Last Monday, 5th February, EYMS made some mostly positive changes to service 155 between Hull, Brough, Elloughton, South Cave, Howden and Goole.
The headline change is the doubling of the Monday to Saturday daytime frequency between Hull and Elloughton from every two hours to hourly. It is only four extra round trips (3 on Saturdays) but enough to make a big difference. This is particularly significant for parts of Hessle and the villages of Melton and Welton for whom the 155 is the main bus service. Combined with the X55, the frequency between Hull and Brough/Elloughton is now two buses an hour (as opposed to 1.5 per hour); departures from Elloughton are at half hourly intervals whilst from Hull are at 25 to 35 minute intervals. This is the best EYMS service since February 2012 when the frequency of the 155 was reduced from hourly. Service 155 takes 10 minutes longer in each direction between Hull and Brough/Elloughton which whilst notable is not enough to be unattractive compared to the X55.
One negative is the withdrawal of the Monday to Saturday 1718 Goole to Elloughton journey, with alternative departures from Goole remaining at 1543 or 1753. Within Goole service 155 will follow the X55 route, serving Pasture Road inbound to the town centre, and Oxford Road outbound.
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3 comments:
This is a welcome positive change, and more than compensates for the three Elloughton - Melton journeys on Brough Town Service 158, which will be withdrawn on 1st April (along with the rest of the service) as part of the ERYC supported service reductions. The departures from Elloughton to Melton on 158 at 1120, 1320 and 1440 now have alternatives on 155 at 1100, 1300 and 1500, while in the opposite direction the 1127 and 1327 departures from Melton Bottom were only 15 minutes before a 155 anyway and the 1447 now has a 155 alternative at 1442. These journeys were introduced in July 2012, to compensate in part for the reduction in 155 to 2-hourly about six months earlier.
Within Brough and Elloughton, the more regular frequency on 155/X55 will also slightly mitigate the withdrawal of the main 158 service, although not penetrating the residential areas or serving the loop via Skillings Lane and Saltgrounds Road.
While this is certainly the best service to Brough and Elloughton since February 2012, we shouldn’t forget that the two buses per hour service had only existed since the introduction of Petuaria Express in 2010. For 25 or so years before that (since before deregulation), the hourly 155 had been the only regular service from Hull to Elloughton, which makes the new improved service level even more noteworthy.
I wonder of the extent to which the increased 155 frequency is simply using a driver and vehicle freed up from the 88 reduction.
It certainly seems more than likely that this is what has happened in practice - although complicated by the replacement 88 shoppers bus which seems to tie up a bus and driver three mornings a week. In any case, EYMS must believe that using an extra vehicle on the 155 is going to generate more revenue than it would have done on the 88.
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