Hull Bus Forum Notes, 13th February

Today saw the first Hull Bus Forum for around two years, attended by Stagecoach in Hull, EYMS and CT Plus as well as Hull City Council.

Some notable (to me) points:

Stagecoach in Hull April Service Changes

Firstly I should preface this with Jon Donnelly's (Stagecoach East Midlands North Commercial Manager) note at the start of the forum that the changes are still to be finalised. Despite this he did reveal some details of what is planned.

Some of April's changes will be related to reliability/punctuality so not every service is seeing major changes. One route this applies to is the 46.

Major Changes are coming to Bransholme services. The 31 in it's current form is withdrawn. Part of the replacement will see alternate journeys on service 30 operating via Leads Road and Midmere Avenue. There will also be a new route that is a 'hybrid' of services 30 and 32. In Orchard Park all journeys on the 13/14 will extend to Tesco. Meanwhile in East Hull the 42 will switch from serving Maybury Road to Portobello Street while the 54 shall make the reverse switch.

It has been reported on yahoo groups that Stagecoach in Hull are receiving new single deckers for the 43/54. It would seem the displaced Dennis Dart SLF's will be staying in Hull as from 2nd April the 10, 52 and 53 will go low floor. Apparently only around 3 vehicles in the Stagecoach Hull fleet will not be low floor from April.

Humber Bridge tolls

Currently the Humber Bridge Board grant a discount for buses. However when (hopefully) the tolls are reduced the discount may be removed, potentially negating the impact of lower tolls. Even if the tolls remain discounted for buses other cost pressures mean cross Humber fares won't be reduced. Jon Donnelly noted that the bridge tolls are only a small part of the costs incurred on cross Humber bus services.

Peter Shipp (EYMS Owner/Chairman) also noted that as tolls are hopefully reduced, some current bus passengers may use the car instead and that potentially bus services could see reduced use. Yes, there is a potential negative from reducing the bridge tolls!