Areas with no Sunday bus provision

[JKP]

All of that applies to Saturdays too though.

In Worcestershire it seems like no buses run at all on Sundays. Perhaps there are some in Worcester itself. Certainly Bewdley and Bridgnorth have not one single bus on a Sunday, leaving the Severn Valley Railway as the only form of public transport available, despite there being for instance multiple buses an hour linking Kidderminster with Bewdley Monday to Saturday. Even WMT does better(unless you want to go somewhere before 10AM), even though they notoriously don't even employ any traincrew on Sundays. Once Upon a Time there was a Sunday bus from Wolverhampton to Bridgnorth, but that seems to have gone now.

I could completely understand if Weekends had a drastically reduced service from Weekdays. What I don't understand is running virtually the same service on Saturdays as weekdays, and not a single Sunday bus on any route whatsoever in an entire area, even routes which combined have multiple buses an hour Monday to Saturday.

Saturday has traditionally been a shopping day hence the provision of bus services for workers and shoppers giving way to those who travel for socialising and visits to entertainment venues later in the day. Many small towns see few shops open on a Sunday other than supermarkets and chain stores. Locally owned independent shops and cafes are closed or on very limited hours opening. It is therefore not attractive to operators to provide or Councils to subsidise buses on this day.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

All of that applies to Saturdays too though.

In Worcestershire it seems like no buses run at all on Sundays. Perhaps there are some in Worcester itself. Certainly Bewdley and Bridgnorth have not one single bus on a Sunday, leaving the Severn Valley Railway as the only form of public transport available, despite there being for instance multiple buses an hour linking Kidderminster with Bewdley Monday to Saturday. Even WMT does better(unless you want to go somewhere before 10AM), even though they notoriously don't even employ any traincrew on Sundays. Once Upon a Time there was a Sunday bus from Wolverhampton to Bridgnorth, but that seems to have gone now.

I could completely understand if Weekends had a drastically reduced service from Weekdays. What I don't understand is running virtually the same service on Saturdays as weekdays, and not a single Sunday bus on any route whatsoever in an entire area, even routes which combined have multiple buses an hour Monday to Saturday.

Saturday has traditionally been the main shopping day and many more shops are open on Saturdays than on Sundays, especially when you look at independent traders. To that end, old style markets are also invariably closed on Sundays too.

However, it is also noticeable that some operators have lower frequencies on Saturdays compared to Mon to Fri. The most notable example is Brylaine, who pulled Saturday journeys after Covid, and a number of the Dorset tendered services have no Saturday service either e.g. Dorchester to Yeovil, Sturminster Newton to Gillingham, Blandford to Shaftesbury. Routes like the Ashington to Morpeth service run every 20 mins in the week, every 30 mins on Saturday, and every 60 mins on Sunday and that's probably reflective of actual passenger volumes.

Of course, Mon to Fri during the daytime is probably not much different to a Saturday morning (or even quieter) but as I say, that's because your PVR and resource levels are set up for Mon-Fri peak and the marginal cost of using the drivers/vehicles is relatively low. Some operators do have this step down for Saturday as per the Arriva Morpeth example above (and are often castigated by enthusiasts for it) whilst others will keep the Mon-Sat at a consistent level that is artificially high.

 

[greenline712]

At the risk of stating the obvious . . . buses run for the benefit of passengers, or more precisely when passengers are likely to need to travel. on Mondays to Fridays, that's to work, to go to school, to shop. Timetables are built around those times, and a certain number of drivers and buses are required. On Saturdays, the school numbers aren't there, but the rest are. Timetables are subtly different for that reason. On Sundays, shops are open for a reduced period, and timetable hours are shorter for that reason.

Stagecoach timetables are good examples of this . . . especially on a Sunday; buses start around 0900 and finish around 1900 . . . quite simply, there is almost no evening demand on Sundays, and finishing early is the way for all drivers to be available on a Monday morning!

If the bus itself is paid for from the MF work, then usage on Saturdays and Sundays only has to pay for the driver and the fuel . . . with reduced hours of operation that usually works out. For a commercial network, that's the way the planner will work.

For a tendered network, the sums are different . . . each route has to be more carefully looked at. In the case of Dorset, in about 2012, the network is completely tendered, and if each trip carries less than about 10 passengers per bus hour, then it may not survive. Their network was cut back to MF only about 2019, and is only now coming back (in a limited way) on Saturdays.

I'll also make a final point about Saturday frequencies . . . if the the service level is the same, then more drivers will be needed to work . . . and nobody (seemingly) wants to work at the weekends! A reduced frequency needs fewer drivers to work . . . which aids staff retention . . . look at the Brylaine example in Lincolnshire; they cut weekend work altogether as it meant they could resource weekday work reliably.

There is no one answer . . .

 

[johncrossley]

One reason for travelling which is always forgotten in this kind of analysis is visiting friends and family. When most shops weren't even allowed to open on Sundays, bus services were generally better than they are now. The main reason for travelling on Sundays in those days was obviously not shopping. Visiting friends and family is still an important trip purpose today, but nowadays nearly all those trips are carried out by car. But where Sunday bus services are reasonable, for example in London, then Sunday buses are still used for that reason. Sunday buses are not generally reduced for Easter Sunday, even though most shops are closed.

 

[Aldo1968]

In Cumbria - Appleby, Brough and Kirkby Stephen in the Eden Valley have no buses on a Sunday or Bank Holidays.

No buses operated on Saturday's until April 2023 when the 563 bus from Penrith to Kirkby Stephen via Appleby and Brough was introduced as a trial. This was well used and continues to operate.

Appleby and Kirkby Stephen do have trains seven days a week on the Settle - Carlisle line.

 

[greenline712]

One reason for travelling which is always forgotten in this kind of analysis is visiting friends and family. When most shops weren't even allowed to open on Sundays, bus services were generally better than they are now. The main reason for travelling on Sundays in those days was obviously not shopping. Visiting friends and family is still an important trip purpose today, but nowadays nearly all those trips are carried out by car. But where Sunday bus services are reasonable, for example in London, then Sunday buses are still used for that reason. Sunday buses are not generally reduced for Easter Sunday, even though most shops are closed.

Yes . . . VFR (visiting friends and relations) does have its place . . . but frankly such a market is miniscule now. When I was driving in the 1980s in LCBS-land, buses on Sundays were rarely busy during the day . . . if the weather was good, you'd see more passengers; conversely, if the weather was bad, then you would often run nearly empty for a large chunk of the day. Longer distance services (like Green Line) were busier, but very rarely full up (apart from the Windsor routes, of course), but that was often with passengers returning from a weekend away.

Sunday shopping actually revitalised Sunday buses in many cases . . . but even now a wet Sunday morning can hugely depress numbers all day. The quality of the shops is also hugely important . . . many smaller towns simply don't have a decent set of shops open on Sundays . . . which means there's no reason to travel, which means there's no need for buses.

 

[johncrossley]

Yes . . . VFR (visiting friends and relations) does have its place . . . but frankly such a market is miniscule now.

It depends what you are calling "the market". The overall travel market for visiting friends and family on Sunday (including all modes of transport) is still very substantial, maybe bigger than it was in the 1980s. I wouldn't be surprised if hundreds, if not thousands, of people travel from one part of Shrewsbury to another part of Shrewsbury on Sunday for this reason. In certain other countries which have a better overall usage of public transport, there are still quite a few people travelling by bus on Sundays, despite shops generally not opening on Sundays.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It depends what you are calling "the market". The overall travel market for visiting friends and family on Sunday (including all modes of transport) is still very substantial, maybe bigger than it was in the 1980s. I wouldn't be surprised if hundreds, if not thousands, of people travel from one part of Shrewsbury to another part of Shrewsbury on Sunday for this reason. In certain other countries which have a better overall usage of public transport, there are still quite a few people travelling by bus on Sundays, despite shops generally not opening on Sundays.

No it isn't. In fact, in London where provision and population density highest, visiting friends and relatives as a reason for travel accounts for 9% (2008) and that had declined markedly over the previous 5 years despite increases in service provision. The fact is that visiting friends and relatives often means a dizzying number of journey options. This on a Sunday when the likelihood of having a household with a car not in use is greatest.

One reason for travelling which is always forgotten in this kind of analysis is visiting friends and family. When most shops weren't even allowed to open on Sundays, bus services were generally better than they are now. The main reason for travelling on Sundays in those days was obviously not shopping. Visiting friends and family is still an important trip purpose today, but nowadays nearly all those trips are carried out by car. But where Sunday bus services are reasonable, for example in London, then Sunday buses are still used for that reason. Sunday buses are not generally reduced for Easter Sunday, even though most shops are closed.

It's one Sunday in the year. You don't change your Sunday rosters for a single day, especially when you have enough to sort out with changing Good Friday and Easter Monday shifts.

Yes . . . VFR (visiting friends and relations) does have its place . . . but frankly such a market is miniscule now. When I was driving in the 1980s in LCBS-land, buses on Sundays were rarely busy during the day . . . if the weather was good, you'd see more passengers; conversely, if the weather was bad, then you would often run nearly empty for a large chunk of the day. Longer distance services (like Green Line) were busier, but very rarely full up (apart from the Windsor routes, of course), but that was often with passengers returning from a weekend away.

Sunday shopping actually revitalised Sunday buses in many cases . . . but even now a wet Sunday morning can hugely depress numbers all day. The quality of the shops is also hugely important . . . many smaller towns simply don't have a decent set of shops open on Sundays . . . which means there's no reason to travel, which means there's no need for buses.

Absolutely on the nail. My recollection of Sunday bus services in 1970s and 1980s North East England was thus... There was a generally later start, usually about 0900 though it could even be later on a Sunday. Why? Because nothing was open and no one was travelling! This is what people don't appreciate - societal change. The world has changed immeasurably since then

In the 1970s/80s, there was a bit of a lunchtime trade for the pubs that opened 1200-1400 but otherwise it was quiet except for some seasonal stuff e.g. Dalesbus, traditional seaside resorts, etc. What was different was that pubs then reopened usually 1900-2200 and there was a discernible Sunday drinking trade. So in my nearest municipal operation, and the accompanying NBC operation, you'd have a waking up from 1000. However, it would continue through the day into the evening, often reflecting the Mon-Sat evening service.

I now see lots of places where Sunday services exist where there was none in the 1980s, or where Sunday daytimes are better than they were but conversely, the evening services have disappeared as the Sunday evening "drinking on a school night" practice has died.

 

[185143]

Very few buses run on a Sunday in the Shetland Islands.

 

[JKP]

Very few buses run on a Sunday in the Shetland Islands.

…and none on the Sabbath in the Western Isles.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Fleet is a commuter town around 40 miles south west of London, in Hampshire, with a population of over 45,000 in its built-up area (source: Wikipedia). Monday to Saturday it has two bus routes operated by Stagecoach South - the hourly 10 to Farnborough, and two-hourly 7 to Aldershot and Hartley Wintney. Neither run on Sundays. Until its withdrawal in September 2022, it also had a Reading Buses service to Reading, but this also didn’t serve Fleet on Sundays. To be honest, I can’t remember when it did last have a Sunday service! I can’t think of anything in the last 25 years, so likely the 1990s at the latest.

Looks like this post hasn’t aged well. After 2-3 decades of no Sunday buses, Fleet now looks set to have a Sunday service added to the 10 (Farnborough - Fleet - Church Crookham) from 31st August, thanks to BSIP funding from Hampshire County Council. The route currently runs hourly on weekdays and every 90 mins on Saturdays. The following is showing up on the registration on the Bustimes.org website:

Variation history

Received
16 Jul 25
Effective
31 Aug 25
Variation
New Sunday & Bank Holiday journeys on service 10 (with Hampshire CC BSIP support); minor timing changes on services 410 & 610

Source: https://bustimes.org/registrations/PH0005857/227

 

[Martin1988]

Alongside the upcoming changes to Service 10, I've noticed that the 13 Basingstoke to Alton (via Hook and Odiham) route now has a Sunday service. Something I'm pretty sure its not had before. I vaguely recall seeing a timetable for a Sunday service that operated in that neck of the woods on a Sunday which was once a journey each way in connection with a market. Think it might have followed part of the old Hook to Camberley route but I'm not 100% sure.
Farnborough, Fleet and Hook all have railway stations so even until recently, trains have provided a transport link on a Sunday.

Separately with the upcoming changes to the U2 service in Bristol, the Langford area is unfortunately going to loose its Sunday provision.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Separately with the upcoming changes to the U2 service in Bristol, the Langford area is unfortunately going to loose its Sunday provision.

Yeah but no-one was using it!

 

[Flange Squeal]

Alongside the upcoming changes to Service 10, I've noticed that the 13 Basingstoke to Alton (via Hook and Odiham) route now has a Sunday service.

This commenced 8th June this year and continues beyond Alton down to Kingsley, Bordon and Whitehill. Free travel was offered for the first month, which seems to be common when Hampshire Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) money has been spent on similar provision (such as the recent Sunday launches on the 32 Basingstoke to Newbury and 66/75 Winchester to Romsey/Andover). It’ll therefore be interesting to see if the 10 will therefore get free Sunday travel for the first month too.

From the same date as the 13 above, the 19 also gained a two-hourly Sunday service, giving Sunday provision to the settlements between Farnham and Haslemere such as Frensham, Churt and Hindhead.

 

[izvor]

In Surrey, Oxted lost its last bus service in the 1970s, and only had them restored (apart from possibly a heritage-type operation for a year or two) a few years ago with county council funding.

Further east in Kent, Borough Green now has no buses on Saturday or Sunday (and M-F no buses after the school peak).