4/2/2010 - County council saves bus service

An hourly bus service between Cotehill, Carlisle and Dalston will remain on the timetable thanks to Cumbria County Council.

From next week Stagecoach is withdrawing its commercially provided service 75 following a shake-up of its operations.

But to ensure passengers can still travel on this route - running from Cotehill to Carlisle and Dalston via Cumwhinton, Wetheral, Scotby, the Tesco store at Rosehill and Cummersdale - the county council has stepped in to fund a replacement.

After Stagecoach announced it was withdrawing the service Cumbria County Council’s passenger transport team worked hard to design a similar route to the existing service which allowed a decision to be made to replace the route at a cost of £153,000 per annum - with the aim of recouping this money in fares.

Reay’s Coaches of Wigton is providing the new service starting on Monday (February 8) and it will operate to a timetable close to the existing one, but with several changes as follows: 

* Journeys towards Dalston will pick up from the bus stop outside St Paul’s Church on Lonsdale Street, instead of from Carlisle, Bus Station. All other existing stops will continue to be served.

* Journeys towards Cotehill will pick up from the bus stop outside Pippins on Lowther Street, rather than Carlisle bus station, and will leave the city centre via Victoria Place, along the same route as the inbound service, rather than via the Warwick Road bus lane. The service will also continue to pick up on Devonshire Street.

* A small number of existing journeys will no longer operate:-

08:52 Monday to Thursday from Dalston to Carlisle.

16:35 Monday to Friday from Carlisle to Cotehill.

17:08 Monday to Friday from Cotehill to Carlisle.

18:14 Saturday from Cotehill to Carlisle.

* There will also be changes to the times of the following trips:-

17:05 Carlisle to Wetheral will run at 16:57 and continue to Cotehill

17:25 Wetheral to Carlisle will start Cotehill at 17:33 and run via Wetheral at 17:43

17:45 Carlisle to Cotehill will run at 17:57, and will no longer continue to Penrith.

Stagecoach will continue to operate journeys to Dalston’s Caldew School during term time.

Most fares will be unchanged, although there may be some minor alterations. The £11 weekly Routerider ticket will still be available and concessionary travel passes will be still be valid for free travel, for local senior citizens.

Weekly tickets previously issued by Stagecoach will be accepted for travel in the first week of operation.

Stagecoach are continuing to provide the evening and Sunday 75 service, which will maintain the same route and timetable, continuing to call at Carlisle bus station and running to Cotehill via Warwick Road.

Councillor Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for transport, said: "Stagecoach has taken a commercial decision to withdraw this service, but we’ve listened to the concerns of local people who were worried about not being able to travel by bus on this route.

"A lot of hard work has gone into finding a way to retain it and although some changes have had to be made to ensure the route is cost effective, we hope people will continue to use it and ensure its long term survival.

"We are committed to providing first class public transport and by funding this replacement we’re providing a valuable service to people travelling by bus in the evenings and showing our commitment to public transport."

To view the new timetable or to find out more about bus services in Cumbria visit www.cumbria.gov.uk/buses

ENDS

Media enquiries to media officer John Ballard on 01228 226330.