Not this year they're not - unless their website doesn't know about it.
Our times are a little different around Christmas - check all the details here
www.transdevbus.co.uk
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Boxing Day Bus Loadings?
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Not this year they're not - unless their website doesn't know about it.
www.transdevbus.co.uk
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Transdev ARE running their Cityzap service:Not this year they're not - unless their website doesn't know about it.
Our times are a little different around Christmas - check all the details here
Our times are a little different around Christmas - check all the details here
www.transdevbus.co.uk
"26 December - on Boxing Day we'll run some buses, see here for the timetable."
Transdev ARE running their Cityzap service:
Our times are a little different around Christmas - check all the details here
"26 December - on Boxing Day we'll run some buses, see here for the timetable."
In that case, as I said, they seem to be trying to confuse people - does CityZap not come under Transdev York? They've got Christmas times for Coastliner there.
The Coastliner site also says there are no buses on Boxing Day - you actually have to choose CityZap as a brand, below the local sites to get that - seems to be poor advertising.
higthomas
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And yet if you add an S to the URL, they do give the CityZap Boxing Day detailsNot this year they're not - unless their website doesn't know about it.
Our times are a little different around Christmas - check all the details here
https://www.transdevbus.co.uk/york/...erent-around-christmas-check-all-details-here ->
https://www.transdevbus.co.uk/york/...ferent-around-christmas-check-all-detail-here ->
And yet if you add an S to the URL, they do give the CityZap Boxing Day details
https://www.transdevbus.co.uk/york/...erent-around-christmas-check-all-details-here ->
https://www.transdevbus.co.uk/york/...ferent-around-christmas-check-all-detail-here ->
That is *very* odd - not sure how they expect you to get to that as I followed the links through their website.
Over here in Blackpool the buses are more full than they are at any other time of the year, they take the trams off and reduce buses to half hourly/hourly instead of anywhere between 10-30 mins, Although i can imagine it being quite different in less popular places. Going down the seafront you are very lucky to get a bus that isn't full and standing, cant imagine what it will be like with covid restrictions this year.
Sprinter107
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Sorry if this is off topic, but have buses ever run in Christmas day. I can never remember seeing any West Midlands ones running.
Statto
Established Member
Yes they have, Merseyside have a few services on Christmas Day, Manchester has the 43 Manchester-Manchester Airport
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Oxford has had a Christmas Day service to Blackbird Leya as well as London Tube but not this year.
Southern Vectis has a whole network on the Isle of Wight whilst the Poole to Bournemouth m1/m2 also operate.
Siemens Trains
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Do you mean in the West Midlands or across the UK?
It's still quite standard to run about a dozen routes in Edinburgh on a commercial basis, and West/East Lothian through council tenders. Services running this year commence quite early in the morning.
Think London had some routes until a few years back. Otherwise it's quite rare these days apart from the odd place already identified above.
Sprinter107
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Just curious about the UK in general really. I've spent all of my Christmas days in the West Midlands, but cant remember ever seeing a bus in service. But yes, all of the UK really.
buslad1988
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Can imagine there are a lot of unhappy bus operators now with the decision from some big retailers announcing they’ll be staying closed on Boxing Day (and assuming more follow suit).
It would have taken weeks/months for operators to plan services, staff them etc. for the rug to now be pulled from under their feet. Could potentially be a total waste of time providing services to key retail parks/shopping centres.
It would have taken weeks/months for operators to plan services, staff them etc. for the rug to now be pulled from under their feet. Could potentially be a total waste of time providing services to key retail parks/shopping centres.
GusB
Established Member
I don't see why Christmas day shouldn't be covered within the scope of the thread, although loadings will be far less when there are few shops open, I suspect.
Keighley has had a volunteer-run network for around 20 years, with the town council paying for publicity for it. There's 3 hourly broadly circular routes for 5 or 6 hours. I've seen people doing small pub crawls, visiting the hospital and family (and a few enthusiasts as they're usually interesting vehicles on it). Leeds and Huddersfield usually have a couple of volunteer services too.
Kieran1990
Member
First Leeds have given out a broadly similar timetable to last operation 0900-1800 on most Leeds City Branded routes.
First year I’ll be using it to get back from work, shame nothing is running around 8am, might have to catch the flyer on Kirkstall Rd as it starts up earlier.
First year I’ll be using it to get back from work, shame nothing is running around 8am, might have to catch the flyer on Kirkstall Rd as it starts up earlier.
Flange Squeal
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Stagecoach South ran a Christmas Day service on their Gold 1 between Aldershot, Farnborough, Frimley and Camberley last year, but this isn't being repeated this year. They are - as usual - running a Sunday service in the Blackwater Valley (Aldershot, Farnborough, Camberley) and Guildford areas on Boxing Day though, which is not actually a bad offering at all and covers much of their network on at least hourly frequencies.
First Berkshire usually operate a Christmas Day service on their route 7 between Slough and Heathrow Airport, but that isn't running this year. Metrobus are however running their 100 to/from Gatwick Airport on Christmas Day.
First Berkshire usually operate a Christmas Day service on their route 7 between Slough and Heathrow Airport, but that isn't running this year. Metrobus are however running their 100 to/from Gatwick Airport on Christmas Day.
Eyersey468
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East Yorkshire are running on some main routes in Hull on Boxing Day along with several inter urban services
Geordie driver
Member
Some areas do and some don't, it has been a bone if contention for years in Tyne and Wear, people complain when there are no buses on Christmas day but when they do put the on virtually no one travels, it's a very expensive way to move a tiny number of people. The hospital I used to work in provided Taxis for staff who didn't have cars at one time, now they don't. They used to ask me to go in early and give me a car to collect staff, which I was happy to do. I wouldn't do it now.
It's really odd that there is such a variation across the country. Here in Edinburgh there's a pretty good service on Christmas Day, never mind Boxing Day. From my part of the city 3 buses per hour during the day time and twice hourly till about 10 or 11pm. Loadings are pretty good, especially on Christmas Day morning with lots carrying large bags and plenty of wrapped parcels in evidence. There's even an hourly service past my door down the coast 20 miles or so to North Berwick in case I feel like a linear coastal walk.
Chicken and egg thing. In areas that have historic holiday services people will be aware of them and use them, in areas with no historic services who may start new ones no-one is aware and they plan their lives around the (lack of) services. Quite how you break that cycle to provide a public service is not easy. From what I've seen in Europe (Italy, Switzerland, Germany. France) pretty much all the countries provide a reasonably comprehensive service, at least in cities and larger towns, 365 days a year and, in addition, national rail networks run. They are seen as a public service that are needed every day. We are exceptional - in so many ways!
Jamesrob637
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For all they shut shops on Sundays and public holidays, most of Europe still runs a good public transport service!
markymark2000
On Moderation
It's an extremely expensive way to move people as the wages are much higher. I know in Merseyside it's double pay (and without giving the wage figure, let me tell you that it's high). Plus drivers get a lieu day (because of working a bank holiday). If you take into account both of them as 8 hours days, you could be paying a driver essentially £350-£400 just for working Christmas day. All needs recouping within 8 hours (or 7 if you include dead time and breaks). That's a lot of revenue that needs generating before you even pay for the bus and contributions towards the depot costs. That is a huge financial risk. In some areas where bus usage is high anyway and it links a lot of neighbourhoods/hospitals, yes there is potential for usage and for the money to be made. In a lot of areas though, even those on 10 min frequencies, the usage levels are so low that it's not viable in most cases.
Boxing Day is somewhat similar but the pay reduces to 1.5x (You will be looking around £250-£300 per driver for boxing day taking into account 8h lieu day and 8 hours for the shift on the day) so there is less financial risk but that comes down to the demographics of an area . IE, elderly and young ones tend to stay at home with family or get driven around because the places they need to go are so spread out. The people using boxing day buses are the shop workers (which is obviously still less than normal as a lot of shops shut on boxing day), hospital workers (less admin staff I believe though) and people aged 30-65 who are going to do the traditional boxing day shopping. The usage is so low that you need a very high amount of passengers to start with so that when you take into account the percentage reduction in passengers, there is still enough to break even or make money.
Traditionally, English shops tended not to open on Boxing Day while Scottish ones did (in exchange for closing on one of the days at New Year). This may explain some of the differences.
Over the years the larger English shops started opening on Boxing Day as well, to get an extra day of "January Sales" business. But the very shops that have gone out of business recently are the ones that wanted the extra day's trading the most, plus the supermarkets that have decided to close just for Boxing Day 2020.
So it is understandable that this year there wouldn't be much for English bus travellers to visit - especially with most of the country in Tier3, so no pubs or cafes either.
Over the years the larger English shops started opening on Boxing Day as well, to get an extra day of "January Sales" business. But the very shops that have gone out of business recently are the ones that wanted the extra day's trading the most, plus the supermarkets that have decided to close just for Boxing Day 2020.
So it is understandable that this year there wouldn't be much for English bus travellers to visit - especially with most of the country in Tier3, so no pubs or cafes either.
Statto
Established Member
In my area, Merseyside, Boxing Day/New Years Day are weird, there is buses, but they finish 7pm Boxing Day, 6pm New Years Day, most are commercially operated, at one time all routes on Boxing Day/New Years Day were all Merseytravel tendered, based on a Sunday service with similar last journey times too, that ended about 10/15 years ago,
ChrisC
Established Member
It was mentioned earlier in this thread that Trent Barton in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire are just running their Skylink routes on Boxing Day. In addition to this, most routes are finishing by 6pm on Christmas Eve, no buses on Christmas Day and 27th plus 28th December they are running a Sunday Service.
It is not just in the Trent Barton area, but throughout the country outside of large urban areas, many routes through villages and indeed some quite sizeable market towns do not have a Sunday Service. Therefore advertising a full Sunday Service on 27th and 28th December in reality means no buses for many routes.
It is not just in the Trent Barton area, but throughout the country outside of large urban areas, many routes through villages and indeed some quite sizeable market towns do not have a Sunday Service. Therefore advertising a full Sunday Service on 27th and 28th December in reality means no buses for many routes.
TheSel
Member
Just to expand on this, for anyone who is interested, the full details are available through the link below, but I'm not going to clutter up this forum with the actual .pdf booklet itself.
https://merseytravel.adidocdn.dev/assets/uploads/Christmas_Booklet_2020_2021_min.pdf
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
That's something that has been the case since time in memoriam.
Going back to my childhood, there were times when market day services in my home patch would have to be rejigged in case so that if Christmas Day (and New Years Day) fell on said market day, those villages wouldn't otherwise get a service for three weeks!
More recently, where I live now, many supported routes no longer even have a Saturday service let alone a Sunday one!
In Hertfordshire the only services shown as running on Boxing Day is this hourly service to Stansted airport from Bishop’s Stortford and Harlow. It runs on Christmas Day and Boxing day
Plus the GreenLine 757 service from Luton and Luton airport to London and any TfL services.
Plus the GreenLine 757 service from Luton and Luton airport to London and any TfL services.
Geordie driver
Member
Depends on the company, it's a while since I drove for a big company, but the one I worked for used to pay a flat rate for everything, they wouldn't pay double time on a bank holidsy for years. This was gradually improved on, by the time I left you were getting time and a third, it might have improved since then. Pre deregulation it was mostly the guys who's religion didn't make a big deal of Christmas who would work Christmas day.
TR673
Member
I know this isn't strictly 'Christmas and Boxing Day', but I find it pretty pathetic that Nottingham (and I'm guessing other places too) has no service on New Year's Day. I needed to go somewhere a couple of years back and by sheer luck the places I was travelling from and to were along the tram route. Anyone not near the tram line would need a taxi.
Most places seem to have no service on New Year's Day. A few years back trentbarton ran a limited service on New Years Day but only on the main routes (indigo, rainbow one etc) but the boxing day service was also limited to main routes on special timetables rather than the Sunday service like last year.
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