have kicked it into the long grass. We are saving £100,000 per year and I would rather do this than reduce the number of subsidised bus services we offer.”

He told councillors that around 1,000 stops, in the main town and village areas of Lancashire, would still display timetable information.

Comments(18)

happycyclist says...
4:38pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Another small example of the meltdown of this country.

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happycyclist says...
4:42pm Tue 12 Jun 12

The inane LT columnist, Helen Meade, was calling for the return of bus conductors the other day! Jeez, if they can't afford bus timetables, they're not going to be forking out for twice as many staff.

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frank says...
4:56pm Tue 12 Jun 12

"But Coun Tim Ashton, cabinet member for highways and transport, said that withdrawing the timetables was ‘not a decision taken lightly’."
no but it was probably taken by people who don't use buses.
bus companies should share the cost but timetables should remain until that is sorted out.
what about strangers to the area? it's not much of a 'welcome to lancs' is it?

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2 for 5p says...
6:42pm Tue 12 Jun 12

I think this could be sorted by putting the fares up. If you did this there would not be as big a subsididie

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Hovis1945 says...
7:36pm Tue 12 Jun 12

What difference do timetables make, the buses just come when they want anyway. They have been taken away so that we cannot complain they are late - as usual!!

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Michael@ClitheroeSince58 says...
7:41pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Bonging Lizard DNA wrote:
OMG, how will Crispy take this news? He's been writing them for years, its no wonder he's stopped coming on and correcting everyones spelling. He'll just have to cope with writing the train and the ferry time tables instead. Must be like a pikey wake in his house.
Have you been nuked yet again?

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Heretical says...
8:09pm Tue 12 Jun 12

It would also be helpful if the texting system worked.....I tried it once and got no response.
Ended up walking.

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Noiticer says...
8:32pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Another sign of the decline of the UK as a civilised country alongside the closure of public toilets and libraries etc. yet we can find money to host the Olympics, keep nuclear submarines, pay for Royal pageants etc.

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andybNelson says...
8:46pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Our Local Operator Burnley and Pendle already supply all their own timetables a very good and upto date website they also answer the phones unlike the 3 independent operators who serve the area.

i also noticed that this operator when it changed its timetables on its mainline routes changed its own bus stop information instead of the council? so why does the council say operators are not intrested

the answer is simple the big operators will gladly do its own timetables and bus stop information they just dont want to do it free for the small operators just operating at peak times.

One of the things which thecouncil should do is switch back on the electronic information displays at our local bus stations which they switched off.

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Bonging Lizard DNA says...
8:49pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Michael@ClitheroeSin
ce58 wrote:
Bonging Lizard DNA wrote:
OMG, how will Crispy take this news? He's been writing them for years, its no wonder he's stopped coming on and correcting everyones spelling. He'll just have to cope with writing the train and the ferry time tables instead. Must be like a pikey wake in his house.
Have you been nuked yet again?
Not even allowed to mention who I am now, otherwise they pull the plug on the aquarium, its getting boring now. I know how all them witches felt.

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Michael@ClitheroeSince58 says...
9:49pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Bonging Lizard DNA wrote:
Michael@ClitheroeSin

ce58 wrote:
Bonging Lizard DNA wrote:
OMG, how will Crispy take this news? He's been writing them for years, its no wonder he's stopped coming on and correcting everyones spelling. He'll just have to cope with writing the train and the ferry time tables instead. Must be like a pikey wake in his house.
Have you been nuked yet again?
Not even allowed to mention who I am now, otherwise they pull the plug on the aquarium, its getting boring now. I know how all them witches felt.
Your a marked Woman, well so you say ;)

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Rappide says...
11:12pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Noiticer wrote:
Another sign of the decline of the UK as a civilised country alongside the closure of public toilets and libraries etc. yet we can find money to host the Olympics, keep nuclear submarines, pay for Royal pageants etc.
Well said! It's all beginning to look a bit loopy. No sense in any of it at all.

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ROBERTSLUMDWELLER123 says...
8:55am Wed 13 Jun 12

2 for 5p wrote:
I think this could be sorted by putting the fares up. If you did this there would not be as big a subsididie
looks like you really thought long and hard about your comment???? idiot!!! how will putting fares up benefit OAP,s who will have to pay extra everytime they use a bus??

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Joseph O'M says...
9:34am Wed 13 Jun 12

I find this bizarre - bus fares are sky high compared to even a few years ago, and that cost doesn't even allow for the small luxury of having a timetable at a bus stop, yet Blackburn is about to get a £5million new bus station - this seems a risky financial move to me. Reduce bus fares, reinstate timetables, ensure timeliness and maybe people will return to the buses. Then a new £5 million bus station might make sense. I'd also ensure there was a plan in place for what should occur to the boulevard once the bus station moves. I'd suggest a park - extend the Cathedral grounds maybe.

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Sad Darwener says...
10:33am Wed 13 Jun 12

We wanted to catch a bus into Bolton on Sunday. I thought I had a timetable. But the timetable only covers Clitheroe to Blackburn. It says in tiny print; "All buses from Blackburn to Darwen and Blackburn are shown on a separate timetable"
How many timetables do we need? This bus has covered the Bolton to Clitheroe route for years! Why not just change the service completely then people won't have to ask the destination on every bus they catch. It's the same with the No 1. Living on Bolton Road I have to ask every time because I can't make head nor tail of the 1A & 1B system.

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everywhere is sh1t says...
10:35am Wed 13 Jun 12

2 for 5p wrote:
I think this could be sorted by putting the fares up. If you did this there would not be as big a subsididie
fares are sky high now,i use my car because it is cheaper then the bus,even getting a taxi from my friends in padiham to burnley is cheaper then the bus when there is 2 of you

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2 for 5p says...
8:01pm Wed 13 Jun 12

ROBERTSLUMDWELLER123 wrote:
2 for 5p wrote:
I think this could be sorted by putting the fares up. If you did this there would not be as big a subsididie
looks like you really thought long and hard about your comment???? idiot!!! how will putting fares up benefit OAP,s who will have to pay extra everytime they use a bus??
What don't pensioners read timetables then

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Heretical says...
2:51pm Thu 14 Jun 12

Yes they do....but timetables change frequently as do routes.Not all buses carry timetables in leaflet form and not everyone goes to the bus station to collect loads of leaflets and they run out at times too.
Plus not everyone is online and I've rung the bus station in the past and been informed that they 'didn't know' when a particular bus ran...unbelievable but true.

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