On the 1st of April significant changes took place to Stagecoach bus timetables in Orkney. Valid until 26th October 2024, the frequency of the 8S has been increased from 3 days a week to 6. The Orkney News will be exploring by bus how the new timetables are working out.

The journey took place on Tuesday, 2nd of April from Sandwick into Kirkwall and back again. The day was dry but there was a strengthening cold wind.

Catching the morning 8S by the ‘hail and ride’ system, the bus which was on time, arrived into Stromness at 9.36am. At this point if you wish to travel onwards to Kirkwall you have to change buses and catch the X1. You have less than 2 minutes in which to do this, or wait for the next X1 to come along.

Please note, it’s best to get off the 8S bus opposite the Stromness swimming pool, cross the road and wait for the X1 there in case the 8S is delayed. There is a bus shelter there, good to know if the weather is poor.

The 8S transforms into the 5 Houton bus. This is great if you wish to take the ferry over to Hoy and perhaps visit the Lyness Visitor Centre there. That route will be explored in a future article.

The X1 arrived in Kirkwall at 10.12 – at Stance 2

On the return journey there were several choices but we went for the 8S which leaves the Kirkwall Travel Centre, Stance 3, at 11.32am. This bus takes the route through Finstown, down the Brodgar road, into Dounby, Marwick, and pulls into Skara Brae Visitor Centre car park.

There was a cruise ship in and so several visitors took advantage of this bus and got on at the Ring of Brodgar to take it out to Skara Brae.

Skara Brae has a one way road entry system because it does get very busy, which it was at the time of the 8S arriving. Despite the one way system several cars had parked along the edge of the entrance roadway which is also used by farm vehicles. Most of these cars were parked facing towards the bus, which means they must have come in the exit road. Well done to the bus driver who negotiated his way around the parked vehicles.

The journey had been an excellent one on clean modern buses with helpful drivers as visitors and locals asked questions of them.

It should be remembered by anyone wishing to use Orkney’s Stagecoach bus services that there are very few shelters so you do need to be dressed for the weather. For people who want to use the car less, of course, it’s not as convenient as getting you from A to B at a time of your choosing. It may take you longer to take your journey, but you can sit back and relax, and enjoy the views of the Orkney landscape.

We’ll try that route again, at a different time of the day, to see if it’s still as good as it was on Tuesday. Other routes will also be explored and we’ll let you know how we get on with those.

Click on this link for a copy of the new bus timetables.

Fiona Grahame