Boxing Day vs New Years Day bus service levels.

[stadler]

In the South East (Sussex and Surrey) it has always been the norm on most bus companies (at least in the past couple decades) that Boxing Day receives no bus service at all (or an extremely limited special timetable) but New Years Day receives a normal Sunday timetable and is just treated as any other Bank Holiday is.

Dozens of current and former bus companies in the area have always operated like this. Arriva Surrey, Big Lemon, Coastal Coaches, Compass Bus, Countryliner, Diamond Bus South East, Go Ahead Brighton & Hove, Go Ahead Metrobus, Falcon Buses, Nu Venture, Renown, Southdown PSV, White Bus Services, have always run nothing at all (or an extremely limited special timetable) on Boxing Day but a full Sunday timetable on New Years Day like any other bank holiday.

However one of the odd exceptions in the area is Stagecoach South which always do the complete opposite. They run a full Sunday timetable on Boxing Day but nothing at all on New Years Day which is the complete opposite to most others to most others in the same area.

However i just decided to look at more bus operators all throughout the UK and it gets even more random.

So we have some:

• Some operators running a full Sunday timetable on both Boxing Day and New Years Day.

• Some operators running nothing at all (or an extremely limited special timetable) on both Boxing Day and New Years Day.

• Some operators running a full Sunday timetable on New Years Day but nothing at all (or an extremely limited special timetable) on Boxing Day.

• Some operators running a full Sunday timetable on Boxing Day but nothing at all (or an extremely limited special timetable) on New Years Day.

• Some operators running a special extremely limited timetable on both Boxing Day and New Years Day but on Boxing Day they get more buses.

• Some operators running a special extremely limited timetable on both Boxing Day and New Years Day but on New Years Day they get more buses.

So it actually varies massively across the country amongst different bus operators.

What is the logic behind all of this? Why does every operator do it differently?

I would think the common sense thing would be no service (or an extremely limited special timetable) on Boxing Day but a full Sunday timetable (just like any bank holiday) on New Years Day like what the majority of Surrey and Sussex operators do. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas Day and seems a lot quieter as most people just want to rest and relax. New Years Day really just feels like any Bank Holiday and always seems busier and less of a special day.

On the trains it is always treated like this. Boxing Day always has no train service (or an extremely limited special timetable on a couple of routes in a few small areas of the country) but New Years Day gets a normal full (normally a Sunday timetable i think) train service. So it makes me wonder why so many bus companies treat it differently.

I would be interested to hear others views on this? Why does it vary so much on different bus operators throughout the country?

 

[jamesst]

It's probably treated differently for the reason you touch upon. Boxing day sees next to no trains so there's work to pick up there for the buses. However New Years Day sees a pretty normal service train wise hence limited buses.
That's traditionally always been the way up here in Merseyside. However with Merseyrail now running on Boxing Day that may soon change.

 

[greenline712]

From another thread (about possible journeys on Xmas Day), posted by myself:

"When I was planning / scheduling bus routes (outside London) I used to assume that Xmas Day was no service; Boxing Day was a special service (basically 0830-1830 for shops/sales); the intervening days were a Saturday service; New Years Day was a normal Sunday service, although starting about 0900 and finishing at normal times.

"However, in about 2018, I was asked to closely examine loadings on Boxing Day and New Years Day, to see what service might be appropriate. I was slightly surprised to see that Boxing Day with a special service (but cut back to around 0930-1730) was about right; but that New Years Day was a complete waste of time . . . loadings were half of Boxing Day, with next to nothing before 1100 and after 1700. We decided to go with the flow; run Boxing Day 0930-1730 and nothing on New Years Day at all.
We received one complaint !!

"Just to illustrate this . . . in about 1981 I was on an early duty at Reigate Garage (LCBS). My duty was a rounder on Route 430, followed by a run to Horsham and back and then a Croydon and back (Route 414). I started at 0715, and my first passenger was on the way back to Reigate from Horsham . . . about 1145 !!
Almost no passengers, very little car traffic . . . of course, no pubs until noon, and no shops open. My takings didn't even pay for the diesel, let alone my (double time) wages !!"

I guess it's all down to local circumstances . . . are shops open, for example? Probably on BoxDay, probably not on NYDay. NYEve seems to be for partying and late to bed, so everyone's asleep until noon !! That includes the drivers . . . Stagecoach being a Scottish company (in the beginning) . . . in Scotland both January 1 and 2 are BHs; Boxing Day is not a BH.

 

[JKP]

I suggest that it also depends on regional cultural differences i.e in Scotland and North East England, New Years Day has always been seen as more of a holiday. Here in the Scottish Borders, we have no buses on December 25/26 or January 1/2, a situation which extends across onto some Northumberland routes as Borders Buses do not operate on these dates. Scottish Borders Council pulled funding to run a limited service on December 26 and January 1 together with a Sunday service on January 2 in 2020.

I understand that there are other areas in Scotland where there are no buses over the four Bank Holidays.

 

[Strathtay 260]

Most areas of Stagecoach East Scotland are running a special timetable today, however my local depot is running a Sunday service. There are never any services on New Years Day. Another local operator of mine, Moffat & Williamson are just operating two services today, and none on New Years Day. Additionally, Stagecoach East Scotland are running the same special timetable/Sunday service on the 2nd. Moffat & Williamson are also running the Boxing Day timetable, operating only two services.

 

[Andyh82]

In West Yorkshire there is a special service on Boxing Day, approx every 30 minutes on major routes during the daytime - First, Arriva & Transdev are all involved. This has been the case for about 15 years now

However on New Year’s Day First are running a very limited service this year, the first time West Yorkshire has seen mainstream buses on NYD for over 30 years. Mostly Leeds only with a bit of Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax. Due to the fact Metro and the WY Mayor haven’t made much mention of this new development, it is assumed this is being done by First on a commercial basis.

 

[Man of Kent]

There are almost no buses running in Kent today - just Canterbury Park & Ride, Arriva 6X (Maidstone Hospital to Tunbridge Wells Hospital), Kent Thameside Fastrack, Ensign X80 and TfL routes. All of those are contracted except for the Ensign service (which runs to Bluewater). Stagecoach have previously experimented with a handful of special routes, but I think these last ran in 2019 i.e. pre-pandemic. They were tied very much to where substantial retail was open.

New Year's Day loadings were very much as described by @greenline712. Stagecoach stopped running all bar contracted services some years ago; Arriva has now followed suit, presumably because Kent County Council no longer requires them to be run.

These things appear to reflect local custom and practice, perhaps only periodically being questioned by new managers. There is similar variation on service levels on Good Friday, which again seems to reflect whether retail is open or not. For many years the Medway Towns had a higher level of service than elsewhere on this day, but I can't remember when this arrangement last applied.

 

[Lewisham2221]

No buses at all in North Staffs on Boxing Day or New Year's Day - unless Stoke City have a home fixture, in which case shuttle buses run to and from the ground, with drivers volunteering for such duties and being paid handsomely. Interestingly, the company put out feelers for interest in staff providing (some) scheduled services on Boxing Day/New Years Day, for similar pay and received precisely zero interest - so such ideas were quickly forgotten about.

 

[erskinebus]

Public transport is almost non-existent in Scotland on 25th and 1st, generally with a Sunday service on 26th and 2nd in the cities, and no service in rural areas. The one outlier with this though is Stagecoach Highland, which is running a normal Saturday service on those days on just one route, the 276 to the (former) Dounreay Nuclear Plant.

 

[rg177]

In Tyne & Wear there's a fair-sized network of buses running on Boxing Day, albeit fairly Newcastle-centric. With there being a football match on as well, I have already witnessed a couple running with 'Bus Full' on the display. We also have a fair few of the key Great North Road express services running up to Cramlington, Blyth and Morpeth, which are being operated by Go North East and Northstar.

For enthusiasts, its usually one of the highlights of the year as normal allocations go out of the window for the most part, particularly on Go North East. My local route is being operated out of Gateshead Riverside rather than Percy Main.

Metro is running a Sunday service 8am-8pm with a couple of football extras on the North side of the river and half hourly with extra replacement buses (every five mins) for the match times on the south side.

However, similar to in Scotland, there's absolutely nothing on New Year's Day.

 

[Strathtay 260]

Public transport is almost non-existent in Scotland

Except for Lothian buses and the coach operators: Ember, FlixBus, Scottish Citylink and National Express(?) running special timhebales. however I'm pretty sure Citylink only ran the 900 yesterday.

 

[43055]

From another thread (about possible journeys on Xmas Day), posted by myself:

"When I was planning / scheduling bus routes (outside London) I used to assume that Xmas Day was no service; Boxing Day was a special service (basically 0830-1830 for shops/sales); the intervening days were a Saturday service; New Years Day was a normal Sunday service, although starting about 0900 and finishing at normal times.

"However, in about 2018, I was asked to closely examine loadings on Boxing Day and New Years Day, to see what service might be appropriate. I was slightly surprised to see that Boxing Day with a special service (but cut back to around 0930-1730) was about right; but that New Years Day was a complete waste of time . . . loadings were half of Boxing Day, with next to nothing before 1100 and after 1700. We decided to go with the flow; run Boxing Day 0930-1730 and nothing on New Years Day at all.
We received one complaint !!

"Just to illustrate this . . . in about 1981 I was on an early duty at Reigate Garage (LCBS). My duty was a rounder on Route 430, followed by a run to Horsham and back and then a Croydon and back (Route 414). I started at 0715, and my first passenger was on the way back to Reigate from Horsham . . . about 1145 !!
Almost no passengers, very little car traffic . . . of course, no pubs until noon, and no shops open. My takings didn't even pay for the diesel, let alone my (double time) wages !!"

I guess it's all down to local circumstances . . . are shops open, for example? Probably on BoxDay, probably not on NYDay. NYEve seems to be for partying and late to bed, so everyone's asleep until noon !! That includes the drivers . . . Stagecoach being a Scottish company (in the beginning) . . . in Scotland both January 1 and 2 are BHs; Boxing Day is not a BH.

Sounds similar to what trentbarton/Kinchbus has done over the last 15 years. Ran special timetables on the main routes on Boxing Day and New Years Day but then moved to a almost full Sunday service on Boxing Day only. About 5 years ago this then changed again so only the two skylink routes are the only ones which run. Possibly in line with more shops deciding to stay shut on Boxing day.

 

[WM Bus]

National Express running a similar Sunday service on Boxing Day and New Years Day with some slight diffrences. Shut down slightly earlier than normal on some WM routes as well e.g the 14 last trip leaves Birmingham at 22:47 instead of 00:07 on the 26th and 1st.
We had an early shut down on West Midlands Routes after 10pm on Christmas Eve. Notably Coventry Garage ran later into the evening with last departures just before midnight.
- National Express Coventry 20 extends to Nuneaton on Boxing Day which does not normally have a Sunday service. Probably due to Stagecoach and Rail Services not running that day.
- The early hours services will be running on New Years Day on the 63 from 1AM. 97A will run on New Years Day from 01:30.

 

[sk688]

Carousel were running on the 724 yesterday , but now it's back to Arriva for a limited service, which I believe is their only Herts service running today ?

Would be interested to see what Carousel used on the 724 yesterday

 

[Vexed]

Carousel were running on the 724 yesterday , but now it's back to Arriva for a limited service, which I believe is their only Herts service running today ?

Would be interested to see what Carousel used on the 724 yesterday

I remember Carousel running the 724 on Christmas Day last year but I think this year they're running Watford - Heathrow on Boxing Day and New Year's Day only.

Flightline 724 (Boxing Day and New Year's Day) - Watford Junction to Heathrow Airport

Timetable for Flightline 724 (Boxing Day and New Year's Day) - Watford Junction to Heathrow Airport

www.carouselbuses.co.uk

No idea what's running it though!

 

[Statto]

Where i live Merseyside, is one of those weird areas were we have a bus service but between 9am to 7pm on Boxing Day, New Years Day bit more limited with last buses 5pm to 6pm. Last year was an outlier, hardly any services ran on both Boxing Day & New Years Day compared with other years & this year

 

[WibbleWobble]

Three things to consider between the two days:

• Post-Christmas sales mean there are more people out and about, even if some stores are closed today.
• Football fixtures - Boxing Day is a big fixture day across the leagues, not so much on New Year's Day.
• Fewer people out on New Year's Day as hangovers are nursed, lie-ins are had and many shops close once again for the day. There's just significantly fewer people out and about.

 

[MedwayValiant]

There are almost no buses running in Kent today - just Canterbury Park & Ride, Arriva 6X (Maidstone Hospital to Tunbridge Wells Hospital), Kent Thameside Fastrack, Ensign X80 and TfL routes. All of those are contracted except for the Ensign service (which runs to Bluewater). Stagecoach have previously experimented with a handful of special routes, but I think these last ran in 2019 i.e. pre-pandemic. They were tied very much to where substantial retail was open.

New Year's Day loadings were very much as described by @greenline712. Stagecoach stopped running all bar contracted services some years ago; Arriva has now followed suit, presumably because Kent County Council no longer requires them to be run.

These things appear to reflect local custom and practice, perhaps only periodically being questioned by new managers. There is similar variation on service levels on Good Friday, which again seems to reflect whether retail is open or not. For many years the Medway Towns had a higher level of service than elsewhere on this day, but I can't remember when this arrangement last applied.

Arriva 700 (Chatham - Rochester - Strood - Bluewater) probably "ought" to run on Boxing Day, partly for people determined to go shopping but also partly as a major urban area's link to the rest of the world on that day. (I was not the only person who used it to go and watch football !)

It did run for a few years, although not within the last decade. In those days the 700 was interworked with the 166 (Chatham - Lordswood), which meant that one of the residential areas in Chatham got a seemingly random Boxing Day service.

The Medway Towns have "always" had Sunday services on 1 January, but they will not run on the coming 1 January. There has been no chuntering about this on social media - and believe me, there is usually plenty of chuntering about Arriva in Medway - so I have to agree with others that it's just not a day when people want to travel.

I remember the Medway Good Friday services. I do not swear to this, but I was once told that they existed because Good Friday used to be a working day at the Dockyard. It took Arriva a year or thirty to notice that the Dockyard had closed - but by then, the normal Sunday service which you'd expect on Good Friday was as frequent as the special Good Friday service anyway, so no one really noticed the switch to a normal Sunday service.

 

[overthewater]

Most areas of Stagecoach East Scotland are running a special timetable today, however my local depot is running a Sunday service. There are never any services on New Years Day. Another local operator of mine, Moffat & Williamson are just operating two services today, and none on New Years Day. Additionally, Stagecoach East Scotland are running the same special timetable/Sunday service on the 2nd. Moffat & Williamson are also running the Boxing Day timetable, operating only two services.

In Angus the council pays for it, Perth and Kinross has cut back its funding but still provides funding. Fife council I'm sure no longer funds any services, but a wee bit before covid Stagecoach started to operate the Express network commercial on Boxing day and 2nd. A times they made a packet.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I think the Sunday trading laws had a pronounced impact on all aspects of retailing and on bus services. Boxing Day in North Eastern England was still largely sacrosanct, and it still is outside of Newcastle. Few bus services operated there, and in areas like Teesside, I can't recall many if ever. It always felt that it was more accepted in having Boxing Day services in southern England.

Another change though is that it seems that some places did have a semblance of a Boxing Day service but post Covid, that's gone as demand has decreased and there's pressure enough on resourcing anyway. Certainly, that's the experience in Bristol where there were Boxing Day (and NYD) services in the past but not since 2019.

 

[Porty]

Public transport is almost non-existent in Scotland on 25th and 1st, generally with a Sunday service on 26th and 2nd in the cities, and no service in rural areas. The one outlier with this though is Stagecoach Highland, which is running a normal Saturday service on those days on just one route, the 276 to the (former) Dounreay Nuclear Plant.

.... except Lothian/East Coast with a decent service on 25th and 1st. For example an hourly service Edinburgh to North Berwick and Dunbar on Christmas Day as well as a number of radial routes in the urban area of Edinburgh.

 

[overthewater]

.... except Lothian/East Coast with a decent service on 25th and 1st. For example an hourly service Edinburgh to North Berwick and Dunbar on Christmas Day as well as a number of radial routes in the urban area of Edinburgh.

That because the council pays for it. There is no Lothian service to Mid-Lothian on these days are the council no longer pays for it.

 

[JD2168]

In South Yorkshire apart from Stagecoach running contracted GXO Logistics services the only area that sees buses on Christmas & New Year’s Day is Sheffield. Run by First & Stagecoach from Ecclesfield depot only giving the rare sighting of Scania E400’s on 120 & TM Travel on 30 only.

The only routes that run on Boxing Day are:
First:
20a, 24, 25, 46, 47, 51, 52a, 57, 76, 76a, 95, 97
Stagecoach:
1, 2a, 7, 50, 57, 86, 88, 120
TM Travel:
30
Some of these are part route & apart from 52a & 120 are each hourly or every 90 minutes (57) or specified times (2a)

On New Year’s Day only First run journeys on the following routes:
1, 20a, 24, 46, 47, 52a, 56, 57, 75, 76, 81, 86, 97, 120

Again some of these are part route & each are hourly or every 90 minutes (57)

 

[Metal Mickey]

That because the council pays for it. There is no Lothian service to Mid-Lothian on these days are the council no longer pays for it.

Edinburgh is possibly one of the few areas which merits a fairly substantial New Year’s Day service with the Hogmanay celebrations from the night before and the Loony Dook event at the Forth in South Queensferry. Sometimes there’s the Hearts v Hibs derby game on NY day but not this year.

For the first time since pre-Covid, First Glasgow are running a special timetable on the Airport 500.

 

[overthewater]

Edinburgh is possibly one of the few areas which merits a fairly substantial New Year’s Day service with the Hogmanay celebrations from the night before and the Loony Dook event at the Forth in South Queensferry. Sometimes there’s the Hearts v Hibs derby game on NY day but not this year.

For the first time since pre-Covid, First Glasgow are running a special timetable on the Airport 500.

Just a shame Lothian management Forgot how important and busy the Looney dock was the first year they operate the No43, they stuck one bus per hour and left 100- 150 people behide.

 

[Whisky Papa]

In West Yorkshire there is a special service on Boxing Day, approx every 30 minutes on major routes during the daytime - First, Arriva & Transdev are all involved. This has been the case for about 15 years now

However on New Year’s Day First are running a very limited service this year, the first time West Yorkshire has seen mainstream buses on NYD for over 30 years. Mostly Leeds only with a bit of Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax. Due to the fact Metro and the WY Mayor haven’t made much mention of this new development, it is assumed this is being done by First on a commercial basis.

Gosh, is it really so long since First ran on New Year's Day in West Yorkshire? I recall Boxing Day and NYD having an identical level of service here in Todmorden, ie Sunday service level from about 0900 to 1800 for the first few years I was driving here (starting in Dec 1988), then it was reduced to half that level. This meant buses only hourly to Halifax and two-hourly to Rochdale and Burnley, the latter just fitting around a 3pm kick-off at Turf Moor on Boxing Day. I can't remember how many years this arrangement lasted, but yes, iI guess it must have fizzled out by the mid 1990s. Apart from football, my recollection was that NYD had been the busier of the two days - the 'January sales' had only just begun to creep into December back then and little was open on Boxing Day.

Fast forward a few years to UK North, and I took the most money I've ever taken batting a DAF single-decker up and down Wilmslow Road on the 42 on Boxing Day of 2004. I think Stagecoach were running an hourly 43 to Manchester Airport but otherwise UK North were the only buses on the road, and proved very popular with the local Chinese community that day. I could have taken even more if I'd been allocated a decker, but they held them back for football specials from Old Trafford into Manchester, which actually carried very few as there was virtually no onward transport available.

 

[Statto]

Edinburgh is possibly one of the few areas which merits a fairly substantial New Year’s Day service with the Hogmanay celebrations from the night before and the Loony Dook event at the Forth in South Queensferry. Sometimes there’s the Hearts v Hibs derby game on NY day but not this year.

For the first time since pre-Covid, First Glasgow are running a special timetable on the Airport 500.

It helps that in Edinburgh the operator is a municipal, so they put more of a comprehensive timetable out on Boxing Day, New Years Day that other operators do.

 

[Porty]

It helps that in Edinburgh the operator is a municipal, so they put more of a comprehensive timetable out on Boxing Day, New Years Day that other operators do.

...with some direct support from local authorities in addition.

 

[Metal Mickey]

It helps that in Edinburgh the operator is a municipal, so they put more of a comprehensive timetable out on Boxing Day, New Years Day that other operators do.

There are some operators providing a better a service than Lothian on Boxing Day, mainly First Glasgow, First Aberdeen and possibly Xplore Dundee operating Sunday timetables on a commercial basis.

First Glasgow previously operated around 20 routes on an hourly frequency from 1000-2000 on Christmas Day and NY Day with no support from SPT, but this was withdrawn after 2011/12.

 

[Stan Drews]

There are some operators providing a better a service than Lothian on Boxing Day, mainly First Glasgow, First Aberdeen and possibly Xplore Dundee operating Sunday timetables on a commercial basis.

McGill’s Buses operated their normal Sunday timetables commercially across their Renfrewshire and Inverclyde networks on Boxing Day too.