Saturday 31 March 2018

Sunday and Bank Holiday 220 Ends

Good Friday (30th March) was the last day of operation for the Sunday and Bank Holiday journeys on service 220 between Hornsea and Aldbrough Cliffs. Two journeys had been provided by EYMS under contract to East Riding of Yorkshire Council, who withdrew funding, departing Hornsea EYMS Depot at 1335 and 1635, returning from Aldbrough Cliffs at 1403 and 1703.

Between the start of April and early September, another subsidised service, the 129 between Hornsea and Withernsea, also covers the route of the 220 on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Departures from Hornsea are at 0952, 1152, 1352 and 1552, and from Aldbrough Cliffs in the direction of Hornsea at 0920, 1120, 1320 and 1520. The 129 doesn't have as late a last departure as the 220, but otherwise provides a very good service for five months of the year, the likely five busiest months of the year.

The Sunday and Bank Holiday 220 is on the same contract as the Sunday and Bank Holiday 246 between Hornsea and Beverley, which continues until early May on a presumably commercial basis. The combined Sunday and Bank Holiday 220/246 carried an average 7 passengers per journey, 4313 passengers a year, at a subsidy of £1.84 per passenger journey, according to the 2016  'Review of Bus Services in the East Riding' documentation produced by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

The Monday to Saturday 220 is unaffected by this change but has been deregistered by EYMS in early May.

Friday 30 March 2018

Brough Town Service withdrawn

Easter Saturday (31st March), is the last day of operation for the 158 Brough Town Service. The service is falling victim to East Riding of Yorkshire Council cuts to bus subsidies. According to the council's 2016 'Review of Bus Services in the East Riding', the EYMS operated 158 carries an average 4 passengers per journey at a subsidy of £4.34 per passenger journey. Annual passengers were 19618.

The 'main' 158 operates mostly every 40 minutes, Monday to Saturday daytimes from Elloughton's EYMS depot via Beech Road and Hunter Road to Brough Crossroads (as opposed to Main Street and Elloughton Road used by the 155 and X55) then routes via Welton Road to Myrtle Way in East Brough. From here the 158 retraces it's route to Brough Crossroads before operating a loop via Skillings Lane, Saltgrounds Road, Station Road and Welton Road back to Brough Crossroads. The 158 then returns via Hunter Road and Beech Road to Elloughton before extending to Stockbridge Park in west Elloughton via Stockbridge Road and finally returning to Elloughton EYMS depot for a brief break. Three journeys Monday to Friday have also included a trip from Elloughton to Welton and Melton.

Some parts of the 158 do have alternatives. Melton and Welton were added to the 158 when the 155 was reduced from hourly to two hourly, but the 155 went back up to hourly in February. Welton Road in Brough and Stockbridge Road in Elloughton are well served by the 155 and X55 providing two buses an hour. However other parts of Brough and Elloughton are not so lucky.

From my fairly limited knowledge of Brough and Elloughton (so please correct me if I'm wrong), a full size bus probably wouldn't be suitable for Beech Road, Hunter Road or Stockbridge Park. Proposing to use Brough's main 155 or X55 services to serve these areas (or the 143 or X62) therefore probably wouldn't be possible. However full size buses could serve parts of the growing residential areas in East Brough (with more development to come), as well as the Skillings Lane/Saltgrounds Road/Station Road area. Unfortunately looking at the timetables the 155 has 10 minutes 'layover' at Elloughton and 8 minutes at Hull Interchange which would be tight to serve an additional part of Brough whilst still providing some time for delay recovery and driver changeover. The X55 looks tightly timed on South Cave terminating journeys. If EYMS didn't have an Elloughton depot maybe replacing the Brough to Elloughton part of the 155, also covered by the X55, with Skillings Lane would have been an option - but I presume Elloughton is needed on the 155 for driver changeovers.

So with diverting other services not likely to be realistic as a replacement (aside from the three day a week 143 Beverley 'shopper' or Stagecoach X62 to Leeds that wouldn't be any use for local journeys within Brough) it is worth asking - had retaining the 158 on less days of the week been considered? In North Lincolnshire the Barton and Brigg Town Services operate on alternate days of the week under what I believe is the same contract. Could the Brough and say Hessle town services have done the same?

Sunday 25 March 2018

Sunday and Bank Holiday 18A withdrawn

Due to withdrawal of East Riding of Yorkshire Council subsidy, the EYMS operated Sunday and Bank Holiday 18A between Holme on Spalding Moor and York is withdrawn after operation on Good Friday (30th March). The 18A had provided four daytime journeys each way, operating via the Yorkshire Air Museum as opposed to the Monday to Saturday service 18 route via York Designer Outlet.

According to the 2016 initial withdrawal proposals from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the 18A carried an average 7 passengers per journey at a £2.94 subsidy per journey.

Monday to Saturday service 18 continues unchanged for the next few weeks, after which it has been cancelled by EYMS, with changes to the 45/46 set to cover Holme on Spalding Moor. Details on any other replacement services are unknown at present.

Monday 12 March 2018

EYMS East Yorkshire Coast Changes

Easter Sunday (1st April) sees changes introduced to services operated by EYMS along the East Yorkshire Coast.

For Service 129 between Withernsea and Hornsea there are just some changes to intermediate times to "help buses stay on time in the busy summer traffic". As an aside, would the service benefit from making the small diversion into Hornsea Freeport car park?

On Service 130 between Hornsea and Bridlington, the weekday 1600 from Hornsea which had operated every weekday between Easter and the end of September will now only operate on weekdays during School Holidays during this time period; the year round 1600 weekend and Bank Holiday departure remains unaffected. 

Service X30 between Hornsea, Bridlington and Scarborough maybe withdrawn; it had provided one journey each way on weekdays in the School Summer Holidays offering a Scarborough daytrip option. The separate Bridlington to Scarborough registration was cancelled last month and the new 130 timetable on the EYMS website does not reference the X30, which it had done this early in the year in previous years. No official confirmation from EYMS though.

It will be interesting to see if the 130 has further changes later in the year if Hornsea depot closes, as the timetable is optimised for that depot to work the service. No changes registered yet despite multiple other changes being registered last week for early May to services across the EYMS network.