Better bus links coming to Burnley, Pendle and Ribble Valley thanks to £750k boost

Buses will be getting a big boost in July thanks to an extra £750,000 being invested by Lancashire County Council to make sure more people have a service they can rely on for regular journeys.
A Sunday and Bank Holiday daytime service between Rawtenstall, Water and Burnley will be restoredA Sunday and Bank Holiday daytime service between Rawtenstall, Water and Burnley will be restored
A Sunday and Bank Holiday daytime service between Rawtenstall, Water and Burnley will be restored

A number of improvements will be made to existing links, particularly in rural areas, and with vital services such as hospitals, as well as increases in frequency of some services where there is strong demand.

The council received the extra funding following a successful bid to the Department for Transport's 'A better deal for bus users' programme.

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The investment will meet a number of outstanding requests for bus services received from residents, local councillors and MPs, as well as building on improvements introduced in December 2017 when the county council increased its annual budget for buses.

While the current advice is to only use buses where absolutely necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the county council recognises that they still play a vital part in keeping people connected, providing access to local services, employment, health and education.

The county council's supported bus service network has resumed normal operation, after initially operating to a Saturday timetable at the beginning of lockdown.

County Coun. Andrew Snowden, lead member for buses, said: "We've made improving public transport one of our top priorities as it's vital to people's daily lives and our local economy, with many people relying on buses to get to work, access education and other services, do their shopping and visit friends.

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"This new funding will help to build on the investment we've already made in restoring links for communities which might otherwise have no or very little public transport, and supports the commercial network to ensure transport connections across the county are as effective as possible.

"Some of the improvements being introduced this summer will also increase the frequency of a number of services where there is most demand, developing more attractive and sustainable services for the future.

"While there are still restrictions on using public transport at the moment, these improvements meet a number of requests from communities for better connections and will help to support our economy as Lancashire begins to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic."

The improvements due to be introduced from Sunday, July 19th are as follows:

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In Burnley – to restore a Sunday and Bank Holiday daytime service between Rawtenstall, Water and Burnley

In Preston, Ribble Valley and Pendle – to strengthen the existing Monday to Saturday daytime Service 280 link between Clitheroe, Gisburn, Barnoldswick, Earby and Skipton, increasing the frequency from two hourly to hourly on this section and to restore a Sunday and Bank Holiday daytime service throughout the whole route between Preston, Clitheroe and Skipton.

In Ribble Valley and Hyndburn – to restore a Monday to Saturday daytime service link between Clitheroe, Whalley, Great Harwood, Rishton, Accrington, Oswaldtwistle and Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Full details of these service improvements, along with other across the county, and how they tie in with existing tendered bus services will be available once they have been finalised in the next couple of weeks.