City to lose late night bus routes in timetable shakeup

The midnight and 1am buses on Friday and Saturday between the Bus Station and Farringdon park, and the Bus Station and Asda in Fulwood, will be axed from September.

The weekend 10.30pm service from Lune Street to Longton will also be cut.

Preston Bus says the change is due to “very low ridership”.

The changes are part of a major timetable shakeup that will be implemented from September 4.

Other changes include an earlier service to Asda Fulwood on weekdays (from 5.20am) and a stop at Booths in Penwortham.

Full details of the changes are:

Service 6/6A Bus Station – Red Scar

Slightly revised timetable to improve reliability. Buses will now operate every 10 minutes on Saturday daytimes.

Service 8 Bus Station – Moor Nook

Minor changes to the times of some journeys to improve reliability.

Service 12 Preston (Lune Street) – Longton

In response to passenger requests, the service will now operate via Millbrook Way in Penwortham to serve the Booths store, instead of Pope Lane. The 2230hrs return journey on Fridays and Saturdays is withdrawn due to low ridership, and other minor timetable changes are made to the daytime service.

Service 16 Bus Station – Farringdon Park

Minor timetable changes to improve reliability of the service. The late-night journeys after 2300 on Fridays and Saturdays are withdrawn due to very low ridership.

Service 23 Bus Station – Asda

The time of the first bus towards Asda during the week will now be 0520, providing an earlier link to the employment area in response to passenger requests. Buses will continue to operate frequently, at intervals of up to 5 minutes at the busiest times of day, and will operate more frequently during the early evening. The midnight and 0100hrs journeys on Fridays and Saturdays will be withdrawn due to low ridership.

Service 31 Bus Station – Savick

In order to improve the reliability of the service, the route around the Savick estate has been changed to no longer operate via Lea Road, but instead to operate via the current route to Ainsdale Drive, then Ashford Road, Birkdale Drive and West Park Avenue. In response to passenger requests, buses will return to operating via West Park Avenue on both the outbound and inbound journey. Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve the reliability of the service. Late night journeys at midnight and 0100 will be introduced, operating via the normal 31 route to Lane Ends then direct to Lea, Aldfield Avenue via Blackpool Road.

Service 35 Bus Station – Tanterton

Minor timetable changes to improve reliability of the service. Buses will operate more frequently during the weekday evening peak period and every 30 minutes on Sunday evenings.

Service 89 Bus Station – Lea/Larches

Minor timetable changes to improve reliability of the service, particularly at evening peak time during the week.

Service X80/280 Preston – Skipton

Minor timetable changes to improve reliability of the service.

Timetables will be available online and from the usual outlets in due course.

There are no changes to the following services: 1(P+R), 2(P+R), 5, 13, 14/14A, 19/19A, 44, 74, 75, 75A, 80, 88, 112, 114.