Transport in Preston

The M6 from J29 (A6 Preston South)

The Preston By-pass was the first part of the M6 Motorway, the longest motorway in the country. It was made a motorway in 1958, being the first motorway in the United Kingdom. It is now the stretch between Junction 29 (A6 and M65, Bamber Bridge) and Junction 1 of the M55 (A6 Preston North), with four intermediate junctions – J30, J31, J31A and J32. The other motorway within the city is the M55 (Preston - Blackpool), and it is also served by the M65 (Preston - East Lancashire) and M61 (Preston - Manchester), which connect to the M6 south of Preston.

Preston has many major A roads running through it. The longest one is the A6, which comes from Lancaster in the north, runs down the centre and goes south-east towards Chorley. The A6 connects Carlisle to Luton, being the second longest road in Britain. Another A road that runs through Preston is the A59, which comes from the south-west from Liverpool towards Clitheroe in the north-east. Other A roads converging in Preston or its outskirts include the A49, A582, A583, A584, A675, A677, A5072 and A5085.

The B6241 is a circular route around the north of the city via Ashton-on-Ribble, Cottam, Fulwood and Brookfield. Other main roads include the B6243 connecting Preston to Longridge, the B6242 Watling Street Road and B5411 Tag Lane.[1]

A Stagecoach in Preston Service on Watling Street Rd, Fulwood

Stagecoach offered lower fares on busier routes, but unlike Preston Bus gave change. Preston Bus however had a 'Fast Fare' system where there were set fares, and no change was given, therefore making sure that all buses arrived on time, as often before the Bus Drivers had problems with issuing change, and that delayed buses. But Stagecoach Preston Citi's strongest service was the Citi 3 to Penwortham. So Preston Bus offered change on this service only.[3]

In June 2008, both companies were agreed to a code of Practice by the Traffic Commissioner. However, competition continued. [4]

In December 2008, it had been announced that Stagecoach had approached Preston Bus with a possible sale. The sale was signed on 23 January 2009, for a sale of £10.4 million but the only change was that tickets were accepted on both buses. [5]

In March, they merged to form Stagecoach in Preston, with an extensive network of services in the Preston sub-area. Since then, there have been more additions to the fleet, and some of the smaller and older buses have been sold.

In May 2009, The Office of Fair Trading announced that it was referring the merger to the Competition Commission.[6]

In September 2009, the Competition Commission announced that a good way to keep competition in Preston for the interest of Passengers was to give a grant to another operator (e.g. First, Arriva, Transdev), to start operations in Preston.

On 11 November 2009, the Competition Commission announced that they would be requesting Stagecoach in Preston to sell some of its routes, a minimal amount of its fleet and one of its two depots. There have been complaints about this.[7]

Stagecoach in Lancashire operate some services from Chorley & Bolton and used to operate 'The Fylde Villager', services from Fleetwood to Preston Bus Station and Kirkham.[8] But these were passed to Cumfybus and Coastal Coaches, who now operate these services subsidised by Lancashire County Council with Optare Solos.

Stagecoach in Lancaster operates the 40/41 service from Morecambe to Preston via Lancaster & Garstang.

Preston Bus is a major operator of bus routes in the city. Established in 1904, it was subsequently run by the local council until a buyout in 1993. It was part of Stagecoach from 2009 until 2011, when it was sold to Rotala.

Blackburn Bus Company operates services to Preston from Skipton, Clitheroe and Blackburn.

Preston Bus Station is a stop for longer distance services operated by National Express, Megabus, Eurolines and Stagecoach Express.

A Preston Park & Ride bus

Preston has its own Park & Ride, operated by Preston Bus. There are two sites, Portway, in the Docklands area west of the city centre; and Walton-le-Dale off the A6 south-east of the city; both are served by route 1 via the city centre.

Preston bus station

Preston bus Station claims to be one of the biggest in Europe - with 80 stands. In recent years it has been threatened with demolition due to the cost of maintenance.

Preston was one of the first cities to be fitted with Realtime, a satellite based technology where instead of just having the bus timetable at the bus stop, it provides an accurate time of when the bus will arrive, even when the bus is late, using GPS tracking. Originally the only operator that could use this was Preston Bus, but now it is used by Stagecoach in Preston, Stagecoach in Lancashire, Cumfybus, Coastal Coaches and John Fishwick & Son's service 111. In January 2009, Stagecoach in Lancaster put the GPS for real-time on some of their buses (mainly Tridents). If however one of the buses without the GPS is needed for use then they keep some at Lancaster Bus Station for the Bus Station Inspector to attach before the passengers get on the bus. They also keep some at the Catterall depot.

It is not yet used by other Fishwick services, Blue Bus of Penwortham and Holmeswood Coaches.

Realtime has been fitted on many bus stops, most of the busy ones, and is continuing to be fitted.

As a result of funding cutbacks, commencing in 2011 Lancashire County Council began switching off Realtime displays at bus stops leaving passengers to track times via the internet only. But even this functionality was ultimately disabled leaving Preston with no Realtime functionality at all