Lincolnshire InterConnect is a rural bus network in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England.
A number of InterConnect-branded interurban bus routes with fixed timetables are complemented by demand-responsive, flexible CallConnect minibuses, on which journeys must be booked in advance. Many of the InterConnect services are provided by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire; CallConnect services are run by a variety of operators including TransportConnect Ltd who are a wholly owned company of Lincolnshire County Council.
InterConnect was first established in 1999, when the existing Lincolnshire RoadCar "Connect 6" LincolnâÂÂSkegness bus (introduced in 1998 as part of Route 6's rebrand) was rebranded and its service frequency increased. CallConnect was established in 2001. The network and its services are subsidised by Lincolnshire County Council and Norfolk County Council. Some services were scaled back between 2011 and 2012, following cuts to local government funding and reductions in the Bus Service Operators Grant fuel duty subsidy.
The various models of double and single-decker buses used by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire for its InterConnect services are painted in a special purple livery with the strapline "Connecting people with places" and the logos of the network's council partners also applied. Before the network was rebranded in 2023, buses formerly had a version of the previous Stagecoach livery in purple-and-gold branding, with some buses featuring route-specific numbered branding, in particular the flagship InterConnect 6 service, and a "Coastal Connect" brand used on the routes serving towns and villages on the Lincolnshire coast. Buses from the other InterConnect operators tend to carry that operator's standard paint scheme.
There are two kinds of CallConnect services â entirely demand-responsive 'dial-a-ride' services which serve an area with no fixed route or timetable, and semi-flexible services which run to a timetable but which deviate off the route to serve smaller villages. Journeys on CallConnect must be booked in advance on a mobile app, or on the CallConnect website or over the telephone in areas not served by the app. Fares are calculated in six radial 'zones' based from the pick-up point of the journey.
In 2011, Lincolnshire County Council reported a 23.5% increase in usage of CallConnect compared to the previous year.
CallConnect services operate in 14 named areas across Lincolnshire, including the north side of the city of Lincoln and its nearby villages, and extending into neighbouring counties) â only the remainder of Lincoln and the surrounding area, as well as the unitary authority of North East Lincolnshire, are not covered by CallConnect. The areas covered are: