Bus saved: how a "vital" Preston to Longton bus service has been rescued from the axe by a new operator

Stagecoach has taken over the Route 12 service from Preston Bus, offering an hourly service on Monday to Saturday from Preston-Lower

Penwortham-Whitestake-New Longton-Longton.

The route had previously been subsidised by Longton Parish Council since 2016, but cost increases have meant this is no longer viable.

Stagecoach said will be operating the route commercially Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays with funding support from Lancashire County Council.

What’s the background?

In 2016, Longton Parish Council began subsidising the route after Lancashire County Council pulled a host of bus subsidies on unprofitable routes.

What started off as a £50,000 top-up, became £82,000 last year, and this year, Preston Bus asked for £202,000.

In January the Parish Council said it could no longer afford to subsidise the route, which is the only public transport link between Longton and New Longton, going on to Preston, and the service looked doomed to close down on March 31.

Then in February, it was announced that LCC would step in and fund the service until the end of September, pending a full assessment of the whole network during the summer.

Now there appears to be a longer-term solution, though firm details have not been given.

What does Stagecoach say?

Matt Davies, Managing Director of Stagecoach Merseyside, Cheshire and South Lancashire said: “Route 12 provides the only public transport link between New Longton, Longton and Preston. We want to connect people sustainably with what they want to do and keeping this route running means that the residents can continue to access work, leisure, education, or health by bus.”

And LCC?

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, Lancashire County Council cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said: "New Longton is a sizeable community and I’m pleased that a new operator has come forward to run Service 12.

"I am also pleased to be supporting the service to run on Saturdays, and I’d urge people to use the bus as often as they can to ensure it becomes more sustainable in the longer term.”

Fares

A spokesman for Stagecoach said "there will be price changes from what is currently charged by Preston Bus on their version of the 12, as Stagecoach have completely different zone and point to point fare setups across their networks.”

These changes have not been made clear, but all of service 12 will fall within Stagecoach’s existing ‘Preston Citi’ ticket zone area and there are no changes currently planned to that.

Click here to view the timetable directly.