Interconnect 51 July Changes

From VOSA

PB0000163/49 - GRIMSBY CLEETHORPES TRANSPORT CO LTD T/A STAGECOACH GRIMSBY CLEETHORPES, PO BOX 15, DEACON ROAD, LINCOLN, LN2 4JB

Variation Accepted: Operating between Grimsby Bus Station and Louth Bus Station given service number 51/51A/51B/51C effective from 23-Jul-2012. To amend Timetable.

The service was last amended in April.

Holloways Coaches win 90/590 tender

From VOSA:

PB0001403/33 - HOLLOWAYS COACHES LTD, COTTAGE BECK ROAD, SCUNTHORPE, DN16 1TP

• Registration Accepted by SN
• Starting Point: Scunthorpe Bus Station
• Finish Point: Scunthorpe Bus Station
• Via: Gunnes Althorpe Ealand Crowle Eastoft Luddington Garthorpe
• Service Number: 90
• Service Type: Normal Stopping
• Effective Date: 09-JUL-2012
• Other Details: Monday to Saturday

PB0001403/34 - HOLLOWAYS COACHES LTD, COTTAGE BECK ROAD, SCUNTHORPE, DN16 1TP

• Registration Accepted
• Starting Point: Eastoft Memorial
• Finish Point: North Lindsey College
• Via: Eastoft Crowle Ealand Althorpe
• Service Number: 590
• Service Type: Limited Stop
• Effective Date: 04-SEP-2012
• Other Details: College Days only

Back in April, Stagecoach proposed to withdraw the commercially operate 90 between Brigg, Scunthorpe and Crowle, and the 590 college day variant. North Lincolnshire Council then issued an emergency tender for the routes until July. It now seems Holloways Coaches have won the tender for July onwards. I would guess the Brigg to Scunthorpe section will not be replaced, as it is covered by Hornsby service 4, but interesting to note Holloways 90 continuing beyond Crowle to Garthorpe. Will this be competing with Sweyne Coaches commercially operated weekday services (and Stagecoach tendered Saturday service 357)?

Not winning the 90/590 tender will result in a PVR reduction of 3 for Stagecoach's Scunthorpe depot - more severe than April's changes and arguably bringing some of the points in this post into sharper focus.

Jubilee Weekend Services

This weekend is the main national celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, with two bank holidays on Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th June.

Most operators in the region are operating a Sunday services on both days, as is usual on most bank holidays. This includes EYMS (except no Moorsbus on the 5th), Arriva Yorkshire, Transdev York and First South Yorkshire.

One exception is Stagecoach in Hull, which on Monday 4th are running a 'Sunday Plus' service with frequencies of up to every 15 minutes, and a normal Monday evening service. However I can't find any details of the routes seeing this Sunday Plus service. Other services by Stagecoach in the region will have a Sunday timetable on the 4th, as do all Stagecoach services on the 5th.

Also Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner will operate a Saturday timetable on the 4th and 5th, as is usual for them on Bank Holidays.

Market Weighton-York July Changes?

From VOSA:

PB0000328/395 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS

• Registration Accepted
• Starting Point: Market Weighton
• Finish Point: York Railway Station
• Via: Pocklington
• Service Number: X47
• Service Type: Normal Stopping
• Effective Date: 22-JUL-2012
• Other Details: Monday to Saturday evenings 4 jouneys each direction Sunday

PB0000328/396 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS

• Registration Accepted
• Starting Point: Market Weighton
• Finish Point: York Railway Station
• Via: Pocklington
• Service Number: X46
• Service Type: Normal Stopping
• Effective Date: 22-JUL-2012
• Other Details: Approx. every 30 mins Mon-Sat daytime. 8 journeys each direction Sunday

My first thought was that these registrations were related to transitioning the services from EU to domestic driver hours rules. This maybe the case, however the frequencies do not match the current level of service. The X46 is currently hourly throughout it's route between Hull and York Monday to Saturday daytimes, and has only 3 Sunday services in each direction. So possibly some enhancements and/or changes to other Market Weighton-York services (X4/746) to come?

Local Sustainable Transport Fund

Yesterday the Department for Transport announced successful bidders for the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. In the Humber region these were:

East Riding of Yorkshire Council - £943,000 for 'Get Moving Goole'. Bus related measures include real time passenger information on EYMS services. (Search for Get Moving Goole on google for the full bid document - it's the second pdf)

Hull City Council - £1.87 million. Bus related measures include promoting bus use, upgrading bus infrastucture, and most significantly, a new 'Hull Card' bus ticket, available for use on both EYMS and Stagecoach services.

North East Lincolnshire Council - £4.33 million. Full details here. Bus related measures include real time passenger information and an improved bus station in Grimsby, including a new staffed information office.

Return to Skippingdale

From this Monday (21st May) Stagecoach operated Scunthorpe town service 37 will serve Skippingdale Retail Park, which has recently attracted a number of new stores including Matalan last Autumn.

If I remember correctly RoadCar served the retail park with a Scunthorpe Town Service until Tesco relocated in the early noughties.

EYMS June 121/743 Changes

From Sunday 3rd June EYMS are altering the 121 Hull to Scarborough via Beverley, Driffield and Bridlington service, as well as the 743 between Driffield and Pocklington.

On the 121 some journeys will omit Reighton village to improve reliability; the village's service will be generally two hourly, retaining it's current hourly frequency at times. Also more journeys will operate via Cayton Bay instead of Eastfield in Scarborough.

In the evenings the 2125 from Hull will now terminate in Nafferton, not Bridlington, will the apparently little used 2300 from Bridlington to Driffield withdrawn. As a result the last bus from Hull to Bridlington is at 1825 on Sundays and at 1625 on Monday to Saturdays. From Bridlington to Driffield the last bus will now be at 2030 daily.

On the 743 buses from Driffield shall now start from the EYMS Depot and then serve George Street; currently they serve George Street before the EYMS Depot.

EYMS announcement

In addition EYMS are 'splitting' the 121, X21 (Hull to Scarborough fast) and 744 (Bridlington to York) in June to operate under domestic rather than EU driver hours.

Humber Connections

In last month's service changes, Stagecoach revised the 45/150/250/450 to operate as the 45/150/450 under the Humber Connections brand. It's a change for the better, as I noted at the time.

However Stagecoach have let themselves down big time with a timetable that makes no sense at all. They have split the timetable into one for the 45 only, and another showing the 150/450, and supposedly all services, including the 45, to South Killingholme. Yet the two do not match up. Here are some of the inconsistencies I have found between the two:

• The 0715 from Grimsby serves South Killingholme on Saturdays only according to the 45 timetable, but on Monday to Saturdays according to the 150/450 timetable
• The 1445, 1545 and 1645 from Grimsby serve South Killingholme on Saturdays only according to the 45 timetables, but not at all according to the 150/450 timetable
• The 1715 and 1745 from Grimsby continue beyond South Killingholme to Ulceby on Monday to Fridays obly according to the 45 timetable, but on Monday to Saturdays according to the 150/450 timetable
• The 0715 450 from Barton to Immingham (and onwards as a 45 to Grimsby) operates Monday to Saturday according to the 150/450 timetable, but is just a 0750 45 from South Killingholme on Saturdays according to the 45 timetable
• The 0800 from Habrough operates on college days only according to the 45 timetable, but on Monday to Saturdays according to the 150/450 timetable
• The 1520, 1620 and 1720 45's from South Killingholme are shown in the 45 timetable, but omitted from the 150/450 timetable meant to show the entire South Killingholme service
• The 1805 and 1835 service 46's are shown as starting in South Killingholme in the 45 timetable, but are omitted from the 150/450 timetable

There could be other inconsistencies I have missed! However what is the real timetable for Humber Connections, because I haven't a clue! North Lincolnshire Council have their own version in their 'Barton and Immingham' timetable (NLC Leaflet 1) but while that seems to clear up some of the Stagecoach inconsistencies (e.g. the 0715 from Barton does not operate on Saturdays) it has errors of it's own.

Moving on, some complexity on the corridor is inevitable, however I do wonder if some simplification could be made. Firstly Stagecoach show the 45/450 as being split at Immingham (route number change) and Barton to comply with domestic hours rules. Yet as the 2009 version of the 45B showed, Grimsby-Immingham-Barton can be done under domestic hours as it is under 30 miles. So why not just split the service in the timetable once and make it simplier to understand. Even more odd is that 45/150 journeys are shown as being split in Immingham. Grimsby-East Halton is way under 30 miles.

Next there could be some service number simplification. The 150 made sense when it served Barton and provided an hourly weekday Grimsby-Barton service alongside the 250, connecting into the 350 and 450. But that all finished in 2006. Personally I would renumber it the 45E. Then if the 45/450 renumbering moved from Immingham to Barton, all South Killingholme services would be the 45, or a variant off.

Looking at the timetable there seems to be some dead mileage that could be reduced. Stagecoach currently have a Baysgarth School (Barton) contract 552. The vehicle from this used to operate the 0900 250 from Barton to Grimsby, but not any more. I wonder if it now goes onto the 0935 150 from East Halton. If so, why not start it back from Barton on schooldays and offer a slightly earlier alternative to the 0945 450/45?

Also there is a 1415 45/450 from Grimsby to Barton, arriving at 1523. This almost certainly provides the bus for the afternoon 552. But on School Holidays and Saturdays this has to run dead from Barton. Why not run it back in service though? There is no 450 from Barton to Immingham between 1345 and 1715, so a new 1545 would fill a gap, and may help develop connections between the 450 and Humber Fastcat. Anyone from Ulceby going for a dayout in Hull currently has to leave Hull at 1305 or 1635 to meet their connection at Barton to return home. Yet at 1545 450 from Barton would connect out of the 1505 from Hull, offering more flexibility for passengers. If this 'messed up' the South Killingholme-Grimsby timetable, then why not run it as an additional service between these points - better than dead mileage surely?

Talking off connections at Barton, there isn't even a footnote about them in the Stagecoach timetable. Missed opportunity?

The 450 timetable also has quite a bit of 'slack in it'. Buses wait 22 minutes in Brigg - but could sometthing better be done with this? The use of double deckers restricts the options, but what about extending to Brigg Garden Centre (should take about 5-7 minutes each way)? Could be a useful link, and replace the 3 day a week Brigg Town Service 93 in the process.

The biggest bit of slack however is on Saturdays and School Holidays when the 450 waits in Brigg from 1438 to 1630. Even allowing for the driver's break, this seems wasteful. The 1630 from Brigg is needed as it forms the 1715 from Barton, which is useful for connections from Hull and Scunthorpe to Barrow, Ulceby etc. However could it run earlier, say at 1530 as on schooldays, and then, as on schooldays, also serve Barrow and Goxhill before returning to Barton for 1715? This could enable the withdrawal of the 1603 service 260 Barton Villager.

Another possible idea is a couple of minor re-routings in Barton. Firstly could the 450 serve Tesco (about 2 minutes extra). Secondly could it also divert to serve Meadow Drive (as the X21 did about 15 years ago) - currently served only by the 3 day a week Barton Town Service, Meadow Drive serves a fairly substantial housing estate and would only take about 2-3 minutes extra in each direction. If all this does take up too much time, the 450 doesn't really need to serve Barton Market Place twice!!!

Finally the 150 also has a lot of 'slack' within the timetable - 28 minutes in East Halton. Could this be better used to serve sides roads within Immingham en-route (such as routing via the Church and Emmersons Coaches depot). This may slightly mess up the even interval frequency to South Killingholme, but only 3 times a day. It would however provide useful new links within Immingham.

So Humber Connections - great principle. More efficient and smarter working. But please proof-read the timetable. And it could be made simplier. And a few minor changes could generate some extra custom and serve more places - without any siginficant time or fuel penalty.

EYMS Bridlington Town Service Changes coming in July

Some Bridlington town service changes coming in July from EYMS. From VOSA:

PB0000328/69 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS
Variation Accepted: Operating between Bridlington Bus Station and Bempton Lane Circular given service number 512/513 effective from 02-Jul-2012. To amend Timetable.

PB0000328/70 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS
Variation Accepted: Operating between Bridlington Bus Station and West Hill Circular given service number 505/506 effective from 01-Jul-2012. To amend Timetable.

PB0000328/71 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS

Variation Accepted: Operating between Bridlington Bus Station and New Pasture Lane Circular given service number 507/508/517 effective from 01-Jul-2012. To amend Timetable.

Amvale to operate Scunthorpe Hospital Park and Ride

It seems Amvale have won the contract for the Scunthorpe Hospital staff park and ride. From VOSA:

PB0003906/38 - AMVALE LTD, ESTATE ROAD, 7 SOUTH HUMBERSIDE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, GRIMSBY, DN31 2TP

• Registration Accepted
• Starting Point: Glanford Park Car Park
• Finish Point: Glanford Park Car Park
• Via: Scunthorpe General Hospital
• Service Number: Hospital park and Ride
• Service Type: Limited Stop
• Effective Date: 02-JUL-2012
• Other Details: Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays

One change that didn't work out

There is one change that Stagecoach made earlier this month that very definetly hasn't been a success. From tomorrow (yes, a Friday!) the Interconnect 100  between Scunthorpe, Gainsborough and Lincoln will no longer serve Morton between 9am and 3pm, with a separate Gainsborough Town Service introduced (3/3a) to serve Morton at these times instead.

Stagecoach in Hull

Finishing my review of Stagecoach's operations in the region, today a look at Hull depot, and unlike south of the Humber, there are a lot of positives here. The April service changes generally weren't bad news, just the sort of changes that seem to happen every year in Hull. So I'm going to take a wider look at the past few years.

Over the past couple of years, Stagecoach have tried to improve the fortunes of many secondary routes, or find alternatives to replace them. The 20 has gone, replaced by changes to the 15, 28, 30 and K1, and in the case of the first three I'd argue that the cancellation of the 20 has boosted these core routes. The 30 has also been boosted by the new 30A Leads Road diversion, replacing the 31, and before that 38, along the road.

Many other secondary links remain part of secondary services, and often see regular changes, such as services to the Bricknell Avenue Estate and the city circular. Maybe April's service changes will be the answer to long term stability. Maybe not. Generally speaking secondary services and links seem to remain a challenge for Stagecoach.

Another challenge seems to be the nightbus network which is far from stable. From 24 hour services, to Friday cutbacks, to Saturday cutbacks and Friday improvements. From city centre starts, to the Welly Club, to Hull University and back to the city centre. I'm guessing the economic situation could have impacted on how many people go out at night, but whatever the reason for the regular alterations, surely the Nightbus network needs stability and promotion - a consistent product offering - to bring growth and hopefully allow previous cutbacks to be reversed in the future.

However away from secondary services, the core network seems to be holding up well. Some cutbacks, especially on Saturdays, have occurred in recent years, and efficiencies from better co-ordination of services did enable some PVR reductions - but nothing major. The controversial recast of the Greatfield and Bilton Grange network seems to have been a success, with significant investment in new buses for the 41/2 and most recently 43/54.

The new vehicles for the Greatfield/Bilton Grange services have just been part of the significant investment in the Hull fleet since 2009. New vehicles for the 1/2, 30, 41/2 and the 43/54 in the past three years, plus Hull has benefited from the 2009 relaunch of the 350 with new buses and an increased frequency. Significant investment like this is not made without reason.

The strong position, of the core network at least, in Hull is demonstrated by rising passenger numbers. In the past 9 years, bus use in Hull across Stagecoach and EYMS has increased by 30%. A success story.

Considering the size of the network in Hull, regular alterations and tinkering are inevitable. I'm curious for example if the 31 will be a success, I'm sceptical about the 10's future and need. Like all operations, the reductions in BSOG and fuel prices has had an impact. However from the outside it seems Stagecoach have a decent operation in Hull.

292 re-registered

Selwyn Motors have re-registered the 292 with VOSA

PB1076766/1 - BARRY SELWYN DODD T/A SELWYN MOTORS,
WESTGATE ROAD, BELTON, DONCASTER, DN9 1QA
Registration Accepted
Starting Point: Belton
Finish Point: Doncaster
Via: Epworth, Hatfield, Sandtoft
Service Number: 292
Service Type: Normal Stopping/Hail & Ride
Effective Date: 05-JUN-2012
Other Details: Saturday only

The 292 was cancelled with VOSA last week.

Stagecoach in Grimsby Cleethorpes

In the end, Stagecoach's Grimsby operation didn't see too many cuts in this month's service changes. It's also had investment in new buses for the 16 service to Wybers Wood. However it is 'what could have been' that indicates not everything in Grimsby is as good as it may seem.

Prior to this year, Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes had seemed a rather stable operation, the Humber Flyer excepted. Most of the fleet is low floor, there had been a significant batch of new vehicles in 2006 and the core network had seen little significant change. To the casual observer the operation seemed to be doing OK.

Then in February came this shocker, Stagecoach's initial plans for cuts. Late evening and Sunday services to be considerably cut, the 12 entirely and the Interconnect 3 to Lincoln from hourly to just 2 through journeys per day. All is clearly not well in Grimsby for Stagecoach, even if this was a 'worst case scenario' negotiating position that Stagecoach hoped never to implement.

The main way most of these cuts were avoided was a deal with North East Lincolnshire Council on concessionary fare payments. Short term this is clearly very good news. But longer term, could concessionary fare repayments be cut, or increased at a rate less than inflation? What happens then? More cuts? Has it actually done anything to solve the underlying issues that must be affecting Grimsby depot?

Some 'smarter' working has come from all of this on the Grimsby-Immingham and beyond corridor. Gone are the 150's and 250's duplicating 45's, mileage is reduced and hopefully passenger loadings consolidated onto fewer journeys.

On the other hand though take the late evening journeys on the 8, 9 and 46 - all originally proposed for the chop. All must be struggling, whether through declining usage, fuel costs and/or limited revenue from concessionary fares. However at say 10pm at night though, are OAP's really going to 'make or break' a journey? My guess is no, yet with increased concessionary fare repayment, they have been saved. Either I am wrong or the underlying issue with these services, either fuel costs or declining usage, has not been addressed. And in the case of the 8/9 at least, the mileage involved in the services is quite low.

Grimsby depot is clearly no 'basket case'. The 13/14 seemed to have benefited from the 'Kick Start' scheme back in 2006. The 16 has justified new buses. Yet I can't help but wonder if cuts will be back on the agenda within the next year or two. It seems to be that if not careful Grimsby could become another Scunthorpe with a steadily declining town network. Investment is needed, not necessarily in new vehicles, but in reviewing the network and promoting it. Kick Start worked for the 13/14, it now needs to be repeated network wide. Any further opportunities to reduce mileage but not the service level need to be taken. I'm sure the 12 could in part at least be replaced by other services for example (a 13 variation to Bradley Park, the 7 along Littlefield Lane and Humber Flyer via Queen Mary Avenue for example). Relying on concessionary fares reimbursement levels being maintained does not seem like a long term strategy. It's a short term fix and lets hope Stagecoach already know this and are working on growing passenger numbers.

Finally, one Grimsby service exempt from the threat of cuts this time around was the Humber Flyer. Why? Probably a combination of it's political sensitivity, and uncertainty about the impact of Humber Bridge toll changes. Yet surely it has been hit hard by fuel prices and the BSOG cut?

Selwyn Motors cancel the 292

From VOSA:

PB0000112/1 - BARRY SELWYN DODD & QUEENIE DODD
T/A SELWYN MOTORS, WESTGATE ROAD, BELTON, DONCASTER, DN9 1QA
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Belton and Doncaster given service
number 292 effective from 05-Jun-2012.

The 292 is a Saturday only 'shopper' service from Belton, Epworth and Sandtoft to Doncaster, and has been running for a number of years. It is Selwyn Motors only public bus service. I recall an industry magazine interview with the proprietor, possibly last year, in which he stated North Lincolnshire Council had refused to provide financial support for the service, so I'd be surprised to see a replacment.

Stagecoach in Scunthorpe

Now the details of Stagecoach's recent changes have been reviewed, I want to take a more general look at Stagecoach's operations in the region, starting with Scunthorpe. Scunthorpe wasn't too badly affected in April's changes. By my calculations the PVR (peak vehicle requirement) was only reduced by 2, and half of this was a tender loss.

However it could have been worse - Stagecoach had cancelled the 90 (PVR 2) but North Lincolnshire Council stepped in to save it on an emergency tender pending a longer term solution being found. No one can say Stagecoach haven't tried with their Brigg and later Crowle services, the 909, 909/910 then the 90; increased frequencies, and for Brigg a far quicker route. However it clearly hasn't worked.

Why? In part this may be down to competition. Between Brigg and Scunthorpe the main service is Hornsby's established route 4 (and there is also tendered service 95). Stagecoach and RoadCar have no recent history of being the main provider of services between the two towns. The 365 which existed before the 909 returned was only every 2 hours, and it's been a while since the 'original' 909 operated. And between Scunthorpe and Crowle there is competition to a more limited extent from Sweyne Coaches, and tendered Saturday service 357 (operated ironically by Stagecoach). That competition has already seen Stagecoach withdraw from commercial services in Garthorpe, Luddington and Eastoft.

It's not just the 90 that faces competition. Within Scunthorpe Hornsby Travel have a significant presence on town services. Some are co-ordinated with Stagecoach (the 6), some have found gaps from routes given up by Stagecoach (the 22) while other duplicate parts of Stagecoach services (the 12 - and this has seen a boost from Stagecoach reducing services 33/34 to hourly). There is also competition for tendered services; Hornsby have the contract for services 16/35/60/94-95, all of which have been operated by Stagecoach/Road Car in the fairly recent past (the 35 in it's old 357? form).

Competition means a fragmented market. As well as Hornsby and Sweyne, Isle Coaches, Holloways Coaches and EYMS (the latter in co-operation with Stagecoach) also operate 'public' bus services in Scunthorpe.

All this means that Stagecoach don't have the dominance and scale they have in other places. This need not be a problem by itself, but a look at the fleet reveals a major lack of investment by Stagecoach since they took over Road Car in late 2005. Using the fleet list in the January/February edition of the Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire Transport Review, correct as off 15th January, Scunthorpe has a fleet off 33 vehicles. Only six of these where delivered new under Stagecoach (the 6 MAN/Enviro's for the 350 Humber Fastcat) of which two are outbased at Hull. Other than 3 recently cascaded 2005 Volvo B7RLE's (for the 103 to Lincoln) the rest of the fleet dates from before 2004 or before, i.e. at least 8 years old - thats 25 out of the 33 based vehicles, 75% of the allocation. I should note here the Interconnect 100 which serves Scunthorpe has newer vehicles, but is not operated by Scunthorpe depot.

Since January changes to the fleet have taken place with some 'newer' low floor double deckers arriving to replace Volvo Olympians, but I don't think the proportion of vehicles under 8 years of age has significantly changed. What this shows is a lack of investment by Stagecoach in the fleet in Scunthorpe and where the investment has occured it has been for 'out of town' routes - the 350 is just as much a part of the Hull network as it is the Scunthorpe network for example.

Which leads me nicely onto the town network, no investment in vehicles in over 6 years, and cutbacks which started under Road Car and continued over Stagecoach. For example, back in March 2003 High Leys Road had 5 buses per hour into Scunthorpe, now 2 per hour. The 15 minute frequency for Bolsover Road tried in 2005, now every 20 minutes. Dewsbury Avenue down from every half hour in 2005 to hourly now.

So competition, a declining network and lack of investment in the fleet. I don't know the finances of Scunthorpe depot but what I have described doesn't paint an encouraging picture. I hope I'm mis-interpreting all of the above and things aren't as bad as I'm describing. However it doesn't look good.

Holloways 55 Major Improvement

A change that didn't get reported in detail when it happened. On March 5th, North Lincolnshire Council tendered weekday service 55 between Scunthorpe, Appleby and Winterton was significantly improved. The service is operated by Holloways Coaches.

Prior to the change the service had been very basic. School and college holidays saw just one journey from Winterton to Scunthorpe at 0850, and a lunchtime Scunthorpe to Appleby return. School and college days saw a slightly enhanced service.

Now though the service operates every 90 minutes on weekdays; most journeys operate the full route from Scunthorpe to Winterton via Appleby before continuing via Thealby to operate a loop around Normanby and Burton and as the outward route back to Scunthorpe. This provides much enhanced links from Appleby to Scunthorpe, and a 'usable' link from Appleby to Winterton. In addition Burton, Normanby and Thealby regain links to Winterton, and here connections can be made to the 350 Humber Fastcat, with certain 55 journeys timed to connect into the 350. I recall there was a brief 3 day a week Hornsby Travel operate service from Burton to Winterton a few years ago serving this purpose - hopefully the revised 55 will be more successful than that.

It is also not the first time the 55 has operated beyond Winterton. Up to 10-15 years ago the service extended to Whitton.

EYMS 121/744/X21 to domestic driver hours rules?

Based on registrations showing on the VOSA website today, plus this from earlier in the week, it seems that from June the 121/X21 (Hull-Scarborough) and 744 (Bridlington-York) will be worked under domestic rather than EU driver hours rules.

It seems the 121 will be 'split' at Driffield and Bridlington, the 744 'split' at Pocklington and the Summer only X21 'split' at Beverley and Bridlington.

Stagecoach services Easter 2012

Stagecoach have released details of their services over this Easter Weekend.

Good Friday

Grimsby-Cleethorpes:
Sunday service on all routes except the following, which will have a normal Friday service:
Interconnect 3 Grimsby-Lincoln
25 Grimsby-Binbrook-Ludford
Interconnect 51 Grimsby-Louth
150 Immingham-East Halton
450 Immingham-Barton-Brigg
Humber Flyer
(Does this mean that the 150 and 450 will not have through services at Immingham to Grimsby for the day, with the 45/46 running to a Sunday timetable?)

Hull:
Sunday service on all routes except the Humber Fastcat and Humber Flyer which will have a normal Friday service

Scunthorpe:
Normal Friday service on all routes

Easter Saturday

Normal Saturday services on all routes

Easter Sunday

Normal Sunday services on all routes

Easter Monday

Sunday service on all routes

Comment

Good Friday is a weird day for service levels, likely down to historical operating patterns, and in some cases these being enshrined in council tenders. One one hand North Lincolnshire Council is paying for a normal service on the 260 (Barton Villager) and 450, and the 1740 from Scunthorpe to Westwoodside 399 journey. Yet in Grimsby, Grange Estate is without a bus service.

I suspect the optimum service level for Good Friday, Easter Monday and other bank holidays is somewhere between a normal and Sunday service. A Saturday service is probably not the answer, as in some cases it is identical or almost identical to weekday services. A special timetable is probably more suitable, but with that comes the issue of informing customers when exactly the buses will run.

TB3 to not serve Barrow Haven

According to Traveline East Midlands, from 8th May Holloways Coaches Tuesday and Thursday TB3 between Goxhill, Barton and Brigg shall cease to serve the small community of Barrow Haven. The timetable is unaltered.

EYMS 504 Minor Changes

From Monday 16th April EYMS service 504 between Bridlington, Buckton and Bempton has minor changes. The first journey from Bridlington (currently 0915, will move to 0910) will cease to run on weekdays, and become Saturdays only. Other journeys are retimed; most departures from Bridlington move from .15 to .10 past the hour, and from Bempton move from .38 to .30 past the hour.

Stagecoach in Hull Changes Overview

Here is a full overview of Stagecoach in Hull's service changes that came into effect yesterday (Monday 2nd April), including details on those that have not had their own separate post.

Services 1/2 (Hull-Boothferry Estate): Slightly revised timetable. Nightbus N2 has a reduced Saturday night timetable.

Service 10 (Circular): Revised route now serving Newland Avenue, Hull University, Orchard Park Tesco and Holderness Road but service withdrawn from Bricknell Estate, Sutton Village and Greatfield. Improved afternoon timetable and new 30 minute frequency between Hull City Centre and Orchard Park via Hull University; this section of the route now operates on Saturdays too.

Service 13 (Hull-Orchard Park): Almost all journeys now serve Orchard Park Tesco, Saturday frequency reduced from every 10 to every 15 minutes.

Service 14 (Hull-Orchard Park): All journeys now serve Orchard Park Tesco.

Service 15 (Hull-Orchard Park-Kingswood). Slighty revused timetable with an extra morning peak journey. Nightbus N15's Wednesday night journeys axed, Friday night service reintroduced and Saturday night service cutback. New journeys from Kingswood.

Services 28/28A (Hull-Kingswood): 28's extended from Kingsbury Way to Kingswood Retail Park and operating as a circular with service 28A. Some extra morning peak 28's from North Point into Hull City Centre.

Service 30 (Hull-North Bransholme): Generally alternate services diverted via Leads Road as service 30A, replacing 'old' service 31. Reduced late evening service Monday to Saturday, and less buses to Wawne at peak times.

Service 31 (Hull-North Bransholme): Previous service between Hull and Kingswood axed. Revised to run between Hull and North Bransholme via parts of the 32 route plus Sutton Road and Holwell Road. Operates half hourly in the weekday peak and during weekend shopping hours, plus hourly in the evening daily. 31F and N31 replaces the 32F and N32. Nightbus N31 has a new Friday night service compared to the old N32, but a reduced Saturday night service.

Service 32 (Hull-Bransholme): Weekday peaktime services reduced from every 10 to every 15 minutes and Monday to Saturday evening services from half hourly to hourly. The 'new' 31 provdes a replacement.

Service 38 (Hull-Bransholme): Service reinstated hourly to replace old 31 via Garden Village. peak time services extend to Kingsbury Way as 38A, replacing old 31A.

Service 41 (Hull-Greatfield): New hourly Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday daytime service.

Service 42 (Hull-Greatfield): Now operates via Portobello Street rather than Maybury Road. Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday daytime frequency cut from half hourly to hourly.

Service 43 (Hull-Greatfield): Slightly revised timetable Nightbus N43 gains a Friday night service but has a reduced Saturday night service.

Service 46 (Hull-Marfleet): Revised timetable, but no change to frequency.

Service 51 (Hull-Kingswood): Slightky revised timetable. Nightbus N51 has a reduced Saturday night timetable but gains a new journey from Kingswood.

Services 52/53 (Ings Circulars). 52A's will start/finish at North Point and the changeover point from service 53 to 52 moves to Bellfield Avenue.

Service 54 (Hull-Bilton Grange). Faster journey time with new route via Maybury Road instead of Portobello Street.

Service 110 (Hull-Cottingham). Minor timetable alterations.

Service 677 (Hull-Cranswick Foods Preston): 0735 from Hull withdrawn. Evening services from Cranswick Foods no longer serve Beverley Road.

(Almost) all services to Tesco

Since yesterday all journeys on Stagecoach's 13 and 14 from Hull City Centre to Orchard Park have been extended to Orchard Park Tesco (except the 2 early morning 13's from Greenwood Avenue). Until last week only daily half hourly journeys on the 13 (operating as 13a/13b) and evening and Sunday 14a/14b served Tesco.

The Saturday daytime frequency on the 13 has been reduced from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes, as has the late afternoon (1430-ish to 1730-ish) weekday frequency from Orchard Park.

EYMS June Changes

Some EYMS changes due in June

VOSA - Bus Registration Search Results: PB0000328/253 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS
Variation Accepted: Operating between Hull and Nafferton given service number 121/121D effective from 03-Jun-2012. To amend Timetable.
PB0000328/300 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS
Variation Accepted: Operating between Pocklington and Bridlington given service number 743/744/744S effective from 03-Jun-2012. To amend Timetable.

Hull Nightbus Changes

From this coming Friday night, Stagecoach are making extensive revisions to their nightbus network in Hull, including more Friday night/Saturday morning services but the withdrawal of Saturday night/Sunday morning services after 0130 on all routes, as well as the N32/43 extensions from Hull University and the Welly Club.

The N2 between Hull City Centre, the Boothferry Estate and Hessle sees a revised timetable. 2 journeys from Hull and 1 from Hessle continue to operate on Friday night/Saturday morning but 2 services each way on Saturday night/Sunday mornings are cut, so that Friday and Saturday night services are now identical. This means the last bus from Hull City Centre moves from 0300 to 0115 on Saturday nights.

The N15 between Hull City Centre, Hull University, Orchard Park and Kingswood has lost it's two Wednesday night journeys from Hull University to the City Centre. The Friday and Saturday service has a new route; it now starts from the Hull Truck Theatre on Ferensway, not the Witham and operates via Princes Avenue not the Welly Club on Beverley Road. Services are extended beyond Orchard Park Tesco to Kingswood's Leisure and Retail Parks.

The N15 regains a Friday night services with 2 journeys in each direction (last departure 0120 from Ferensway). Saturday nights have the same timetable, which means an 80 minutes earlier last departure from Ferensway but new services from Kingswood. Some journeys on the N15 will interwork with the N51 in both Hull City Centre and at Kingswood.

The N32 between Hull University, Newland Avenue, the Welly Club, the City Centre and North Point is replaced by the N31, which starts at Hull Truck Theatre and then follows the route of the revised 31 to North Bransholme, giving the estate a new nightbus service. 2 journeys operate from the Truck Theatre at 0008 and 0108 on both Friday and Saturday nights. The N32 did not operate a Friday night service when it was axed, but the Saturday service is cut from 3 to 2 journeys on the new N31.

The N43 to Greatfield and Bilton Grange will now start at Hull Truck Theatre, with the extensions from Hull University and the Welly Club withdrawn. Again Friday night services are reinstated, but Saturday night services cut back from 4 to 2 journeys and an earlier last bus from Hull City Centre (0135 from George Street compared to 0310).

Finally the N51 from Hull City Centre to Kingswood via Holderness Road and North Point has a revised timetable. Services now leave Hull Truck Theatre at 0023 and 0123 on both Friday and Saturday nights, 23 minutes later on Friday nights but 1 hour 47 minutes earlier on Saturday nights, with 2 less journeys. One new journey from Kingswood is also introduced, again operating on both Friday and Saturday nights.

Overall its better on Fridays, and for getting home from Kingswood. Not so good on Saturdays, or if you want to come from Hull University or the Welly Club.

EYMS takeover 156 on temporary basis from Colins of Goole

From EYMS twitter, it seems they have been operating Sunday tendered service 156 between Goole and North Cave via Howden and Gilberdyke on a temporary basis due to "problems with the operator who's meant to run it". That operator is Colins of Goole.

A further tweet says EYMS are waiting to see if they have won a new contract for the route from this weekend onwards.

Phoenix Buses 136 minor change

From East Riding of Yorkshire Council's website:

Future bus service changes: Phoenix Buses, Service 136 Driffield to Bridlington - There will be some minor changes to the afternoon service from Monday 16th April 2012. The 1500 from Driffield will now depart at 1510 and the 1600 from Bridlington will now depart at 1620.

Route swap

From today, Stagecoach have 'swapped' the routes of services 42 (Hull-Greatfield) and 54 (Hull-Bilton Grange) in East Hull. The 42 will now follow the 54's previous route via Portobello Street, while the 54 will follow the 42's previous route via Maybury Road, shortening journey times to Bilton Grange.

With regards to timetables, the half hourly Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday daytime frequency on the 42 shall be reduced from half hourly to hourly in favour of a new hourly service on co-ordinated service 41, thus maintaining the half hourly frequency for Wingfield Road and Falkland Road, and providing new evening and Sunday links for Newbridge Road and Ellis Street on the 41 route.

The 54's route changes has meant a revised timetable - in addition extra morning peak services shall operate from Hull Interchange.

Another change to the 10 Hull Circular (plus 52/53 changes)

From Monday (2nd April) Stagecoach in Hull are making another set of big changes to the circular service 10, with both the route and timetable significantly changes. This post will cover these changes, and those to services 52 and 53, for reasons that shall become clear.

Starting clockwise from Hull Interchange the 10 will now operate via Princes Avenue, Newland Avenue and Cottingham Road (University) to Hall Road, instead of Chanterlands Avenue and the Bricknell Estate. The leaves Bricknell Estate with just the hourly 110 between Hull and Cottingham on weekdays (half hourly in the peak), just as it has on Saturdays; the 10 had previously combined with the 110 to provide the estate with a half hourly weekday service into Hull City Centre. The 110 only sees minor timetable alterations in Monday's changes.

After travelling along Hall Road the 10 then leaves it to serve the western part of Greenwood Avenue currently without a bus service before heading up Ellerburn Avenue and via Orchard Park Road West to Orchard Park Tesco. From here the 10 will now travel back down Beverley High Road to cross the River Hull along Sutton Road. Until Friday the service had travelled further along along Hall Road to Orchard Park Road then down Ellerburn Avenue and along the eastern part of Greenwood Avenue to Sutton Road, not serving Tesco.

Once crossing the River Hull the 10 continues to serve Sutton Park on it's current route via Littondale and Cheltenham Avenue to North Point Shopping Centre, Bransholme. The 10 then leaves North Point via Midmere Avenue but will now travel to Salthouse Road via Robson Way, Howdale Road and Dunvegan Road rather than via Church Street in Sutton.

The 10 continues from Salthouse Road to Bilton Grange. Here, in absense of a route map yet being available, I am a bit confused about the route to be taken. But the 10 is to now operate via Marfleet Lane and the full length of Holderness Road back into Hull City Centre, omitting Greatfield.
If you thought the route changes was interesting, the new timetable makes it even more interesting. The current circular service continues hourly on weekdays, with an increase in the number of afternoon services. However the frequency between Hull and Orchard Park Tesco via Cottingham Road becomes half hourly, including at peak times, and in the morning peak services will start at North Point. A half hourly Hull to Orchard Park via Cottingham Road service is also introduced on Saturdays.

On schooldays a number of schools services to Andrew Marvell School, Bilton Grange shall be numbered as variants of the 10. Details are still being finalised with Hull City Council.

Now for the 52/53 - nothing so dramatic here. Services 53's shall becomes 52's at Bellfield Avenue/Bayswater Court. Short 52A's shall be extended from Howdale Road to North Point via Midmere Avenue. Otherwise the services remain half hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes, and hourly on Sundays.

Comment

Firstly on the route changes to the circular bit of the 10. Adding the university to the route may help generate some new traffic, and Stagecoach will be hoping withdrawing the 10 from the Bricknell Estate boosts the 110. Reinstating the a service for the western part of Greenwood Avenue is welcome.

It is in east Hull that I find the changes less positive. It seems the 10 will be withdrawn from Hopewell Road, leaving part of it without a bus service. The Falkland Road-Preston Road Health Centre link will also be lost as the 10 is withdrawn from Greatfield. What is also noticeable is that the 10 will be following a very similar route to the 52A. Is the 52 really doing that well that it needs the 10 as an extra bus per hour?

This brings me to a post I did last year on whether the 10 was really viable and needed. Stagecoach have already deemed the 10 unnecessary to serve the Bricknell Estate and Wyke College, and that the Falkland Road-Preston Road Health Centre link is not enough to keep the 10 in Greatfield. So thats some reasons for keeping it gone. This latest change only reinforces my view the 10 is not needed, and that it could be replaced.

With the 10 and 52(A) now following such similar routes in east Hull I wonder if the 52/3 should be split. The 52 would run the 52A route to North Point on the current half hourly 52 frequency. Thats the entire eastern half of the 10 replaced with better Bransholme-Bilton Grange links in the process, and no 10-52 duplication, and the mileage saving that will bring. The 53 could continue to link Hull City Centre with the Ings Estate and Wilberforce College as at present. This would require some extra resources, but those saved by axing the 10 could be used. All that would be left is identifying a suitable service to be extended to maintain Orchard Park-Bransholme links and the 10 could be axed without too much hardship - the University/Greenwood Avenue part of the service isn't established and alternatives would remain within walking distance for most. Nice to have, not essential.

Now for the half hourly Hull to Orchard Park frequency. I am bemused at what this is meant to achieve. From Hull City Centre to Hall Road it duplicates EYMS's 215, which in my experience is little used anyway. Half hourly to Cottingham Road will also make little inroads into the University market. I doubt the western part of Greenwood Avenue justifies the service alone, and Ellerburn Avenue certainly doesn't need it. And almost everywhere on the route has a link to Orchard Park Tesco currently, from either the 13 or 15. Maybe the service is meant to relieve the busy 13 and 15 services. It's about the only reason I can think off.

UPDATE - The 10 will continue to serve Hopewell Road. In relation to my idea for changing the 52, this could be diverted via Hopewell Road to replace the 10.

Stagecoach Hull 30/31/32 Changes

As part of the April 2nd changes in Hull by Stagecoach, services 30, 31 and 32 will see alterations, and service 38 will return.

Starting with the 30 between Hull, North Point and North Bransholme the main change sees new variant 30A introduced, which will operate via Leads Road and Midmere Avenue, rather than the part of Holwell Road via Hull Bowl, replacing the 31 which is axed in it's current form. I'm sure a previous version of the 31 (there has been a few I think) operated the same route as the 30A.

The combined 30/30A retains the curent service 30 frequency of every 10 minutes on weekday daytimes, with peak extras, every 15 minutes on Saturday daytimes and half hourly on Sunday daytimes. Generally speaking the 30A variant will be alternate journeys. This means an increase along Leads Road from every 30 minutes on the current 31 to every 20 minutes on the new 30A on weekdays and a new hourly Sunday service (the Saturday frequency on the 30A, half hourly, matches that of the current 31).

Another key change, already noted, is that weekday peak time 30W Wawne extensions reduce from half hourly to hourly. The daily daytime service remains hourly.

In the early evening (pre-2130), Monday to Saturday hourly journeys operate as a 30A via Leads Road, providing a new evening service compared to the current 31; an hourly 30 also remains. Late evening (post-2130) the current half hourly 30 frequency reduces to hourly. Sunday evenings remain an hourly 30. Daily, only one rather than the current two late evening journeys will extend to Wawne. The last service from Hull is 10 minutes earlier than at present (2310 compared to 2320).

The 32 between Hull and North Point via Holderness Road, Sutton and Noddle Hill Way remains every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes and half hourly on Sunday daytimes. Peak time services on weekdays are cut from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes, and the last bus from Hull daily moves from 2330 to 2308. There are also various minor timing changes throughout the day. KC Stadium service 32F is cancelled in favour of a new 31F.

As mentioned earlier, the 31 in it's current form is now axed. Currently it links Hull City Centre and Kingswood Retail Park via Garden Village, Leads Road, Barnstaple Road and Noddle Hill Way every half hour Monday to Saturday daytimes. Weekday peaktime variant 31A also serves Kingsbury Way and Kesteven Way.

As already mentioned Leads Road sees a replacement in the form of the 30A. However the main replacement for the 31 is the return of the 38 between Hull and North Point. It will operate via Garden Village, but unlike in the past not then Leads Road, but instead Holwell Road. Peaktime extension 38A to Kesteven Way also returns. The frequency of the 38 is hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes, lower than the current 31, but what it was when the 38 last operated in early September 2011. Links to Kingswood are not replaced, and Noddle Hill Way has the 32, plus the new 31. Garden Village also has the 53.

Now for the new 31, which is an combination of part of the 30, and part of the 32. It will operate from Hull City Centre via the Witham and then follow the 32 route via Holderness Road, Summergangs Road and Gillshill Road before turning onto Sutton Road, currently unserved, and then joining Holwell Road. Just before North Point the new 31 will join Barnstaple Road and follow the current 31 route to Noddle Hill Way, which it will serve alongside the 32 before terminating in North Bransholme.

The most interesting thing here is when the service will operate. A limited weekday peaktime service operates, which should compensate for the 32 frequency reduction. A Saturday and Sunday shopping service also operates, with half hourly services into Hull in the morning/lunchtime, and half hourly afternoon returns from Hull. A daily hourly evening service will operate, to compensate for the Monday to Saturday frequency reductions on the 30 and 32, though it provides additional services on a Sunday service. Finally certain journeys will extend to the KC Stadium as service 31F, replacing the current 32F.

The replacement of the N32 will new N31 will be covered in a separate post about the Nightbus network.

Comment

An interesting set of changes here. The 31 in it's 'old' form serving Kingswood clearly hasn't been successful, and easy connections are available at North Point. The 30A and 38 provide replacements for the unique sections of route, and indeed the 30A is a welcome increase for Leads Road. It could be argued it complicates the '30' corrdior especially as it already has 30X and 30W variations, but it is an efficient way to provide Leads Road with a higher frequency service.

Ideally the new 31 wouldn't be needed. The evening/weekday peaktime cuts on the 30/32 wouldn't happen, and the extra weekend capacity would be provided on these routes rather than the 31. But that would take extra resources and fuel. The new 31 is an attempt to cut evening/peak resources, and use the least possible resources to improve parts of the weekend service. Efficient, yes. Complicated, yes. The question is will passengers use the 31, or stick with their 'known' 30's and 32's.

Overall notice the theme - efficiency rather than simplicity. A sign of the times.

Stagecoach in Grimsby Cleethorpes April Changes Summary

Here's a summary of Stagecoach in Grimsby Cleethorpes April 2nd service changes, including those changes which haven't had a separate post of their own.

Services 1/2/20 (Europarc) get a revised timetable to better suit shift start/end times.

Interconnect 3 (Grimsby-Market Rasen-Lincoln) is reduced from hourly to two hourly between Grimsby and Market Rasen - it remains hourly from Market Rasen to Lincoln. Details here.

Service 7 (Grange Estate-Grimsby-North Sea Lane) sees it's Sunday service between Grange Estate and Grimsby Bus Station end.

Service 8 (Grimsby-New Waltham-North Sea Lane) sees it's Sunday service end, with a partial replacement provided by the 46. Details here.

Services 9/9A (Waltham-Grimsby-Cleethorpes-North Sea Lane) have minor timing changes in the morning peak, and on Sundays will interwork with the 46.

Service 12 (Bradley Park-Grimsby-Cleethorpes-New Waltham) is not being withdrawn and continues with it's current timetable.

Services 13/14 (Bradley-Grimsby-Cleethorpes) now sees all journeys start at Laceby Road Morrisons. Monday to Saturday evening frequencies are cut from half hourly to hourly, but increased from every 80 minutes to hourly on Sunday evenings. The first weekday journey on the 13 on weekdays will no longer serve Ross House.

Service 16 (Wybers Wood-Grimsby-Asda) is unaltered.

Service 25 (Grimsby-Binbrook-Ludford) in unaltered.

Services 45/46/150/250/450. The Grimsby-Immingham-South Killingholme service remains half hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes, with extensions to East Halton as the 150 and Barton/Brigg as the 450. The 250 is withdrawn. Service 46 is extended to Waltham on Sundays. Details here.

Interconnect 51 (Grimsby-Louth) is reduced from half hourly to hourly between Holton Le Clay and Louth - it remains half hourly between Grimsby and Holton Le Clay. Details here.

45/46/150/250/450 Changes in Full

From next Monday (April 2nd) Stagecoach are making various alterations to services 45/46/150/250/450.

The main pattern to the Grimsby to Immingham corridor shall remain a 45 every 30 minutes between Grimsby and Immingham Monday to Saturday daytimes. This half hourly frequency shall continue as far as South Killingholme for most of the day; one service shall continue as a 45 to South Killingholme every hour while another shall become a 150 or 450 at Immingham before continuing to South Killingholme and beyond. This is welcome news as Stagecoach had originally proposed withdrawing South Killingholme's off peak 45's.

The weekday 45M extensions to the MIC Plant at Immingham also continues - it too had originally been proposed for withdrawal - though the early morning journeys starting in Cleethorpes will now start at Grimsby Bus Station.

Peak time frequencies on the 45 are reduced from every 20 minutes to half hourly. Evening services on the 46, starting in Cleethorpes and operating via the Willows Estate continue as at present, operating every hour. Late evening services had been proposed for withdrawal.

Likewise the hourly Sunday 46's continue operating hourly, but will now extend beyond North Sea Lane in Cleethorpes to Waltham, operating via New Waltham. This replaces the Sunday service on service 8, and 46's will continue from Waltham back into Grimsby as a 9 or 9A. It also introduces a direct Sunday Waltham to Cleethorpes link, avoiding Grimsby Town Centre.

Now for the service beyond Immingham, which seems to be getting named as 'Humber Connect'. As noted above once an hour the 45 becomes a 150 or 450 at Immingham, replacing the current arrangement of service 150 and 250 (to Barton) running from Grimsby. The 150 extends to East Halton via Habrough and South Killingholme 3 times a day, as noted here. The 450 extends to Barton and Brigg and in part replaces the 250. As noted here the 450 continues to provide 4 journeys a day between Barton and Brigg Monday to Saturday, and will provide 5 between Barton and Immingham, roughly two hourly - a slight increase on the current 3 plus Barton-Ulceby short workings provided by the 250.

The current morning peak 45 from Ulceby now starts from Barton as a 450, and now also operates on Saturdays. I presume on weekdays this will use the vehicle from the early morning Grimsby-Barton Humber Flyer. Habrough is now served by a separate 45 journey in the morning peak, and again this now seems to also operate on Saturdays. In the evening 2 journeys continue to extend beyond South Killingholme to Ulceby via Habrough, and these too now operate on Saturdays as well as weekdays.

The new operating pattern to the 45/150/450 removes the 150 and old 250 between Grimsby and Immingham, which should deliver some useful mileage reductions while still providing a half hourly service. It has also introduced standard pattern timetables between Immingham, Barton and Brigg, and brought Saturday services to Habrough and East Halton. Good news all round! One oddity I have noticed on the 450 is a near 2 hour layover in Brigg on Saturdays and school holidays.

Stagecoach have the timetables for the 45/46 and 150/450 on their website (though sadly a few 45/46 journeys to South Killingholme are omitted from the 150/450 timetable that is meant to show all South Killingholme services).

Grimsby Interconnect Routes April 2nd Changes

In a late change of plan, Stagecoach's Interconnect 3 between Grimsby, Market Rasen and Lincoln will not be seeing cuts of the scale previously planned. It will remain hourly between Lincoln and Market Rasen, with journeys extending every two hours to Grimsby, more often at peak times. The 3B schooldays service via Binbrook is also 'saved'. Only one journey each way requires a change of vehicle at Market Rasen.

The short journeys between Grimsby and Laceby, designed to maintain a roughly hourly frequency on this section will not now operate, leaving Laceby and Hainton Avenue with 1.5 buses per hour (Humber Flyer and 2 hourly 3). Weelsby Road (between Nuns Corner and Hainton Avenue) goes from an hourly to 2 hourly frequency.

Considering what it could have been, the new timetable is to be welcomed.

New Interconnect 3 timetable

On Stagecoach's Interconnect 51 between Grimsby and Louth the plan to reduce to hourly between Holton Le Clay and Louth is still occuring, reverting back to the pre-2005 service level. Unlike then however, the section between Chatsworth Drive and Louth Bus Station will not be supplemented with a town service.

New Interconnect 51 timetable

Stagecoach Scunthorpe April Changes Summary/Corrections

Here are full details on Stagecoach's 2nd April service changes in Scunthorpe, including corrections to some previous posts.

In a correction to this post the mentioned changes to the 31/32 town service are not hapenning. Positively the short afternoon frequency reduction on the 32 from every 30 minutes to half hourly will no longer occur. Further correcting this post, the 31A/32A are unchanged.

The 33 and 34 town services are cut from half hourly to hourly, with an extension to service 10 to serve Westcliff and John Leggott College providing a partial replacement. More details.

Service 90, linking Brigg, Scunthorpe and Crowle is continuing with an unchanged timetable on an emergency tender from North Lincolnshire Council until July. Stagecoach had originally proposed withdrawing this hourly commercial service entirely.

Interconnect 100 between Scunthorpe, Gainsborough and Lincoln sees most journeys diverted via Morton and there are timing changes of up to 5 minutes. The 0645 101 from Gainsborough to Scunthorpe, and 0740 return are replaced by journeys on route 100, operating 5 minutes earlier in each direction. In the evening the 1715 from Lincoln is curtailed at Scotter, and as a result 1910 from Scunthorpe to Gainsborough becomes a 1840 from Scotter to Gainsborough.

On route 101 from Scunthorpe to Gainsborough the 0640 departs 5 minutes earlier at 0635. On Saturdays and school holidays it will now start at Scotter.

Thursday and Saturday service 366 from Goxhill and Ulceby to Brigg and Scunthorpe is transferred from Grimsby to Scunthorpe depot, with no change to the timetable.

Additionally from April 16th Hornsby Travel will takeover operation of the tendered 60 from Scunthorpe to Whitton.

CT Plus first Hull schools service?

I don't normally cover schools services, but is this CT Plus's first schools service in Hull? There has previously been a comment on this site about CT Plus wanting schools services.

VOSA - Bus Registration Search Results: PB1055440/99 - CT PLUS (YORKSHIRE) COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY T/A CT PLUS, 71A, GELDERD ROAD, LEEDS, LS12 6HF
Registration Accepted by SN
Starting Point: Osbourne Street Hull
Finish Point: Newland School, Cottingham Road Hull
Via: Newland School
Service Number: 945
Service Type: School or Works
Effective Date: 17-APR-2012
Other Details: Monday to Friday Term Time Only

NOTICE - Stagecoach April service changes

Details of Stagecoach's service changes from next week are now available on their website. They are extensive however so it may well take me some time to go through them all! Details will appear on here during this week.

250 gone, 450 to Immingham, 3 not so cutback?

It seems that Stagecoach's April changes spread to a couple of services I had not seen any VOSA variations for. Thanks to a comment on my post about the 150 changes I've checked the Traveline East Midlands website and the 250 will cease to operate from 2nd April. Services will operate as a 45 from Grimsby to Immingham and then become a 450 through to Brigg via Barton. There is no 250 timetable available yet but the 450, between Barton and Brigg at least, gains a standard pattern 2 hourly timetable, though still with 4 journeys each day Monday to Saturday.

The comment, based on a Stagecoach leaflet also indicates that something similar may be happening with the 150 (i.e. numbered 45 between Grimsby and Immingham).

Meanwhile Traveline East Midlands is now showing the Interconnect 3 being retained as hourly between Lincoln and Market Rasen, and then two hourly to Grimsby (hourly at peak times), in contrast the previously mentioned Stagecoach leaflet.

The April changes have got very messy and very last minute, but if the outcome is a sustainable network, mitigating initially proposed cuts, then hopefully it should be worth it.

New 150 timetable, version 2

Traveline East Midlands now has the new Stagecoach 150 (Grimsby-Immingham-East Halton) timetable from 2nd April (again). Following a Stagecoach/North East Lincolnshire Council deal on concessionary fare payments, Stagecoach's plan to withdraw the service from Habrough is cancelled. The service is also retimed, but still remains 3 daytime journeys each way, and also gains a diversion into South Killingholme. Does this mean the plan to withdraw offpeak 45's from the village is still going ahead?

Interestingly the 150 will also gain a Saturday service, to the same timetable as weekdays. I can't remember East Halton having a Saturday service in recent times. Again this makes me wonder if it is a mitigation measure for withdrawing the off peak 45's to South Killingholme.

398 re-registered

Stagecoach have re-registered the 398 Tuesday shopper service from the Isle of Axholme to Gainsborough, that had previously been cancelled from April onwards.

VOSA - Bus Registration Search Results: PB0001484/190 - LINCOLNSHIRE ROAD CAR CO LTD, PO BOX 15, DEACON ROAD, LINCOLN, LN2 4JB
Registration Accepted by SN
Starting Point: Belton
Finish Point: Gainsborough
Via:
Service Number: 398
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 02-APR-2012
Other Details: New service to replace existing service. Hail and ride on all sections where traffic and safety conditions permit

Arriva 400 April change

North Yorkshire County Council reports that the 2nd April change to Arriva service 400 will see the weekday school holiday 1645 from Selby to Goole cancelled. An alternative service 401 is available at 1620 from Selby, and a 400 at 1705 from Selby.

30W cut to hourly at peak times

East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) notes that the 2nd April changes to Stagecoach in Hull 30W between Wawne and Hull will see the peak time service cut from half hourly to hourly. The half hourly peak time service was maintained on a commercial basis by Stagecoach during last April's service changes (ERYC fund only an hourly service), but I guess the 30 minute frequency doesn't cover the marginal costs of extending a service 30 from North Bransholme to Wawne and back.

EYMS service cuts coming?

This week's Route One magazine contains news on EYMS's fleet - in particular the purchase of 27 2002/03 Volvo B7/Plaxton President double deckers from London (5 have been converted for open top service in Scarborough). I don't normally cover fleet issues on here, but the comments by Peter Shipp in Route One are noteworthy.

He says the purchase will help EYMS meet the 'end of 2016' Disability Discrimination Act deadline for the withdrawal of non-low floor vehicles, with just 34 non wheelchair accessible buses in the fleet from May. And some of those 34 Peter Shipp "suspects" may "regrettably" be removed from service due to service cuts triggered by fuel duty increases and the recent cut in BSOG.

It's not surprising service cuts are on the agenda for EYMS. Peter Shipp has been very vocal about the pressures on his company and the wider bus industry. Plus EYMS has a lot of high mileage routes. I would guess EYMS are trying to avoid making cuts for as long as possible, hence why no changes next month when BSOG is cut.

However good to see EYMS upgrading it's fleet more than 4 years before it has to.

EYMS Easter Services

EYMS have released details of their services over Easter.

Good Friday

Sunday service on all routes except the following which will have a normal Friday service:

• 120 Bridlington-Scarborough


• 350 Humber Fastcat


• Goole Town Service

The Spurn Ranger and Moorsbus services will start for the Summer.

Easter Saturday

Saturday service as normal on all routes, plus Moorsbus will operate (the only Saturday in the year it does I think).

Easter Sunday

Normal Sunday service.

Easter Monday

Sunday service, except a Monday service on the 120.

Hornsby Service 60 timetable

Traveline East Midlands has the timetable for when Hornsby Travel take over North Lincolnshire Council tendered Monday to Saturday service 60 between Scunthorpe and Whitton from Stagecoach on April 16th. The main changes from the current timetable are:

• The 0705 from Scunthorpe will no longer serve Foxhills Industrial Estate


• The 1010 from Scunthorpe will operate via Flixborough and Burton to Thealby rather than direct via Normanby Hall. The 1026 return from Thealby will now depart at 1037 and unlike present operate via Flixborough into Scunthorpe


• The weekday only 1055 from Scunthorpe to Thealby now departs 1120 while the 1127 return service will now depart at 1152 and operate via Burton instead of via Normanby Hall


• The 1215 from Scunthorpe to Whitton will now depart at 1230, and the return from Whitton at 1317 rather than the current 1300


• The weekday only 1355 from Scunthorpe to Thealby and 1445 from Scunthorpe to Whitton are combined into a new 1410 Scunthorpe to Whitton, omitting The Stather in Burton which is currently served by the 1355; the last bus to The Stather will now be the 1230 from Scunthorpe. The return journeys (1427 from Thealby and 1519 from Whitton) are likwise merged into a new 1455 from Whitton. Unlike the current 1427/1519 these will operate via Burton and Flixborough rather than Normanby Hall


• The Saturday 1445 from Scunthorpe to Thealby now operates at 1410 and omits The Stather. The return service now leaves at 1437 rather than 1517 and operates via Burton and Flixborough rather than Normanby Hall


• The 1750 (weekday)/1745 (Saturday) from Scunthorpe to Whitton will now depart at 1740 6 days a week. The return from Whitton at 1830/1825 moves to 1822

The changes mean that Normanby Hall ceases to be served by a 'usable' bus service (just two morning journeys from Scunthorpe, and no return services), though the village of Normanby and it's bus stop is within walking distance for the able bodied. The flipside of this is a slightly improved service for Burton Upon Stather, and Flixborough also gains with less buses operating into Scunthorpe directly past Normanby Road Enterprise Park..