Christmas Day bus services 2017

[0B00]

Can anyone please post details of any bus services running in the UK on 25/12/17 please ?

 

[overthewater]

your best bet will be lothian buses but they're not out yet.

 

[radamfi]

If you don't need to restrict yourself to the UK, most European countries run a normal Sunday service on Christmas Day.

 

[Busaholic]

If you don't need to restrict yourself to the UK, most European countries run a normal Sunday service on Christmas Day.

Not much use to those stuck in the UK!

 

[turboslug]

In Manchester stagecoach 43 Piccadilly to airport will run hourly in daytime, on merseyside merseytravel provide free bus services to hospitals on some routes, if the same as last year on the wirral stagecoach will run 118 mill park to new Brighton via arrowe park hospital & stagecoach will run 110 new Brighton to clatterbridge hospital via birkenhead, these run from about midday to 6pm, merseytravel site will have info on website in a few weeks

 

[radamfi]

Not much use to those stuck in the UK!

If you are stuck in a particular locality, then that is all you have to choose from. But if you have the whole of the UK to choose from, which is the implication in the original post, then it is very easy to find Christmas Day buses simply by travelling a short distance outside the UK. If you are in the south of England, much of the UK is further away than places with Christmas buses. It may not be universal knowledge that comprehensive bus services are so close. I've gone abroad at Christmas several times, to take advantage of the plentiful Christmas services.

 

[142blue]

No one really needs a bus on Christmas day bar perhaps a small core of hospital services and maybe a link to an airport but just enjoy having a day off, at home, with friends and family

 

[westcoaster]

Southern vectis on the Isle of Wight normally operate on Christmas Day.

 

[Hophead]

Southern vectis on the Isle of Wight normally operate on Christmas Day.

I seem to remember that, in addition, the Boxing Day operation is simply the regular Sunday service.

Meanwhile, Metrobus have summarised their Christmas operations. Much the same as usual but the Christmas Day 10 is improved over last year's irregular interval service to give a half-hourly service until the evening, when it drops to hourly until the early hours of Boxing Day.

 

[radamfi]

just enjoy having a day off, at home, with friends and family

What if you need a bus to reach your friends and family?

 

[Typhoon]

What if bus drivers want to spend Christmas Day with their friends and family?

 

[radamfi]

What if bus drivers want to spend Christmas Day with their friends and family?

How can they if they rely on buses to reach them?

 

[Typhoon]

I guess bus drivers can drive!

 

[90sWereBetter]

How can they if they rely on buses to reach them?

Why are we doing this strawman argument?

 

[radamfi]

I guess bus drivers can drive!

Lots of people can drive but don't own their own car. The whole point of buses is that people can get about without a car and so cut congestion and pollution. Maybe we should give up on that idea and if we have to drive and make their own way without a bus on Christmas Day, why not on the other 364 days of the year? Obviously most people are doing that anyway. Then there would be no need for buses or bus drivers.

 

[142blue]

I live in a big city yet I can't rely on buses due to the times and location I work. Unless I start at 7am or finish at 10.30pm I can't get home outside these times.

Work is 13 ish miles away

So I bought a scooter and then learned to drive and now own a car

I'd like to be able to rely on and use buses but they let me down too often

But yes for Christmas people can cope or visit the day before or use a limited service on the 26th

 

[Andyh82]

What if you need a bus to reach your friends and family?

Nobody does. Every family has access to at least one car, either the person going somewhere, or the family they are going to.

 

[robbob700]

Bournemouth/Poole and Southampton both have a limited service this Christmas Day run by Go South Coast.
Metrobus usually run services around Gatwick and there is usually a service on bus 133 between Braintree and Stansted.

 

[DJ_K666]

Brighton and Hove finish early on Christmas Eve and don't operate Christmas Day, however there is a special (ie drastically reduced) service on Boxing day. Stagecoach South are similar, I believe Portsmouth area buses are operating a Sunday service on Boxing Day.

 

[duncanp]

Nobody does. Every family has access to at least one car, either the person going somewhere, or the family they are going to.

Utter nonsense.

There are many families who do not have access to a car, and often these are the poorest people in society.

I accept that bus drivers, and other transport workers, may wish to spend Christmas with their families.

However what do they do on Christmas Day?

Watch TV, browse the internet, go to the pub, use electricity, gas or water, need the emergency services.

All of these activities require other people to work on Christmas Day. My father was a policeman, and he had to work on Christmas Day sometimes. I don't remember feeling particularly deprived because of this.

And if you do drive somewhere in a car, what happens if it breaks down? Are you going to be stuck on the hard shoulder of a motorway until Boxing Day, because shouldn't the people who work for the AA and RAC be spending Christmas Day with their families.

The fact that some limited services do operate on Christmas Day shows that there is some demand for travel. Indeed National Express coaches operate several services on Christmas Day, from London at least, which they wouldn't do if they didn't think it was worth it.

 

[142blue]

So other people work and therefore so should those who work in the transport industry? Well then open the shops. Banks should open. I should be able to get my hair cut if I want

It's Christmas

How about let people have a day or two off and if for one day you can't cope it's a poor reflection of modern society

 

[ashworth]

Whilst I accept that most parts of the UK will have no buses on Christmas Day, it is not so acceptable that large parts of the UK, outside of cities and major towns, will have no buses for at least 5 days over Christmas and the New Year!

Many routes in rural areas, and indeed these days in some sizeable towns, have no evening or Sunday services. It’s all very well for a bus company to announce that they will be running a Sunday Service on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day but if you live in an area which doesn’t have a Sunday Service that means no buses. This year Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday so that means no buses from approx 7pm on Saturday 23rd December until hopefully a normal weekday service begins again on the morning of Wednesday 27th December. Hopefully it won’t be a Sunday Service in any areas in 27th December! Then as New Year’s Eve is a Sunday that mean almost the same the following weekend.

There will be no visiting families and friends or going shopping by bus in those greatly increasing areas which don’t have a Sunday Service. As Sunday shopping becomes more popular we can’t even go shopping or get to work in the shops by bus on the busy Sundays leading up to Christmas. I’m sure that having no buses on Christmas Eve will be very inconvenient for some people.

 

[142blue]

Sunday service is a joke now as we do operate in a7 day society sadly

Public transport doesn't always reflect that

 

[ashworth]

Sunday service is a joke now as we do operate in a7 day society sadly

Public transport doesn't always reflect that

Im not sure that’s completely correct!

20+ years ago, when we didn’t live in a 7 day society, when shops were not open and Sunday was very quiet, most of the routes I was referring to in my posting did have a Sunday bus service. I do know what you mean though, as even in cities some Sunday bus services are still a bit inadequate.

In Nottinghamshire, away from the city, where I live, most routes had at least an hourly service on a Sunday, although they didn’t begin running until late morning. Over the last 20 years or so many of these services have gone on a Sunday and in the last 10 years the evening services throughout the week have been cut. Therefore until approx 20years ago there were Sunday buses on most routes but now, even as Sunday trading becomes more and more popular these bus services are unlikely to be returned.

 

[142blue]

Vicious circle...

Bus service doesn't work for its users
People find alternate transport
Numbers dwindle
Services get cut

 

[overthewater]

Especially if you cant get to work with the bus, After all the money you have wasted on getting a car why would you take the bus at the weekends to go shopping???

 

[142blue]

Cost of parking?

 

[THarris123]

The only Christmas day bus service in the west is usually Cityfox on their service in Bristol. I wonder if Mr Hand can confirm if he's running it this year?

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Megabus run many services on 25/12.
Oxford Tube run a two hourly service, usually serving Heathrow instead of Hillingdon, although I think Go Ahead ran to Heathrow in 2016 so the Tube ran normal route. Stagecoach operate some services in Oxford on 25/12.

Several years since TfL published a Christmas alterations book, but when they did it always amused me that it listed Purple Parking’s Southall to Heathrow shuttle as running on 25/12.

 

[Busaholic]

TfL's cash crisis will ensure the debate on re-establishing (some) Christmas Day services remains muted. I still think it could be achieved, with sponsorship, as I'm sure there'd be sufficient drivers willing to work without receiving exhorbitant rates of pay in many areas.