Winter bus schedule in Lake District?

Ann,

The Stagecoach website is defective. It's missing a lot of the 555 services for some reason- the Lancaster to Keswick buses.
The last 555, which is a Grasmere bound bus is at 2250, and there are others before then. That 2250 connects with the very last train arrival from Manchester.
The 555s are a year round service, whereas the 599 goes down to 1/2 hourly in the winter. The 2241 train arrival is the 2004 from MAN airport, change at Oxenholme.
If the trains were on strike you wouldn't get beyond Preston or Lancaster at a pinch, and that would be a struggle.
We don't have this year's winter schedule yet but that has been the service for quite a few winters now.
If that last train were late arriving and missed the bus there is a taxi rank at the station and it is only 4 miles so a taxi won't cost more than £10 if that.
If worried about a late flight or strikes I suggest staying the first night in Manchester.
I am sat here looking at the printed timetable for train and bus now, and live here.

Thank you, isn31c, for so much helpful info. I was able to download the 555 schedule from the Stagecoach website and can see the 22:50 bus you mention. It also helps to know taxis should be readily available at the station if needed. I have trip insurance if things really fall apart, but I do like to have a solid plan to begin with. Thanks again for your help.

The winter timetables are now issued.

Generally there are many service enhancements BUT the evening 555 is an exception to that rule. The 2250 from Windermere station is now at 2221 and runs on Friday and Saturday only.

The previous service is now at 2001. The 1912 is now 1906.

Thus your last Friday train is now at 1829 from Manchester Airport, change at Preston and Oxenholme- with a 1 hour 10 minute connection at Oxenholme.

Note that the 1829 is a Barrow in Furness bound train. That arrives at Carnforth at 2000 (no change needed). The 2221 from Windermere originates from Lancaster. It calls at Carnforth at 2102. There is a lot more to do at Carnforth at that time of night than at Oxenholme, including a pub opposite the bus stop, and at least two supermarkets which will be open. There are a number of pubs in Carnforth, but clearly the Station Hotel is the most suitable.
The 1829 also calls at Lancaster at 1951 and the bus leaves at 2040, but it is a schlep down the hill from rail to bus station so I would strongly choose Carnforth as the change point if your flight was that late.

Also the daytime winter service Windermere to Ambleside is now half hourly- xx39 on the Grasmere bound 599 open top bus, xx09 on the Keswick bound 555, to 1809 then as above.
There are a few extras on the 516 to Dungeon Ghyll and the 505 to Coniston (at xx.54 until 1554).

Alternatively there should always be taxis at Oxenholme for the 16 mile ride to Ambleside. In that case your last train ex the Airport is at 2017, arrive Oxenholme 2211, change Preston (probably around £35 to £40 taxi fare)

Sorry for the delay responding, isn31c, and thank you for remembering to follow-up on this topic. I booked a B&B in Ambleside for the first few nights and will print out your transfer suggestions in case my flight is late.

I could use your help with a bus transfer on Friday, 24 November, from Monk Coniston, Hall to Keswick. I waited for the winter schedules to take effect and planned the journey on the Stagecoach app and website for the morning of the 24th and settled on the 505/555 10:36-12:14. However, the Stagecoach still shows warning message about the winter schedule so I downloaded the pdf winter schedule for the 505 to double-check the route, and it does not show a bus departing Monk Coniston at 10:36. The pdf shows the bus departs at 10:59, which means I will just miss the 555 connection in Ambleside. This is not a huge problem, other than I need to pre-book a taxi in Keswick and cannot figure out what time I will arrive. I could just be reading the pdf wrong. It has happened before. :) I sent a message to Stagecoach yesterday about the discrepancy, but I have no idea if or when they will get back to me.

The Stagecoach app also shows there are 11 stops on the 505 between Monk Coniston and Ambleside, and the pdf schedule only shows 4, so I am hoping it is the pdf that is wrong.

I happened to get lucky with the dates of my stay in Ambleside because that is the weekend that Father Christmas visits and they switch on their Christmas lights. It should be a fun way to start the holiday season.

Ann, It is certainly 1059 from Monk Coniston. I am deep diving into the timetable registered with the Traffic Commissioners and that matches your 'printed' timetable. So if he isn't early, and the 555 is on time you WILL miss the connection, so will arrive in Keswick at 1314, after 58 minutes In Ambleside.
In practice my experience is you would stand a better than evens odds of making the connection, but with a taxi waiting it's not a bet you can take.

IF you get lucky, take the earlier bus and call Davies Taxis on the way up. They will rearrange if they can. If they can't then have lunch in Booths cafe at the Bus Station.
The road for the rank is painted with the company name and phone number!!

There are 11 stops between MC and Ambleside, but the chance of having to call at all 11 is nil. I have never done so even in high summer.
At Keswick the rank is in the bus station. BUT be aware terminating services often don't call into the bus ststion. They terminate at the bike hire shop just outside then park up at the far end of Booths car park.
Just cross the road to the bus station/taxi rank. It's very obvious.
That ruse often costs me a 60 second connection into the X4/X5 because of crossing the road, then walking down the other two stops to mine.

Ann,

I don't use apps, so have just done what I would do (and do do) if I was out and about, and used the stagecoach website planning tool/live bus tracker (as a web page, not an app). That correctly shows the bus as being at 1059, so there is clearly an issue with the app.

I find that, as a web page, the web page tracking tends to work very well.

I admit that I can't have an electronic ticket, other than on the app, but I just buy my period ticket on the web page, then pick it up on the bus on my smartcard, so it makes no effective difference to me. For day tickets/single fares I just pay on the bus.

This is odd because I still do not see the 10:59 bus when I use the stagecoachbus.com website. I use Plan a Journey, from Monk Coniston, Hall (bus stop) to Keswick, Cumbria, departing on 24 Nov at 07:00, and it shows Service departs 10:36. It is the first bus that morning. The next options are at 11:59 and 13:59. The live bus tracker also shows: 10:36Monk Coniston, Monk Coniston Hall. I only see the 10:59 bus if I look under Timetables for the 505.

The schedule I see on the website matches the schedule on the app, but neither match the printed schedule or what you see on the website. I will probably book the taxi based on the printed schedule, and if I arrive earlier, I will just spend the extra time in the Booths cafe like you suggested. I am headed to the HF Holiday house and can arrive anytime that afternoon.

This is so weird because the first bus is at 0936, per the printed schedule. That bus is the return working of the John Ruskin School school bus and is a shoppers bus to Kendal. It starts from Coniston at 0930 due to when the free pensioners bus pass starts. It is almost always a minibus (later runs are a full sized bus). From Ambleside to Kendal it normally runs full. It is also a relief bus to the 0930 555 from Keswick to Lancaster, taking the pressure off the loadings on that service (which is busy from Keswick and Grasmere), for traffic from Ambleside.
The 0936 makes a good connection at Ambleside into the 555, into Keswick at 1114. It has to run, being a school bus on it's outward run, and the local pensioners depend on it.

I have no idea why the Stagecoach website is presenting differently in the US to in England.

Correction, the bus type has been upgraded- I've just checked the vehicle allocations list, the 0936 has been a full sized bus for each of the three days this week. Yippee. That gives much needed more capacity.

In fact re-reading your e-mail what I think has happened is that your computer has done something odd for the end of summer time change, or is not interfacing well with Stagecoach after the seasonal change- as actual departures ex Monk Coniston are 0936, 1059, 1259, 1459, 1546 (School Bus- avoid), 1659 and 1838.

Ann,

I have had a late running meeting this morning, so have been tracking in real time, while waiting for the meeting to start.

I can confirm that the 0936 bus from Monk Coniston ran right time- I was watching it on two devices- both on the Stagecoach tracker and on another website where I can actually watch the bus moving, as you can a plane on flight tracker. I even saw it move empty from Kendal Bus Station to Kendal Depot and will later see it move empty on a positioning journey from Kendal Depot to Windermere, then it's afternoon passenger journeys.

EDIT- I have the GPS download now- The 0936 started from Coniston 2 minutes, 5 seconds late, called at Monk Coniston 2 minutes 27 seconds late, and arrived at Ambleside on time. The connecting 555 to Keswick was 25 minutes late, having encountered tailbacks due to a serious RTA at Sizergh, south of Kendal. The next two northbound 555's were also delayed due to the RTA.

Unfortunately, as all week, the GPS tracker is not working on the vehicle for the 1059 from Monk Coniston, so I can't track it.

All I can really say is that the app and web based bus tracker will work here in the UK- they are clearly not designed to work in a different time zone. This happens across Europe- where apps and websites are being used outside their designed scope overseas.

Trust the printed schedules. Old School is sometimes best.

Ann,

The GPS was working on both buses today. The 1059 from Monk Coniston had earlier been delayed in peak hour traffic while on a school run in Kendal, so ended up being 12 minutes late into Ambleside from Coniston. If you weren't tracking on the website or app you would assume you had long since missed the 1129 555 to Keswick and gone wandering around in Ambleside. In fact that had been delayed by earlier congestion at Lancaster, so was 21 late at Ambleside- thus it was an easy connection at Ambleside, reaching Keswick 19 late at 1233.
The 1229 to Keswick ran right time.
I don't know what's been happening at Lancaster but there has been heavy congestion in the area off and on all day looking at a stack of GPS data, still ongoing at 10.30pm.

This is an unusual amount of problems for the time of year.

Hi isn31c,

I just arrived in the UK and can see the same bus schedules as you now. I also figured out the problem. I was in Germany when I was checking the schedules, and the times were automatically adjusting one hour ahead to Central European time. 09:36 GMT = 10:36 CET. I suspected this was the problem, and now I confirmed it. Thankfully the taxi company is flexible and can adjust my booking.

Ann

Ann,

Good. You should have no difficulty getting a real printed timetable book, either at Windermere station or at Booths supermarket (just inside the front door) which is next to the station- in the footprint of the original station. Booths cafe is also where there are good toilets at Windermere. Everyone uses them. In fact I've just realised that means welcome to the Lake District and what is forecast to be quite a wet weekend at Coniston.