Here are the latest improvements to bus services coming this month

It comes as new figures reveal passenger journeys on bus services supported by Lancashire County Council have surged by 118% in the last 5 years.

From 20 July, a number of bus service timetable enhancements will be introduced including the provision of extra Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday journeys across key areas currently without a bus service during these times. More passengers will now be able to take advantage of the £1 evening and Sunday single fare.  

The enhancements have been made been possible thanks to additional funding from HM Government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan fund. Lancashire County Council is set to invest around £20m this year in maintaining, protecting and enhancing the supported bus network from both the council’s own funding and Bus Grant funding from the Department for Transport. 

In Chorley and South Ribble, new hourly evening and Sunday services will be provided on route 114 between Chorley and Leyland, route 115 between Preston and Longton and route 347 between Chorley and Croston. Following passenger feedback, services 112 and 114 will return to serving Hough Lane in Leyland Town Centre. 

Preston Bus will be enhancing service 19/19A to run half-hourly in the evening between the Hospital and Lea / Larches via Deepdale, Preston City Centre and the Docks. 

In East Lancashire, Rosso service 8 will begin running Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday daytime. The additional evening and Sunday daytime service will operate generally every hour between Burnley and Bacup Town Centre. 

The 152 service, operated by the Blackburn Bus Company, will start operating a new later Monday to Saturday evening return journey between Blackburn and Burnley. The 2200 Monday to Saturday journey from Preston to Blackburn will now extend to Burnley. A new 2328 Burnley to Blackburn service will also be introduced, replacing the Service M2 between Burnley and Padiham. 

Additionally in West Lancashire, timetable adjustments will be made to the 319 Trainlink service, which connects Skelmersdale with Kirkby, to improve connections with local services in Skelmersdale. Preston Bus will replace Stagecoach as operator of this service on behalf of Lancashire County Council. 

These latest bus enhancements aim to encourage more residents to use public transport, building on the year-on-year growth that's been seen in Lancashire.

In 2024/25, 6.6m passenger journeys took place on bus services supported by the county council, compared to 4.6m in 2023/24, representing a 44.7% increase. Take-up of the £1 Evening Fare increased by 16% over the same period.

In 2019/20, there were 3m passenger journeys – an increase of 118%.

This growth has been fuelled by the increase in services provided through Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, as well as an increase in the council's own budget for supporting bus services.

Cllr Warren Goldsworthy

County Councillor Warren Goldsworthy, cabinet member for Highways and Transport said:

"Lots of residents rely on public transport and that's why we're investing around £20m this year using the council’s own funding and money from the Department for Transport to maintain and improve bus services across the county.

"We have continued to see a growth in patronage across Lancashire with buses carrying more than 43m passengers per year. Those service supported by our funding has seen passenger journeys in Lancashire grow by 44.7% in the last year alone. That's more than 6.6m passenger journeys, giving more people the opportunity to travel to work, for leisure and to reach vital services by public transport.

"These latest enhancements will provide more reliable, efficient, and accessible transportation options for our residents, building on previous improvements delivered in Lancashire. 

"We will continue to listen to feedback from the local community and bus operators to support the sector and improve services for our residents." 

You can see full details of all the changes at lancashire.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/public-transport/bus-service-changes