Replacing the 20/20W

From Monday 5th September Stagecoach in Hull are making major changes to some of their routes serving Kingswood, Bransholme, North Bransholme and Wawne with the cancellation of the struggling 20/20W which operates between Hull and Wawne via Beverley Road, Kingswood and Kingsbury Way/Kesteven Way.

The first 'unique' section of route served by the 20/20W is the Runnymede Way area of Kingswood. Stagecoach have decided to divert service 15 as a replacement, giving a significant frequency increase, from every half hour Monday to Saturday daytimes on the 20/20W to every 10 minutes on the 15, albeit via a longer, less direct route into Hull. But you can't have everything!

The 15 frequency is also dropping from every 7-10 minutes weekday daytimes to every 10 minutes. Nothing major, and hopefully it may lead to the end of two 15's following each other which does often happen on what is a very busy route that has to navigate some very congested areas.

The other notable change to the 15 is that it will now only serve Kingswood Leisure Park on evenings and Sundays meaning the leisure park is now unserved Monday to Saturday daytimes. Can see why certainly on schooldays, but surprised it will be unserved on Saturday daytimes at least.

The 20/20W also provided the main service to Kingsbury Way/Kesteven Way; this function has now passed to a revised service 28. Currently the 28 operates between Hull, Beverley Road, Sutton Park and Bransholme every 12 minutes on weekday daytimes (every 10 minutes at peak times) and every 15 minutes on Saturdays. Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday daytime services operate half hourly, and hourly services run on Sunday evenings.

Under the 28's revised timetable, services will be reduced to operate every 15 minutes during weekday daytimes as well as on Saturdays; peak services on weekdays remain operating every 10 minutes. Stagecoach say larger low floor buses will be used which should replace the capacity lost by the frequency reduction.

Almost all services will now extend beyond Bransholme, generally alternately to Kingsbury Way/Kesteven Way, and to Kingswood Retail Park via Bodmin Road; Kingswood Retail Park services being numbered 28A. This shall increase journey times slightly between Kingsbury Way and Hull City Centre compared to the 20, but shall provide all day links to the North Point Shopping Centre from Kingsbury Way. Furthermore the 28A creates a new Sutton Park-Kingswood link and retains the Kingswood to Beverley Road link currently provided by the 20/20W.

On Monday to Saturday daytimes both Kingsbury Way and Kingswood get half hourly extensions. In the evenings, and on Sundays, when the main Hull to Bransholme service is half hourly, each extension shall operate hourly. For Kingsbury Way this is an increase on the irregular frequency Friday and Saturday evening/Sunday daytime service provided by the 20. On Sunday evenings just an hourly Hull-Kingsbury Way service shall operate, providing a new Sunday evening service to Kingsbury Way.

Hopefully by attaching Kingsbury Way services to the established 28 it shall be a more viable way of serving the area.

The other major destination served by the 20W is the East Riding Village of Wawne. Again Stagecoach have decided to serve Wawne by an extension of an established service, the 30 between Hull, Bransholme and North Bransholme. Not the first time this has happenned. Wawne will see 30W extensions hourly during the day, 7 days a week, and half hourly during weekday peak times. Monday to Saturday this is broadly in line with the current 20W, but the restoration of an hourly Sunday daytime service, probably commercially, is an improvement on the current limited Sunday service of one bus in each direction. Additionally the daily 2240 and 2320 departures from Hull will extend through to Wawne. The reintroduction of the 30W also restores the Wawne-North Point link while removing the Wawne-Kingswood link provided by the 20W - again though, can't have everything!

The 30 also sees other changes, with the North Bransholme loop dropped and services operating the same route in and outbound on the estate instead. There is also a new 0555 Hull-Bransholme 30X via Sutton Fields Industrial Estate on weekdays. In the weekday afternoon peak services between Branhsolme and Hull are increased to operate every 7-8 minutes.

Finally the K1 will be revised to maintain the 20W's current link between North Branhsolme and Kingswood, but I will cover that in another post.