What's new?
To sign up for our new monthly Greencast newsletter and service alerts by email, click here.
Our summer bus times start on Good Friday 2 April
Although the snow's only just gone, we're all set to launch our summer bus times a month earlier than usual, on 2 April. You can download the new times by clicking here, and we'll have leaflets ready on buses and usual outlets from around a fortnight before Easter. Here's a summary of the changes:
Coasthopper Our summer times see a return to buses every half hour between Hunstanton and Wells, and between Wells and Cromer, with a bus every hour fast to and from King's Lynn, connecting with the trains. Between May and September, our Summer Sunday service is even better than ever, with buses every half hour along the coast all day long. What's more, from 24 May we launch Coasthopper Xtra which will offer faster journeys from King's Lynn to Burnham Market via Sedgeford and Docking, and also put Holt and Kelling Heath Holiday Park on the Coasthopper map too, as well as providing extra seats between Burnham Market and Cley during the busiest times of the day. This year, we've got 12 ultra low emission dedicated Coasthopper buses waiting to whisk you away to the beautiful North Norfolk coast!
Fairstead One We've improved our morning peak hour service with an extra bus doing the loop at 0748 (0750 Saturdays). We've also added in a little more running time along Gaywood Road at peak times to help us stay on track.
North Lynn Too! We've added an extra earlier bus on Mondays to Fridays doing the loop at 0720, and getting you back into town for 0745.
Gaywood Five We've added an extra bus doing the loop from town at 0900.
the 26A The afternoon bus will leave Fakenham slightly later at 1700, still connecting with the X8 from King's Lynn.
the 27 The 0935 bus from South Creake will now be extended to start at Fakenham at 0935. The 1735 College day bus from Fakenham will no longer run.
the 29 There are some slight timing changes in the morning and early evening. The first bus from Fakenham to Wells will now be at 0800.
the 34 This service will be merged in with the 56 to create a new link from Manea or Benwick through March to Wisbech - see under the 56 for details.
the 35 Extra buses will run in conjunction with the Coasthopper summer timetable, and we'll also be serving our stop within Searles Holiday Park at Hunstanton again. There are also later buses on Thursday and Friday nights this year, and all our buses are timed to connect with the trains at King's Lynn!
the 37 There is a slight timing change to the Sunday buses, and also the 1435 bus from King's Lynn will follow the standard route south of Downham Market during school holidays.
the 46 Will now be running seven days a week, with brand new Sunday buses during the day between March, Wisbech and King's Lynn, connecting with 35 buses to Hunstanton! There are also some timing changes during the week, and the 0750 bus from Wisbech to March is put back to 0800 and extended to start at Terrington St John. We still connect with Stagecoach X9 buses to and from Cambridge with through fares, and with the 56 there are now green buses every 30 mins between Wisbech and March through the day!
the 48 There are some very minor timing changes to a couple of journeys.
the 50 This service is changing to merge together our existing 50 and 55 buses between Long Sutton, Sutton Bridge and Wisbech. We are improving the Long Sutton town service with buses in both directions along Cowper's Gate and past Peele School, and between Tydd St Mary and Leverington we are diverting through Tydd St Giles and Newton instead of Four Gotes. Buses wil run approx every two hours during the day with extra buses at peak times, and with connections and through fares available onto the 505 to King's Lynn or Spalding. Buses will no longer be calling at Wisbech Tesco.
the 55 This service is being replaced by the new 50, see above for details.
the 56 This service will be extended beyond March to Wimblington then Benwick or Manea, replacing the 34. This new route will also link Wisbech with Doddington Hospital. Buses will run every hour during the day between Wisbech and Wimblington, then approx every two hours to either Benwick or Manea. We won't be going to the big Tesco store at March any more, but we'll still be linking Elliott Road with town every hour. All buses through Wimblington will also now call at the village hall, saving you the walk to the main road. Together with the 46, there will now be green buses every 30mins between Wisbech and March through the day!
the 60 There will be some very minor timing changes in the morning, but a much later last bus back into Wisbech on Mondays to Fridays, leaving Three Holes at 1703.
the 63 There are some slight timing changes to a couple of journeys.
the 66 The afternoon service is improved, with buses every 30 mins up to 1500, then buses at 1605, 1640 and on Mondays to Fridays a later last bus at 1735.
the 505 There are some slight timing changes to most journeys to improve timekeeping, especially during the work on the South Gates roundabout. On Mondays to Fridays, there's a brand new bus at 0735 from Long Sutton into King's Lynn to help reduce overcrowding on the 0744 bus from Walpole Cross Keys. There's also good news in the evening, as we're extending the 1935 bus from King's Lynn right through to Holbeach!
the X5 On Mondays to Fridays there will be new daytime buses from Norwich, linking straight through to Coasthopper at Sheringham to get you on your way along the coast. These will leave Norwich at 0830, returning from Sheringham at 1545 (Cromer 1605). This is especially good news as from 1 April over-60s with Norfolk passes will once again be able to board buses for free during the week within the Norwich City boundary from the standard Norfolk time of 0830!
the X6 The 1710 bus from Cromer will run only as far as Melton Constable (the 1810 bus still runs through to Fakenham for King's Lynn).
the X8 There are some very minor timing changes to afternoon College day buses from King's Lynn. The 1817 bus from Fakenham to King's Lynn will no longer run, but the last bus at 1915 will still be running as now.
the X29 We've plugged the gaps so that there is a basic hourly service right through the day between Fakenham, Pensthorpe and Norwich. We've also further improved the Monday to Friday peak hour buses with extra journeys at 0830 into Norwich, returning at 1720. We've got two more brand new low emission buses coming next month too for you lucky people!
Phew! That's the lot, but if you have any more questions or would like a copy of our new times posted to you, please get in touch.
You helped us raise over £1,000 for PACT Animal Sanctuary
On our third charity day on Friday, we collected £504.09 from you all on our buses in and around King's Lynn to support the fantastic work done by PACT Animal Sanctuary in helping vulnerable and injured pets and wild animals. We've now matched that amount ourselves, meaning that a cheque for £1,008.18 will be winging its way to the sanctuary.
Thank you all again for your generosity, and if you can help as a volunteer or if you want to rehome an animal at PACT, take a look at www.pactsanctuary.org.
Success at the 2009 UK Bus Awards
For the third year running, we've come away with a gong from the prestigious UK Bus Awards in recognition of our work to improve the quality and accessibility of bus services across West Norfolk and beyond.
At the ceremony at London's Park Lane Hilton on November 12, we beat off stiff competition to win the 'Bus in the Countryside' award in recognition of our ever more popular Coasthopper buses along the north Norfolk coast, and how they are doing great things for the environment and economy of this fragile yet beautiful area.
"Coasthopper represents all that is good for both the north Norfolk coast and for rural transport generally," said the judges, "and is testament to the dedication and enthusiasm of all who work to make this route the success it is."
As if that wasn't enough, we were also named joint runner-up for the Independent Operator of the Year award, along with fellow quality Norfolk operator Konectbus, in recognition of our attention to detail, style and quality of our promotions and marketing, and our relationships with the community we serve. We were pipped to the post by our Cornish friends at Western Greyhound, so well done to them too!
To find out more about the UK Bus Awards, click here.
Tweet, tweet!
Norfolk Green is now on Twitter, so you can get our latest news, offers and service alerts direct to your computer or phone, wherever you are! Sign up now and start tweeting with us by clicking here .
And now we're on Facebook, too! Simply type in Norfolk Green into the Facebook search box, and join our gang.
North Lynn Too... and sale on LynnGos!
From Monday, 28 September, we launch our brand new North Lynn Too! buses from North Lynn direct into town every 30 minutes, six days a week. They will be low floor every time, with friendly regular drivers to whisk you in and out of town from your bus stop, and we'll stop where safe to do so anywhere round the North Lynn loop as well. You can download the new leaflet from the 'when and where' page, and we're really looking forward to turning North Lynn green.
You'll also be able to use our LynnGo tickets on North Lynn Too!, and we've got an amazing sale on right now on our weekly and monthly LynnGo tickets, which give you unlimited travel all round King's Lynn on any Norfolk Green bus for as little as 16p a day. You can even lend them to friends and family when you're not using them! What's more, they are also valid on 42A buses after 7pm and on 44 buses after 7pm and on Sundays, as these are funded with public money by Norfolk County Council. .
Heroes Welcome on the 39!
We are proud to be one of the first businesses to sign up for West Norfolk's Heroes Welcome initiative to show quiet appreciation for the work that our armed forces do both at home and abroad. From 1 July, single and return fares on our 39 buses between RAF Marham and King's Lynn will be sold at a discount to servicemen and women showing their ID card to their driver when boarding.
Fares for those eligible will be cut by 20%, so a single into town will now be just £2 and return just £3.50. Discounts will also be offered on 16-19 and family group singles and returns, and Duo returns between Marham and Lynn as well. For more info on Heroes Welcome, click here.
We've just launched our first dedicated website for Coasthopper, our enormously popular buses along the North Norfolk Coast, which we have developed from scratch with Norfolk County Council to last year carrying 270,000 passengers. Coasthopper.co.uk has the usual bus times and fares but also gives you details of where to go and what to do, helps you plan a walk along the Norfolk Coast Path, and even allows you to compare your CO2 emissions between going by bus and by car. Join in by clicking here.
