Thanks to everyone who completed St Bees Parish Council’s recent bus survey. This was developed after their environmental project questionnaire showed significant interest in a bus route through the parish so that they could understand more about why residents want to travel by bus and about these possible journeys. 101 surveys were completed. The results were as follows:

“The two most common reasons given for wanting to travel by bus were to travel to destinations not served by the train and the unreliability of the trains. Other popular responses for wanting the option of bus travel were to avoid driving, convenience, being a non-driver and to save money.

Just under a quarter of respondents had used the most recent bus service through St Bees that was run by Hobans between November 2021 and March 2023. The most common reasons given for not using this bus were unsuitable timetable/timings, they didn’t live in St Bees then, they didn’t know about the bus service, the destination was unsuitable, the pick-up location was unsuitable or they didn’t have information about bus timings and stops.

When asked where they would like to travel to by bus, over 60% of respondents mentioned Whitehaven and over 40% of respondents mentioned Egremont. 29 further destinations in Cumbria were mentioned, including Workington, Cockermouth, Keswick, Cleator Moor, Gosforth, the hospital and Seascale.

Respondents undertake most journeys by car or train to the preferred destinations they gave for bus travel, but using a taxi or car share was also commonly mentioned, with some of these journeys also taken by bike or on foot.

Although over half of respondents had access to a car the whole time, around a fifth had access to a car only some of the time and a further fifth didn’t have access to a car at all.

The train station, St Bees Seafront and Main Street were the most popular choices for where respondents would like to get on and off a bus, though Fairladies junction, Abbey Vale and Rottington were chosen by a smaller number of residents.

While the most popular times given for possible bus travel were 9-11am and 3-5pm on weekdays, the responses indicated a demand throughout the day and week for bus travel, not just on certain weekdays.

When asked how often they might use a bus through the parish, 2 or 3 times a week was the most popular choice and around three-quarters of respondents indicated they would use a bus at least once a week if it were available.

When asked for further comments these broadly either favoured the suggestion of a bus, reinforced previous reasons given for why a bus through the parish would be beneficial or highlighted that a bus would need to be frequent, reliable and stop multiple places in St Bees and beyond to be well-used. One response also suggested a service similar to the Muncaster Microbus.

Around one-third of respondents who completed the survey had a concessionary bus pass.”

The results of the Parish Council’s bus survey have been sent to Cumberland Council for consideration alongside their own bus consultation.