From March 27th 2011, Arriva will bring into force a new bus timetable for the 153 Bus Service from Market Bosworth to Leicester City Centre and will be abolishing the 152 Service from Ibstock altogether.
152 Service from Ibstock to Leicester Abolished
The loss of the 152 service will mean that residents of Ibstock will have no major bus service to Leicester aside from one service to Leicester in the morning, and one returning service in the evening. Residents of Barlestone, Newbold Verdon and Desford will see their bus service reduced to the 153 from Market Bosworth only apart from the service above which will instead terminate at Ibstock.
According to the published Arriva Route, the 153 service will travel from Ibstock instead of Market Bosworth at 0653 weekdays, and drop off at Instock instead of Market Bosworth at 1810 only. All other services throughout the day will not be passing through Ibstock and will instead travel to Market Bosworth directly from Barlestone.
New Times For Peak-Time Buses
Due to the removal of the 152 Bus Service, anyone who regularly travels into Leicester for work each weekday will see a considerable increase in passenger numbers due to Arriva forcing people to share buses. Early travellers from Market Bosworth are offered buses leaving Market Bosworth at 0700 and 0730, however residents of Barlestone also have buses leaving at 0558, 0633 and 0703 (the latter arriving from Ibstock).
Should passengers miss the 0730 bus from Bosworth however, they will be forced to wait until 0840 before catching the next bus, and then every 30 minutes thereafter.
Returning home, passengers have a choice of either the 1710 (if they’re quick, which travels to Ibstock and not Market Bosworth) or the 1725 (which travels to Market Bosworth and not Ibstock). The next bus after this leaving from Leicester will be 1820 to Market Bosworth. Confused?!
The biggest change for weekday passengers however is off-peak…
Off-Peak Return From Leicester Cut-Back
After the 1820 bus leaves Leicester for Market Bosworth, passengers still in Leicester will have to wait until 2020 for their next bus home. This is a wait of 2 hours, increased from the previous service of hourly buses. After this, a final bus at 2220 will be all that is available.
Sunday Service Abolished
Aside from distruptions which are bound to be caused by the changes summarised above, passengers and retailers alike are bound to suffer as Arriva abolish the Sunday Service completely. Anyone wishing to get to work on Sunday, go shopping or save use of their car by taking the bus will now have no way of getting into Leicester at all, forcing them to make alternate arrangements.
Download New Route Details
March 2011 Route Map (PDF)
March 2011 153 Route Schedule (PDF)
152 Route Summary (Arriva Website)
Changes come into affect on March 27th 2011. Further details including links to the new route map and schedule can be found at Arriva’s official website.
My parnter has just moved to IBSTOCK and i catched the bus on saturday 19 and there was a lot of people who got on. I was hoping to move in and as i work in LEICESTER that now will not happen (as i can not drive) What about the PEOPLE who LIVE IN IBSTOCK and COALVILLE.
if the council give grants to the bus companys they should remove them untill they provide a proper service. we will all have to use our cars what about the carbon footprint
After searching the Arriva website for routes to Ibstock, I can’t find any apart from the once-a-day 153 service.
Whenever there are cuts it seems the rural services are affected first. Barlestone has seen the removal of the 154 service and now the 152.
Lets all use public transport and leave the car at home what a joke, I live near Ibstock and work in Leicester I couldn’t do without the car thanks to the descision to rip the service to bits, what about people who can’t drive?
the bus service is a joke, if there’s snow around i won’t drive so i can’t get to work so i wont be able to earn any money and may even lose my job if i don’t turn up because of this. Also what about the elderly that like to have a day out? they cant because they don’t have a bus what’s the point in them even having a free bus pass? also kids that want to go to leicester college & uni wont be able to and wont be able to do the corses they want to do just because there’s not a bus. it’s not fair how ibstock is losing out!
North west Leicestershire has a reputation of being rather grim, the lack of a good bus service to Leicester will only add to this image of the county being a grim outpost, a place lacking vibrancy, cut off from everywhere. If we look at the history of this area we can not but focus on the coal industry. To be a coalminer was to be a king. The saying ‘earn your living by the sweat of your brow’ was certainly true of these honest hard working men who spent their days mining for coal. We can imagine them walking through Coalville after their day’s work was over. They wore the dirt and grime of the coilery with pride. The people of the town would look on with reverence as these men who were the lifeblood of the town made their way home. These men knew that a hard day’s work instilled pride in oneself and there was no harder work than to toil all day beneath in the mines, but though they were dark, damp and dangerous places,they were palaces to these men, to these kings of NW Leicestershire. Our coalmines have gone. We have nothing. Walk through Coalville now and look into the faces of it’s denizens. Are they smiling? If so, those smiles are masking the pain and sadness of a people who have been downtrodden by the elite, a conquered people. Arriva, you took our 152 bus service but Coalville man is a strong as iron. He will walk to Leicester if need be and he will tell those Leicester citizens, ‘ I am a Coalville man, my fathers built your city. We will rise again’
So, they get rid of the 152 Ibstock – Leicester whilst they add MORE buses from Coalville to Agar Nook and back (which goes EVERY FIVE MINS BTW) This is so wrong!