Festive bus times for Burnley and Pendle announced

Roads and car parks in and around East Lancashire’s town centres are expected to be busy throughout December as shoppers and retailers try to make up for lost time and safely gather gifts, food and drink ahead of the festive season.

With this in mind, The Burnley Bus Company is reminding everyone that its buses are running a normal service until Christmas Eve, with added reassurance from its unique “Clean, Safe and Ready to Go” customer promise to provide the highest standards of cleanliness and safety on all of its buses.

The Burnley Bus Company’s general manager Steve Ottley said: “With traffic levels rising every day and the need to stay safe and follow all the Government safety guidelines, shoppers have a lot on their minds and the last thing they need is to find themselves stuck in traffic jams or struggling to park when they reach the shops.

“With increased and thorough cleaning of each bus, clear safety guidance on board and a warm welcome from our amazing team, we offer a much easier and safe alternative to driving. All our buses go through enhanced deep cleaning every night, using highly effective virucidal mist to clean every inch of the interior, supported by additional cleaning of touch points throughout the day.

“Each bus has its own hand sanitiser dispenser, with plenty of services to make sure everyone can spread out on board – and our customers can use our website or Transdev Go mobile app to instantly check how much room there is on the bus before travelling.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming our customers back to the bus as the festive season approaches, and to make things easier, we’re also releasing early details of our services over the festive season to help those planning to travel this Christmas.”

Current timetables continue for all services run by The Burnley Bus Company until Wednesday December 23rd. The following alterations will then be in place:

· Christmas Eve, Thursday December 24th: A Saturday service, with last buses earlier than normal. Last journeys will run as follows:

Witchway X43: 6-10pm Burnley to Manchester; 6-40pm Burnley to Rawtenstall; 7-30pm Manchester to Burnley

Hotline 152: Westbound: 5-52pm Burnley to Preston; 6-28pm Burnley to Blackburn; 6-48pm Blackburn to Preston; 6-28pm, 7-28pm and 7-58pm Burnley to Blackburn. Eastbound: 6-05pm Preston to Burnley; 6-50pm Blackburn to Burnley; 6-35pm, 7pm and 7-30pm Preston to Blackburn

M1: 6-13pm Burnley to Accrington; 7-11pm Accrington to Burnley

M2: 7-13pm Burnley to Clitheroe; 7-43pm Burnley to Padiham; 6-54pm Clitheroe to Burnley

M3: 7-11pm Trawden to Burnley; 7-58pm Burnley to Trawden

M4: 6-28pm Burnley to Keighley; 7-28pm Burnley to Colne; 7-13pm Keighley to Burnley.

M5: 5-58pm Burnley to Barnoldswick; 6-58pm Burnley to Colne; 7-12pm Barnoldswick to Burnley; 8-07pm Colne to Burnley.

Service 2: 6-35pm Burnley to Higherford; 7-13pm Higherford to Burnley.

All other routes will run as normal, with last buses at the same time as usual

· Christmas Day, Friday, December 25th: No service.

· Boxing Day, Saturday, December 26th: Special services on the following routes:

Witchway X43: Buses every 30 minutes between Queensgate, Burnley and Manchester, with first journey at 8-54am from Queensgate, and 9-05am from Burnley, Croft Street; first bus from Manchester at 10-30am. Last journeys to Manchester at 4-54pm from Queensgate, 5-05pm from Burnley, and to Rawtenstall from Queensgate at 5-24pm.

M2: Buses every 30 minutes between Burnley and Padiham; first journey from Burnley, Croft Street at 9-35am, and from Padiham, Bridge Inn at 9-55am; last bus from Burnley at 5-35pm and Padiham at 5-55pm

M5: Buses every 30 minutes between Burnley and Colne: first journeys from Queensgate to Colne at 9-24am and 9-54am, and from Burnley, Red Lion Street at 10-16am; last bus from Burnley to Colne at 5-16pm. First bus from Colne at 9-55am, last bus from Colne to Burnley at 4-55pm, and to Queensgate at 5-25pm and 5-55pm

· Sunday 27th and Bank Holiday Monday December 28th: All services will run to a Sunday timetable

· Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 December 2020: Saturday timetable for all services

· New Year’s Eve, Thursday December 31st: Saturday timetable with, with buses finishing earlier than normal. Last buses will be the same as Christmas Eve

· New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1st 2021: No service

· Saturday, January 2nd 2021: Normal timetables resume on all services.