Boxing Day vs New Years Day bus service levels.

[GDKEnts]

Also North East bus routes wouldn't run without a begging bowl out and Nexus paying for routes despite a massive amount of buses struggling to keep time and full loads due to passenger volume.

 

[JRT]

In West Yorkshire there is a special service on Boxing Day, approx every 30 minutes on major routes during the daytime - First, Arriva & Transdev are all involved. This has been the case for about 15 years now

However on New Year’s Day First are running a very limited service this year, the first time West Yorkshire has seen mainstream buses on NYD for over 30 years. Mostly Leeds only with a bit of Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax. Due to the fact Metro and the WY Mayor haven’t made much mention of this new development, it is assumed this is being done by First on a commercial basis.

Years ago there was a Sunday-type service on Boxing Day (daytime), but it was eventually dropped as it was not perceived to be cost-effective. The present Boxing Day service provision has only been going a few years , and has a half-hour frequency on the main network, apart from some hourly services such as the 508 & 612.

There hasn't been a New Year's Day service for many years until now. In Bradford this is a very limited service, including the main hospital routes.

 

[Acfb]

That because the council pays for it. There is no Lothian service to Mid-Lothian on these days are the council no longer pays for it.

I notice they are running a decent operation in Midlothian on New Years Day (3, 29, 31, 37, 46 (RIE to Rosewell) and 48.

There are some operators providing a better a service than Lothian on Boxing Day, mainly First Glasgow, First Aberdeen and possibly Xplore Dundee operating Sunday timetables on a commercial basis.

First Glasgow previously operated around 20 routes on an hourly frequency from 1000-2000 on Christmas Day and NY Day with no support from SPT, but this was withdrawn after 2011/12.

I noticed that as I investigated going to Glasgow on Boxing Day for an aqquantaince's birthday and I saw the 6 was every 20 mins. Lothian's Boxing Day service was still very substantial though.

 

[geoffk]

I've had a look at the main urban areas in England for New Year's Day and, as the above posts suggest, it's a mixed picture, with no buses or Metro in the Nexus area but some level of bus service in other Metropolitan areas (plus trams where relevant). In Bristol it's airport buses only, in Nottingham no buses but NET trams are running. Morebus in Bournemouth will run what looks like a good level of service - all have restricted hours of operation. I don't know how much of the operation is commercial and how many local transport authorities include New Year's Day in their Sunday contracts (if they have any). I remember we used to in Worcestershire but that's more than 20 years ago now.

Looks like no buses at all in Devon and that will be the case in most/all rural counties, I expect.

 

[GDKEnts]

I've had a look at the main urban areas in England for New Year's Day and, as the above posts suggest, it's a mixed picture, with no buses or Metro in the Nexus area but some level of bus service in other Metropolitan areas (plus trams where relevant). In Bristol it's airport buses only, in Nottingham no buses but NET trams are running. Morebus in Bournemouth will run what looks like a good level of service - all have restricted hours of operation. I don't know how much of the operation is commercial and how many local transport authorities include New Year's Day in their Sunday contracts (if they have any). I remember we used to in Worcestershire but that's more than 20 years ago now.

Looks like no buses at all in Devon and that will be the case in most/all rural counties, I expect.

Sunderland are at home tomorrow too. Not expecting a great turnout as only option is to drive there.

 

[WM Bus]

I've had a look at the main urban areas in England for New Year's Day and, as the above posts suggest, it's a mixed picture, with no buses or Metro in the Nexus area but some level of bus service in other Metropolitan areas (plus trams where relevant). In Bristol it's airport buses only, in Nottingham no buses but NET trams are running. Morebus in Bournemouth will run what looks like a good level of service - all have restricted hours of operation. I don't know how much of the operation is commercial and how many local transport authorities include New Year's Day in their Sunday contracts (if they have any). I remember we used to in Worcestershire but that's more than 20 years ago now.

Looks like no buses at all in Devon and that will be the case in most/all rural counties, I expect.

Worcestershire Redditch Garage will be running a full normal Sunday service tomorrow including the Sunday service contract on the 52 Kidderminster - Redditch via Bromsgrove and 3 Kidderminster - Areley Kings via Stourport.

Boxing Day only the local Redditch services 11/51/57/58 ran which were the only services in operation in Worcestershire.

First Worcester not running anything tomorrow.

 

[geoffk]

Sunderland are at home tomorrow too. Not expecting a great turnout as only option is to drive there.

And no trains to Sunderland either...

 

[Andy Pacer]

In Tyne & Wear there's a fair-sized network of buses running on Boxing Day, albeit fairly Newcastle-centric. With there being a football match on as well, I have already witnessed a couple running with 'Bus Full' on the display. We also have a fair few of the key Great North Road express services running up to Cramlington, Blyth and Morpeth, which are being operated by Go North East and Northstar.

For enthusiasts, its usually one of the highlights of the year as normal allocations go out of the window for the most part, particularly on Go North East. My local route is being operated out of Gateshead Riverside rather than Percy Main.

Metro is running a Sunday service 8am-8pm with a couple of football extras on the North side of the river and half hourly with extra replacement buses (every five mins) for the match times on the south side.

However, similar to in Scotland, there's absolutely nothing on New Year's Day.

Are these tendered?

 

[Segedunum]

Are these tendered?

A mixture IIRC. Some commercial as they'd justify themselves anyway (most of the ones that were operated by the same company as normal) with a few being tendered.

 

[DunsBus]

I suggest that it also depends on regional cultural differences i.e in Scotland and North East England, New Years Day has always been seen as more of a holiday. Here in the Scottish Borders, we have no buses on December 25/26 or January 1/2, a situation which extends across onto some Northumberland routes as Borders Buses do not operate on these dates. Scottish Borders Council pulled funding to run a limited service on December 26 and January 1 together with a Sunday service on January 2 in 2020.

I understand that there are other areas in Scotland where there are no buses over the four Bank Holidays.

Scottish Borders Council also pulled funding for evening services past 1730 in 2020. An extremely short-sighted decision. The axing of the subsidy for services on December 26, January 1 and January 2 means that in Berwick, on the latter date, you have Arriva running a normal service into the town on the X15 and X18 from Newcastle but nothing running at all in Berwick itself or from there into Scotland.

 

[Andy Pacer]

A mixture IIRC. Some commercial as they'd justify themselves anyway (most of the ones that were operated by the same company as normal) with a few being tendered.

I remember in previous years some were tendered with "odd" operators running other operators routes which used to be quite interesting.

 

[Woolos 22]

No bus sevice in wales on new year day

 

[Blindtraveler]

I think we have one route running in Medway Sunday service tomorrow, January 2nd from memory

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I remember in previous years some were tendered with "odd" operators running other operators routes which used to be quite interesting.

That was when Arriva didn’t operate in the main?

 

[Eyersey468]

No buses in East Yorkshire either Boxing Day or New Year's Day. We did used to run a limited service Boxing Day but so few used it management decided it wasn't worth running them

 

[43055]

Nothing in the East Midlands today except a couple of work services and Diamond's NMA between Tamworth and the National Memorial Arboretum.

 

[WibbleWobble]

Morebus in Bournemouth will run what looks like a good level of service - all have restricted hours of operation.

Predominantly Sunday service with 18/X1/X6 not operating and m1/m2/40/50 running less often, but otherwise a normal span of operating day (apart from 40/50 which are more akin to the old Sunday 2 hourly winter timetables).

 

[markymark2000]

No bus sevice in wales on new year day

That's not strictly true. You have the all singing, all dancing, extremely useful, 905 bus from Rhoose Train Station to Cardiff Airport

 

[Polarbear]

Although there have been buses in the Liverpool City Region today, some routes that operated last New Year haven't done so this year. Notably, I don't think Stagecoach operated any services, which resulted in parts of the region having no cover at all.

Some other routes had a much reduced frequency over previous years, one example being the Liverpool - Heswall 471/472 route. Today, that has effectively operated as a circular route, one way as a 471 and the other as a 472, on an hourly frequency.

 

[181]

Oxford Bus Company/Thames Travel operated 'special timetables' on both days this year, as they usually do. These involved services on various routes in Oxford (not sure how comprehensive compared with a normal day), and four outside it to Abingdon, Didcot via Abingdon, Thame and Reading (the latter on a slightly modified route avoiding the usual diversion through Woodcote), with all services finishing by early evening.

I'vs sometimes wondered why New Year's Day doesn't have a normal Sunday service like most other public holidays, but from reading this thread, it seems we're lucky to get as much as we do.

OBC also run a coach service to Heathrow and Gatwick (with calls in Lewknor and High Wycombe), and that had a few services on Christmas Day.

Stagecoach Oxfordshire appear to have done something similar -- their website says 'A special timetable will be running on a number of key routes, some services will not run. Oxford Tube will run to a special Sunday timetable.'

Reading Buses say this for Boxing Day: 'Most of our services will have a special service based on their Sunday times from around 9am until around 6pm. The London Line 701/702 will operate additional buses fast between Reading, Slough and London all day as there are no trains scheduled to run. Football services will operate for the 3pm kick-off, but special fares will apply.' and this for New Year's Day: 'Most services will run to their Sunday timetables.'.

 

[Siemens Trains]

That because the council pays for it. There is no Lothian service to Mid-Lothian on these days are the council no longer pays for it.

East and West Lothian Councils subsidise festive season bus services (particularly on 25 Dec & 1 Jan), but neither Edinburgh nor Midlothian Councils do so.
All of Lothian's Edinburgh routes (and some in East Lothian) run commercially on 25 Dec, plus many Midlothian and East Lothian routes on 1 Jan.

 

[CN12 AWU]

Where i live Merseyside, is one of those weird areas were we have a bus service but between 9am to 7pm on Boxing Day, New Years Day bit more limited with last buses 5pm to 6pm. Last year was an outlier, hardly any services ran on both Boxing Day & New Years Day compared with other years & this year

The one that's got me this year new year day Bootle Arriva operated there own services (usually Green Lane operates Bootles on Boxing Day and New Year Day)

Also Stagecoach Wirral on New Year Day ran nothing I'm sure usually there is some 1/X1 & 41's but to a very limited timetable

 

[darloscott]

A mixture IIRC. Some commercial as they'd justify themselves anyway (most of the ones that were operated by the same company as normal) with a few being tendered.

The entire Boxing Day operation in North East is paid for by Nexus, hence why there is nothing outside of Tyne & Wear.
Nothing operates in Teesside at all on 25/26 Dec or 01 Jan apart from the Tesco bus 101 which ran a special timetable on 26 Dec and 01 Jan.

 

[Polarbear]

The one that's got me this year new year day Bootle Arriva operated there own services (usually Green Lane operates Bootles on Boxing Day and New Year Day)

Also Stagecoach Wirral on New Year Day ran nothing I'm sure usually there is some 1/X1 & 41's but to a very limited timetable

Don't think Stagecoach Gillmoss turned out anything on New Year's Day either. Yes, in previous years, there was a limited service 1 between Liverpool & Chester plus some 41's (both hourly as I recall). Absolutly nothing other than Merseyrail in the southern part of the Wirral this year.

 

[Segedunum]

The entire Boxing Day operation in North East is paid for by Nexus, hence why there is nothing outside of Tyne & Wear.
Nothing operates in Teesside at all on 25/26 Dec or 01 Jan apart from the Tesco bus 101 which ran a special timetable on 26 Dec and 01 Jan.

On each of the PDF documents for Stagecoach from Christmas 2024 it actually specifies what's Commercial and what isn't: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/north-east/christmas-timetable

So the 7 and 308 in Newcastle (the latter being cover for Arriva) were supported by Nexus and the rest weren't. I'd imagine South Shields/Sunderland had a higher level of support.

 

[Eyersey468]

@181 I suspect the reason there isn't even a Sunday service on New Year's Day is because not enough people would use it to justify running it

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The entire Boxing Day operation in North East is paid for by Nexus, hence why there is nothing outside of Tyne & Wear.
Nothing operates in Teesside at all on 25/26 Dec or 01 Jan apart from the Tesco bus 101 which ran a special timetable on 26 Dec and 01 Jan.

I think that Arriva (pre Covid) did begin to operate their Blyth/Ashington to Newcastle services which is why they stopped being operated by Go North East.

Obviously, that has now changed (and gone back to how it was) with a range of random operators doing the work. Are Nexus managing the tendering or are they actually paying for it all? It does seem odd that they'd be funding the 35/X18 when it has limited benefit for local passengers and much more for Northumberland but there you go.

 

[DunsBus]

East and West Lothian Councils subsidise festive season bus services (particularly on 25 Dec & 1 Jan), but neither Edinburgh nor Midlothian Councils do so.
All of Lothian's Edinburgh routes (and some in East Lothian) run commercially on 25 Dec, plus many Midlothian and East Lothian routes on 1 Jan.

Midlothian Council pulled its funding for Christmas Day buses back in 2005.

 

[darloscott]

I think that Arriva (pre Covid) did begin to operate their Blyth/Ashington to Newcastle services which is why they stopped being operated by Go North East.

Obviously, that has now changed (and gone back to how it was) with a range of random operators doing the work. Are Nexus managing the tendering or are they actually paying for it all? It does seem odd that they'd be funding the 35/X18 when it has limited benefit for local passengers and much more for Northumberland but there you go.

Yeah I think Northumberland pays towards those - I know the entire GNE operation is tendered. Obviously the independent ones are - genuinely didn’t realise Stagecoach ran most of theirs commercially!