Once upon a time EYMS and Stagecoach Hull ran a joint service between Hull and Leeds via Brough, Goole and Freeport Castleford (the X62). Then EYMS gave up their share (6 years ago or so I think) and Stagecoach introduced a revised timetable. Out went the morning peak service and in came a timetable designed for shoppers going to Leeds and Freeport Castleford. One that has seen some minor improvements over time and a Sunday/Bank Holiday service introduced.
Well from 27th July, Stagecoach are proposing to go back to how it was to a certain extent. A morning peak time journey will be reintroduced, and the timetable will be more evenly spread throughout the day, approxiamtely every two hours. An extra weekday journey will be operated. Below is a comparison of the current and proposed new times.
Monday to Friday
Current Hull departures: 0930 1030 1330 1630
Proposed new Hull departures: 0640 0940 1140 1340 1640
Current Leeds departures: 1120 1220 1520 1820
Proposed new Leeds departures: 0830 1130 1330 1530 1830
Saturday
Current Hull departures: 0830 0930 1030 1330 1430 1630
Proposed new Hull departures: 0640 0940 1140 1340 1540 1740
Current Leeds departures: 1020 1120 1220 1520 1620 1820
Proposed new Leeds departures: 0830 1130 1330 1530 1730 1930
There are no changes proposed to Sunday/Bank Holiday times.
Will this new timetable be a success? One of the reasons EYMS dropped their share of the route was apparently because they had the peak time journeys as part of their share, and these weren't performing particularly well. So can Stagecoach make a success of them? The evening return time of 1830 from Leeds on weekdays is a bit late for commuters. We shall see what happens. Also of note is a new late Saturday departure from Leeds at 1930.
Finally the service shall be operated by coaches instead off the current ex-RoadCar Volvo double deckers.
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East Yorkshire withdrew from Service X62 in 2007. With forthcoming legislation concerning EC Drivers' Hours legislation and the minimum requirement to operate services with accessible vehicles, the company chose to call it a day as their specific diagrams were far less profitable than those operated by Stagecoach.
The busiest flow on the X62 is Leeds-bound in the morning and Hull-bound in the afternoon. Stagecoach's workings fitted well with the morning peak to Leeds - they issued all the return fares and took all the money for these journeys. East Yorkshire's diagrams were ideally placed to bring them all home in the afternoon peak. But these people had already given their money to Stagecoach.
Consequently, East Yorkshire were carrying the passengers but not receiving the money. In the days of nationalisation, the money would be pooled; legally, this cannot take place now.
Understandably, Stagecoach were unwilling to alter their diagrams (they were taking all the passengers/money in the morning and not having to worry about what they carried for the rest of the day) so East Yorkshire chose to withdraw completely.
Stagecoach slightly modified its existing journeys and added an additional Saturday journey. Largely, however, the journeys have remained unaltered since East Yorkshire's departure.
Having Megabusplus forced on it by Perth HQ, Stagecoach now have a large number of drivers only able to operate to EC Drivers' Hours legislation. Generally they operate a fortnight on Megabus duties and a week on the X62. Due to the nature of the legislation and the minimum guaranteed hours its drivers receive, there are economies to be had by running an additional journey on the X62. This removes much driver wastage that presently exists with lengthy periods of standby for some shifts.
I'd also expect to see Megabus-liveried vehicles on the X62 from time-to-time as no additional resource is being added to the fleet.
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