Consultation launched after changes announced for various central Lancashire bus services

A consultation has been launched by Lancashire County Council after plans were released to tweak, change and remove bus services around Preston.

The changes will also see services created to serve either new areas or replace services that have lost sections from their route.

The move comes after Lancashire County Council received additional funding from HM Government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan fund and the authority believes the changes will improve the service across central Lancashire.

The proposed changes are set to come in by 31 March, 2025 and residents have until 9am on 20 January, 2025 to give feedback. You can do so by emailing bsip@lancashire.gov.uk.

Cllr Rupert Swarbrick, Lancashire County Council cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Our current contracts with bus operators for the services we support in Preston, Chorley and South Ribble expire in March 2025 and we’ve taken the opportunity to review how they work and propose some changes to serve areas of new housing, deliver longstanding requests from the community, and improve reliability overall.

“Our aim is to use the extra funding we’ve secured from the Department for Transport for our Bus Service Improvement Plan to encourage more people to use the bus by providing a more comprehensive network.

“The new links we’re proposing will mean more people can easily catch the bus near their home to make using public transport a more attractive and convenient option for them.

“I’d be grateful if people could take the time to look at the changes we’re proposing and let us know if they have any feedback before we introduce them. Our aim is to improve services and we don’t want to do anything which would make existing passengers miss work or school, or be unable to return home due to changes to the timetable.”

Summary of the changes

Service 12 (Preston – Longton) withdrawn and replaced by new service 115
Service 111 (Preston – Wigan) section between Leyland and Wigan withdrawn and replaced by new service 110, Preston to Leyland section unaffected
Service 112 (Preston – Croston) section between Midge Hall and Croston withdrawn and mainly replaced by new service 115, section between Preston and Midge Hall unaffected except for minor route changes between Walton Summit and Clayton Brook, and in Leyland Town Centre.
Service 114 (Chorley – Leyland) service extended beyond Leyland to Preston via current 119 route
Service 117 & 118 (Chorley local services) minor timetable changes
Service 119 (Preston – Chorley) service withdrawn and replaced by extended service 114 between Preston and Leyland, and new service 115 between Leyland and Chorley.

Two new services will be created:

Service 110 (Preston – Wigan) = Will run between Preston and Leyland via The Cawsey and Farington Moss, replaces service 111 between Leyland and Wigan via Eccleston
Service 115 (Preston – Chorley) = Replaces service 12 between Preston and Longton, extending to Leyland via Bretherton and Croston, then to Chorley via Buckshaw replacing service 119.

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