New Liskeard Bus Station

 I have continued to struggle in the heat so evening computer time has been rather limited for a while now. But thanks to Peter Murgahan I am able to bring you an update on Liskeard Bus Station:

Liskeard's new bus station, in the former Cattle Market, is built and ready to start serving buses at the end of July.  Buses will circle around the cafe in the low grey building and stop in the saw tooth bays.  It's good to see the signage and a route map already in place, in advance of its opening.  

This new facility should take some of the pressure off the busy roadside stops at Liskeard's post office, when more than one bus needing to stop can cause delays to traffic.

Liskeard has never had a dedicated bus station before, although there was a plan in the 1940s by Western National for a small bus station behind the old Barclays Bank building, but it was never built.

Its always good to see such investment in public transport infrastructure!

Chi Lyskerrys

I can now start catching up with some of the news from the last couple of weeks so expect to see a few more posts here this week, starting with…

Liskeard Bus Station Project

Work on the long-awaited Liskeard Bus Station project is set to begin on Monday, September 15 (Picture: Cornish Times)

CORNWALL Council has announced that work on the long-awaited Liskeard Bus Station project is set to begin on Monday, September 15.

The first phase will take place within the Liskeard Cattle Market car park, marking the start of the development, which is aimed at modernising public transport facilities for the town.

The initial works will be followed by the demolition of the former ATS building, which is scheduled to commence on September 22.

Road improvements along Fairpark Road are also due to begin in January 2026, with traffic management measures in place to keep Dean Street and Fairpark Road open while ensuring the safety of both motorists and pedestrians.

In addition to the demolitions and the new bus interchange itself, the project also incorporates a significant package of highway improvements. These include the upgrading of the Dean Street/Fairpark Road junction and other works along Fairpark Road to help traffic flow more efficiently.

The completed scheme will provide a single, coherent and integrated travel interchange for Liskeard, giving passengers access to all bus services from one clearly defined hub.

How the new Services Hub has been created to provide a welcoming environment for the Liskeard community (Cornwall Council)

Cornwall Council has stated that the project is designed not only to increase connectivity for bus users, but also to improve the image and visibility of public transport for both current and future passengers.

The new interchange will, once completed, enhance travel opportunities to key local destinations, including the Workshed, the Integrated Services Hub, as well as the future onsite GP Surgery.

The new Services Hub has been created to provide a welcoming environment for the community, offering easy access to essential services such as the Family Hub, Registrars, Adult Education, Safe and Well and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

It will be located on the north-west portion of the former Cattle Market site in the town centre and will replace some existing Cornwall Council owned buildings in Liskeard including Luxstowe House, Graylands, Laity House and Westbourne House.

Work on the Hub commenced in July 2024 and construction is currently expected to completed next year. It will be named Chi Lyskerrys and is derived from the Cornish language, where “Chi” means “house” – while “Lyskerrys” is the Cornish name for Liskeard.

By centralising services, the project aims to make public transport a more convenient and attractive choice, encouraging greater use across the community.

The project has been been previously welcomed by town councillor, Nick Craker, who told the Cornish Times: “The bus companies have said for a number of years that they really struggle with the limited space on The Parade to stop and to rest. Quite often you have several buses coming in at the same time.

“The Active Travel project was a big public survey and was talking to people about how they come into and move around Liskeard, whether by car, public transport, cycle or on foot. People were asked if in principle they supported having buses at the Cattle Market and about 60 to 70 per cent were in support.”

https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/work-set-to-start-on-new-liskeard-bus-station-project-831391

Looe and Liskeard

Thanks to Peter Murnaghan for the latest update from Looe:

Looe Road Closure

Transport for Cornwall have now published the arrangements for buses that would normally connect Looe with Polperro, but will be blocked by the road closure starting on Monday, 4th November and lasting until late December.  I understand that a measurement was undertaken to see if buses could operate between Millpool car park in Looe and Polperro, but the road geometry could not accommodate buses making the turn.

So the following notice has been published, which cuts all buses between the towns, with the exception of minibus operated Route 481, which will, presumably, operate via the historic West Looe Hill.

https://www.gocornwallbus.co.uk/polperro-road-closure-4thnovember

Other news from South East Cornwall.

The planned Transport Hub in the former Cattle Market, Dean Street, Liskeard now appears on Cornwall Council's planning application page.  This has come about, as a result of the Town Council developing an Active Travel policy, to promote realistic alternatives to the private car, involving cycling measures, improved walking routes and better bus infrastructure to reduce the congestion that often occurs at the current stops at Liskeard Parade.  The small bus station will involve the demolition of a number of unused buildings and provide 5 stops alongside the existing Market Cafe.

The plans can be seen at http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-applications/online-planning-register/ and entering the application number PA24/07022.

It is not known when this new Transport Hub will be built, as it is subject to planning approval and funds being made available.

Current Planned Route Changes

As mentioned yesterday I have made a change in how I publish details of route changes as the government download is running so far behind these days. If you go the the top of this page you will see a new Planned Service Changes menu

or follow this link

http://www.plymothiantransit.com/p/planned-service-changes.html

This new page will have all the current service changes I am aware of for each month (from October). Each month is in route number order to make it easier to find things. As usual you can click through to the route pages for more details and timetables / maps etc as they get updated. I update this page whenever I have any updates worth adding.  Anything of interest will also be noted within the main blog pages but this is the new one stop page for the latest information! 

As always I welcome any comments / corrections / suggestions 

All change at Liskeard

Sorry for the lack of posts at the moment – its all been a bit busy and time has been limited.

But to keep us going we have another set of photos from Peter Murnaghan illustrating the changing scene at Liskeard.

March 2015 Red and Green Solos 221 and 223

May 2020 Red & Green Enviros 158 and 149

Hopefully I should get some posts in this coming week…

Gone Cornwall

Yesterday I decided to take advantage of a day off and finally get round to trying out the South West Cornwall network. It would have been great to be able to buy the Cornwall £10 bus and train ticket which would have given me much more flexibility but sadly Citybus dont sell these on the bus. I didn't have the time to try elsewhere - is there anywhere you can buy this in Plymouth? Has anyone actually used this ticket on a Citybus? Anyway
I duly boarded a fine Enviro 400 of Plymouth Citybus (531) with a nice front seat view

Old photo but the same bus

having paid my £8 which is still pretty good value
and off we went, nice and on time with just a few passengers off Royal Parade.
Now the plan was to get the 71, a route I have been meaning to try for ages and then connect up with the 11A at Liskeard - a ten minute window was cutting it a bit fine, especially when we had to wait 15 minutes for a ferry across the Tamar!
We picked up quite a few passengers at Torpoint including a young family - an American Mum with two young children who sat on the front seats opposite me. To say they enjoyed the journey was an understatement comparing it to a fairground roller coaster as we went up and down narrow lanes with stunning sea views. The joy on meeting oncoming traffic just added to their fun. Luckily for me there was not too many holdups and we were catching up time. When they departed off the bus at Seaton, they thanked the driver for a great ride! I was enjoying it too.
However on the short run up to Liskeard on much better and wider roads than we had been using, there was an almighty bang and then a showering of glass as the right hand (offside) front side window smashed having been hit by a low hanging branch. We had plenty of these on the whole run mostly on the nearside, but this was from the other side. I am so glad that this didn't happen when the young family was sat there as they would have been covered in glass and quite possibly hurt, at the very least badly frightened. It wasn't the drivers fault, he was brilliant - I didn't even see the branch which we hit.
The driver duly stopped to survey the damage and I had to sit downstairs and we then continued to Liskeard where we stopped at Morrisons so the driver could phone in. One passenger was hoping to pop in, do his shopping and then catch the same bus back to Seaton - he wanted to know if the bus would be coming back! I did see it continue down to Liskeard Station shortly afterwards so maybe he was able to continue as long as no one sat upstairs?
While the driver made his call I noticed the 11A coming up behind and was just able to get out in time to flag him down. He ended up taking all the passengers from 531 into Liskeard. I then sat and enjoyed a spirited ride all the way into Padstow, a place I had never been to before, and probably never will go again. Over crowded, over priced and stinking of fish. Nothing more to say really.
First were doing a great job on a very busy Park & Ride service with Tridents every ten mins all of them packed with staff on hand marshalling the queues. The place is very popular, just dont ask me why!
Having tried in vane to get something to eat I purchased one over priced ice cream and finally found a Spar shop where I could at least get a dull cheese sandwich to keep me going. There were a few pasty shops each of which had long queues just to get and and see what they had on offer! Having managed a hole hour in Padstow I took the next 11A out back to Wadebridge, a much more civilised place.
At the small bus station I found this these two little buses

Then this rather scruffy Dart appeared on the 95.
Had I had the chance to get the £10 ticket I was hoping to travel up to Bude and then come back on a Citybus 12, but never mind…
I then had an hour to wander around Wadebridge and finally get a decent portion of chips and another ice cream before the long run home to Plymouth. I cant recall which Dart it was, but it was nice and fast and well up to the job. The seats being comfortable enough  for the long run to Plymouth. The heater was on which occasionally gave me a full blast of heat, but at least this time I could have the window open, unlike the run down where they were all shut by the mainly elderly passengers.
It was a good day and the drivers were all great, being friendly and helpful to all the passengers, quite a few being on first name terms with some of the regular passengers. At £8 for the ticket I cant complain about that either but it would be nice to have the full option of the day ticket for Cornwall. The extra £2 would give so many more travel options.
It does still seem odd seeing a Plymouth Citybus Dart this far down into Cornwall!

The Man Engine

Something a bit different today, (although there is a bus in the post!) this comes from Peter Murnaghan:

The world's biggest mechanical puppet is coming to Liskeard next Tuesday 26th July.  The Man Engine is on a journey from Tavistock, through the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Heritage Area to Geevor Mine, near St Just. 

Liskeard is proud to be the first town in Cornwall to host the Man Engine on his journey to west Cornwall. Liskeard's Fountain was presented to the town by Matthew Loam, in memory of his father, Michael Loam, who first introduced the man engine (a mechanical device to carry men up and down the shaft of a mine), into the UK in 1842. His machine avoided miners needing to make the long slow climbs by ladders before and after their days' work.

Tuesday's giant puppet will transform into a huge miner as part of the celebrations marking the 10^th anniversary of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape being added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, alongside Egypt's pyramids and the Great Wall of China. When crawling through Cornwall the awe-inspiring Miner will be the same height as a double decker bus. But, in response to singing from the throng of people in Liskeard town centre, he will increase to almost three times that height when stood up. The Man Engine will arrive in Liskeard town centre at midday and will rise to the height of almost three double deckers from 1400. The best place to view the Man Engine itself will be in The Parade, where the road will be closed to traffic from 11.00 until 16.00. 

It will be a day of music, songs and storytelling around the town.  The shops and cafes will be putting on a number of special attractions for the day. Special Cornish pasties, with unusual flavours, will be baked especially for the day; the famous Liskeard Bun will be on sale, as will the Proper Cakey Tea.

A trailblazer bus will accompany the Man Engine.

Peter Murnaghan, one of the organisers said “ We would encourage visitors to come to Liskeard by public transport to avoid any difficulty with parking. Up to 5,000 visitors are expected and Liskeard is well served by train and bus services from Plymouth, Looe and surrounding districts.”

Buses will be operating normally, but diverted around the town centre to avoid the road closure.  Temporary bus stops will be located nearby in West Street, in place of the main town centre bus stops at the Parade. 

Passengers who come by train will be guided from Liskeard station up into the town centre by musicians and locals in costume, to reach the celebratory activities.  These two processions will leave the station, meeting the arrival of trains from Looe and Plymouth, at around 11.00 and 12.15.

More information about Tuesday's event can be found at:
https://www.visitcornwall.com/whats-on/bodmin-moor-tamar-valley/liskeard/man-engine

Junction Jaunt

An invitation from Peter Murnaghan to anyone who is interested in a nice little jaunt on the 14th May:

The curious railway line from Liskeard Station to Looe via Coombe Junction is 115 years old this year. The link line that starts its journey facing north east at Liskeard to turn through 180 degrees to head south west to Coombe Junction, before continuing south to Looe was opened on 15th May 1901. To the design of talented local engineer, Joseph Thomas, this joined the Liskeard and Caradon railway (opened 1846), which continued down to Looe in 1860, with the Great Western main line, which had opened in 1859. Thus, for the first time in more that forty years, rail passengers were able to transfer at Liskeard between the main line and the branch to Looe.

In recent years, the small station at the bottom of the 2 mile incline, Coombe Junction Halt, has been served by just two trains a day, each way, and has frequently languished in the bottom 5 stations in the country, in terms of passenger numbers. Most recently, just 26 passengers used the station in the last year.
On Saturday 14th May, we plan to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the link line opening and, at the same time, offer the rare opportunity to catch a train from one of Britain's least used stations. We will meet at the Looe line platform at Liskeard station for the short (0.8 mile) amble down hill to Coombe Junction. There we will catch one of the few trains that call there, at 10.52, for the 2 mile ride back up the circuitous link line to our starting point.
The cost of the train journey will be be just £2.30 (or £1.50 if you are carrying a Railcard). You will have the rare opportunity to have a ticket from Coombe Junction (a collector's item!). And, if there are enough of us, we might be able to lift this little station out of its position at the bottom of the league table!

Saturday 14^th May 2016

Assemble at Liskeard Station (Looe platform) 10.00 for 10.15

Travellers from Plymouth and the east could, if they wished, return to Plymouth by the very scenic 71 bus along Whitsand Bay and the Torpoint Ferry, after a wait in Liskeard.

©Matt Buck (cc)

Busy Days…

Recovery Accident

A MAN has been injured after a bus fell on him while being repaired at the road side. The incident happened at around 10.40am in Fore Street, Callington. Police said the Citybus vehicle was on a jack and the man became trapped while carrying out a repair at a bus stop. A spokesman for Citybus said that the man involved worked for a breakdown recovery company.

The Herald

Lets hope that the injuries are not too severe and he makes a full recovery. It does highlight just how dangerous the job can be from time to time.

Bus and Car Accident

A CRASH between a bus and a car on Western Approach is blocking the road this morning. The smash happened shortly after 9am at the junction with Mayflower Street.

The Herald

Professional Job

Received a nice note from Peter Murnaghan who pointed out just how well organised the changeover from Western Greyhound to Plymouth Citybus was:

Plymouth Citybus appear to have been very professional in their takeover of the Western Greyhound vehicles and operations out of Liskeard. The acquired Solos that I saw yesterday and today had already been renumbered into the Citybus series. Curiously, although the new 208 had had its fleet names removed, its route branding for routes 524-526 remained above the windows yesterday. But, a good start, marred only by the RTA on the A38 this morning which was hitting reliability, but would have affected Western Greyhound just as badly.

208 still with route branding above the windows

220 shows off her new fleetnumber whilst loading for the 574 to Callington

204 in red also on on the 574

All photos above © Peter Murnaghan - with thanks.

---

In The News

• Focus Transport: First Bus wins wheelchair court judgement Bus companies are not required by law to force parents with buggies to make way for wheelchair users in designated bays on vehicles, senior judges ruled.
• Evening Standard: Jailed: Cyclist who pulled bus driver out of cab and assaulted him for beeping his horn. Lyon McClean, 26, became aggressive after the driver of a route 343 double-decker beeped his horn to get him to move out of the way

Reading List

• Public Transport Experience: A Protracted Perusal of the Potteries [5]
• Transport Illustrated: Oxford Bus Museum Rally
• Norfolk Scene: Fleet Update ~ GBRf

Liskeard by Citybus

Peter Murnaghan has been on the new 32A and send these pictures..

"Living in Liskeard, I had long yearned for an excuse to take a bus ride along Whitsand Bay, but the minibuses have never really appealed. But, now with Plymouth Citybus running the 32A from Plymouth, across the ferry and back to my home town, I decided it was worth forsaking the quick train ride this time for the scenic bus ride. I was surprised to see the route in the hands of Volvo B7's, rather than short single deckers. There were plenty of contacts with overhanging tree branches and encounters with other vehicles on the narrow Cornish lanes. But, as a scenic experience, this route rates among the best in this part of the world for the moment. And at nearly 2 hours in length, a quick train journey back provides a bit of respite from the excitement.

1. Bound for Liskeard above the sweep of Whitsand Bay

2. Another tight squeeze on the 32A

3. Rounding the hairpin bend above Downderry, with Looe and Looe Island in the distance

4. Dropping down the narrow hill into Seaton

5. Journey's end in Liskeard station yard.

Thanks to Peter for the photos. This is high on my list for the summer...

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Liskeard - Looe Valley Line

Walkers of all ages are invited to join a festive ramble and railway ride in the Looe Valley. The event on Wednesday, December 20, is one of a series of popular monthly walks organised by Caradon District Council. Ramblers are asked to meet at 9.30am at Liskeard railway station ready to board the 9.51am train for the scenic journey to Looe.Guides will then lead the group on a five-mile ramble through native oak woodland and plantation along the West Looe river valley.There will be a lunch break at the Plough Inn, Duloe, followed by a short walk to the station at Causeland for a train ride back to Liskeard, where the group will be greeted by mulled wine and carols.The Rail and River Ramble is free of charge, but places need to be booked in advance.Walkers will also need to bring or buy their own lunches.To find out more contact Pat Gormley on 01579 348749.
A great opportunity for a free ride on this very attractive line