Lancaster boasts a fairly modern bus station. It enjoys a city centre location and offers services to local, regional and national destinations.
Lancaster Bus Station is covered and has twenty stands. Facilities include a Stagecoach travel centre, toilets, and refreshment kiosk. Electronic information boards provide real-time arrival and departure times.
Local destinations served include Lancaster University, Morecambe, Heysham, and Carnforth.
The 555 Stagecoach service travels between Lancaster and Keswick. Stops on the way include Kendal, Staveley, Windermere, Bowness, Ambleside, and Grasmere.
The 571 National Express coach service from Whitehaven to London also stops at Lancaster Bus Station. Other destinations on the route include Workington, Keswick, Grasmere, Ambleside, Windermere, Kendal, Carnforth, Bolton-le-Sands, Morecambe, Preston, Wigan, and Birmingham.
Other bus services from Lancaster include 40 and 41 services (Morecambe to Preston via Lancaster and Garstang) and the 80, 81A, and 81B services (Lancaster to Ingleton and Kirkby Lonsdale). All are operated by Stagecoach.
Lancaster Bus Station is situated between Damside Street and Cable Street (postcode LA1 1HH), at the northern end of Lancaster city centre. The city’s main taxi rank is adjacent to the station.
Attractions and places of interest within easy walking distance include Lancaster Castle, Lancaster Priory, the Judges’ Lodgings, Lancaster Visitor Information Centre, The Dukes, Lancaster Grand Theatre, Market Gate Shopping Centre, and St Nicholas Arcades. Lancaster Train Station is approximately 700 yards away.
We arrived here by coach on 22 April, a Bank Holiday. We used the toilets when we arrived and then went to explore the City for 2 hours. We returned to the bus station to re-board our coach at 1.45 and, obviously, visited the toilets again only to find they were locked. We were told that as it was a bank holiday the toilets had been closed early!! The bus station was NOT closed and there were still buses running. We did not have time to go back into the City to try and find alternative facilities. Luckily for my husband, who has a medical problem, one person had a radar key and opened the disabled toilet. We all then had to queue and use this one toilet. This is disgraceful. Obviously Lancaster does not want to attract people to visit. At the very least there should have been a notice clearly stating when the toilets were open on that particular day so people could be prepared to find other facilities. Memo to visitors: be careful to ensure that vital facilities are not closed when you need them.