A partnership has revitalised the jointly-worked Carlisle-Newcastle Cross Pennine route 685, delivering fully integrated tickets.
The hourly route (half-hourly between Brampton and Carlisle) has seen agreement, supported by local authorities, between Arriva North East, and Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire.
Now, all daily and weekly tickets are accepted and sold on all buses between Carlisle, Brampton, Hexham and Newcastle, including m-tickets.
It means people who want access to Stagecoach’s full Carlisle network no longer have to wait for a Stagecoach bus to be able to buy their weekly ticket. Likewise those travelling to Cobalt Business Park and other North East locations served by Arriva can now catch any Cross Pennine bus.
The partners are now working on a technical solution to accept each other’s smart tickets.
It follows timetable changes in November 2016 to improve punctuality and make every journey take the same route, along with external bus rebranding.
As part of the promotion Arriva and Stagecoach are offering return travel for £5 on the 685 until 29 May.
Matt Cranwell, Managing Director for Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire said: “The improvements are an example of how working in partnership with other bus operators and local authorities can deliver practical improvements for passengers.
“We hope to further develop the offer for our customers in the future working in partnership.”
Nick Knox, Area Managing Director at Arriva said: “We are pleased that all the hard work that has been done by Stagecoach, Arriva and our local authority partners in Cumbria and Northumberland has set the basis for delivering this exciting new ticketing development, following the launch of the new look ‘Cross Pennine” service late in 2016.
“This really will give customers complete ticketing flexibility, improving value and convenience, and we look forward to further developing the Service 685 Cross Pennine with Stagecoach in the future.”
