Late sunday evening bus service provision

[Martin1988]

I'm guessing that the number of bus routes that operate late on a Sunday evening has declined over the last 10-15 years or so, presumably due to reduction in local authority funding, lower passenger numbers and increased costs.

A few notable examples of routes that previously had previously had late Sunday evening provision but now no longer do are as follows:

First Potteries 3/20: Hanley to Crewe (Unsure of reason)
First Bristol 17: Southmead Hospital to Keynsham (Possibly a commercial decision)
First Bristol 36: Bristol to Hengrove (Loss of local authority support)
Arriva/D&G 38: Macclesfield to Crewe (Loss of local authority support)
First Bristol 92: Broadmead to Hengrove (Possibly a commercial decision)
First Bath 231/232: Bath to Chippenham (Loss of local authority support)
First West Yorkshire 358: Huddersfield to Ashenhurst (Loss of local authority support)

Can anyone think of any other notable examples of routes that ended up losing late sunday evening provision, whether it was due to a loss of local authority support or a commercial decision by the operator?

Similarly, are there any notable examples of routes that manage to maintain a late Sunday evening service or have even had one introduced in recent years? For example a good chunk of routes out of Bristol run late on a Sunday evening and over in Wiltshire the 55 between Swindon and Chippenham seems to run quite late.

 

[Statto]

Warrington is one area were most of the Warrington's Own routes that had Sunday Evening service, last buses now are between 5 & 6pm on Sundays

Merseyside is another area that still has a majority of routes still operating Sunday Evenings, although frequencies on some routes are reduced.

 

[MotCO]

I'm guessing that the number of bus routes that operate late on a Sunday evening has declined over the last 10-15 years or so, presumably due to reduction in local authority funding, lower passenger numbers and increased costs.

A few notable examples of routes that previously had previously had late Sunday evening provision but now no longer do are as follows:

First Potteries 3/20: Hanley to Crewe (Unsure of reason)
First Bristol 17: Southmead Hospital to Keynsham (Possibly a commercial decision)
First Bristol 36: Bristol to Hengrove (Loss of local authority support)
Arriva/D&G 38: Macclesfield to Crewe (Loss of local authority support)
First Bristol 92: Broadmead to Hengrove (Possibly a commercial decision)
First Bath 231/232: Bath to Chippenham (Loss of local authority support)
First West Yorkshire 358: Huddersfield to Ashenhurst (Loss of local authority support)

Can anyone think of any other notable examples of routes that ended up losing late sunday evening provision, whether it was due to a loss of local authority support or a commercial decision by the operator?

Similarly, are there any notable examples of routes that manage to maintain a late Sunday evening service or have even had one introduced in recent years? For example a good chunk of routes out of Bristol run late on a Sunday evening and over in Wiltshire the 55 between Swindon and Chippenham seems to run quite late.

I've just looked at some Metrobus services around Gatwick, and those that run on Sunday run until 22.00 or later.

 

[Simon75]

Definition of evening service after 6pm ?

Last First Potteries (Sunday)
3 Hanley to Crewe 19.30 (20.30 terminates Radway Green )
3 Crewe to Hanley 20.40

 

[Flange Squeal]

Similarly, are there any notable examples of routes that manage to maintain a late Sunday evening service or have even had one introduced in recent years? For example a good chunk of routes out of Bristol run late on a Sunday evening and over in Wiltshire the 55 between Swindon and Chippenham seems to run quite late.

The Stagecoach route 1 Aldershot - Farnborough - Frimley - Camberley corridor on the Hampshire/Surrey border has done quite well on Sundays over the last couple of decades.

Early-90s the Sunday service was hourly 1000-2100. By the mid-90s the southern most Aldershot to Farnborough section became a combined half-hourly following the extension of another route along the same roads, but rest of route still hourly.

2003 Blackwater Valley Network Review say Sunday services start earlier and frequencies now 0800-1000 (hourly), 1000-1700 (increased to half-hourly), and 1700-2100 broadly two-hourly. Evening was supplemented on southern most section as late-90s above with mixed 30/60/90 min gaps when combined with the 1’s two-hourly service.

The mid-2010s - saw Sunday frequencies increased up to every 20 mins daytime and 50 mins evening, and then again to every 15 mins daytime and 40 mins evening. The operating day was also extended to 0700-2300.

Present day sees the Sunday operating day having departures from the Aldershot end 0500-2200 (+1hr in other direction). Half-hourly 0500-0800, quarter-hourly 0800-1530, every 20 mins 1530-1730, then half-hourly 1730-2200.

So a basic increase from periods of hourly daytime to today’s every 15 mins, and periods of two-hourly evening to today’s every 30 mins, and an operating day extension from 1000-2100 to 0500-2200. The route was also upgraded to Stagecoach Goldline (later Gold) specification in around 2008/2009, with new Enviro 400MMC double decks replacing single deck Enviro 300s in 2016.

 

[Lewisham2221]

First Potteries service 25 (City Centre - Railway Station - Hospital - Newcastle-under-Lyme - Keele University) has a Sunday service up to and including a 23:00 departure.

 

[DunsBus]

Stagecoach South's service 20 between Aldershot and Guildford had its Sunday operating hours increased a few weeks ago.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

31 Richmond town services
81 Redcar to Stokesley (and nearly totally gone Guisborough to Stokesley
1 Darlington to Tow Law
X21 Darlington to Peterlee
48 Durham to New Brancepeth
49 Durham to Brandon
24 Durham to Hartlepool
28 Middlesbrough to Lingdale
23 Hartlepool to Sunderland
8 Darlington to Spennymoor
6 Durham to Cockfield

And that's before the latest round of Arriva cuts that are coming in with swingeing reductions

 

[Llandudno]

In Derbyshire, the Council/HM Govt have recently introduced the following evening services (including Sundays)
170a 1900, 2100, 2300 Chesterfield-Bakewell-Matlock
170a 2000, 2200 Matlock-Bakewell-Chesterfield
170a 2400/0000 Matlock-Bakewell-Baslow

But the well used Stagecoach Gold route X17 Barnsley-Sheffield-Chesterfield-Matlock service does not operate after 1900 on Sundays, DCC have ramped up the Mon-Sat daytime service to half hourly with hourly extensions to Wirksworth but have not introduced Sunday evening journeys

 

[W-on-Sea]

Some of the Oxfordshire services go against the grain a bit:

e.g. The Oxford Bus Co X1 Oxford-Abingdon-Wantage is now hourly on Sunday evenings: previously the Stagecoach S8 (formerly 31) over the same roads was only every two hours, while the Stagecoach S9 (formerly X31) Oxford-Wantage direct now has an hourly Sunday evening service whereas previously it stopped around 7pm.

The new Stagecoach S7 Oxford - Woodstock - Witney provides hourly what must be the first Sunday evening service of any kind between Woodstock, Long Hanborough and Witney, while the S1 (usually Oxford - Eynsham - Witney - Carterton) is now half-hourly on Sunday evenings, having previously been hourly.

Similarly the Stagecoach S6 Oxford - Faringdon - Swindon is hourly on Sunday evenings having previously not run then at all.

The Thames Travel X32 section between Wantage - Harwell Campus - Didcot is a bit patchier, but has a limited evening service on Sundays (three departures in each direction after 6pm, with a one hour interval followed by a two-hour one), along roads that mostly had no Sunday evening service for years.

Some of this is owing to state subsidy, some owing to commerical successes.

 

[JD2168]

Most of the services in South Yorkshire that operate late evening on Sunday run to an hourly frequency. Some services such as First 1a, 52a & 120 finish around 8pm leaving the equivalent Stagecoach service on these routes to continue running. The only ones that operate every 30 minutes are Stagecoach 52 & 120 or combined frequency routes such as First 75/76.

On First 95/95a the bus runs as a 95 in the Walkley to Meadowhall direction & runs as a 95a in the Meadowhall to Walkley direction which means in the lower Wincobank area where the services split they only run one way around.