Now just the 63 (and the 63C)

Until Saturday (5th May), EYMS services on the 'Priory Road' corridor in West Hull comprised the 60, 60A, 61, 61C, 62, 64 and 64C. Monday to Saturday daytimes they ran as follows:

62 - 3 buses every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road and the Setting Dyke Estate
64 - Hourly between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Cottingham and Castle Hill Hospital
61 - Every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Cottingham, Skidby, Little Weighton, Walkington and Beverley
60 -  Every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, New Village Road, Cottingham and Cottingham Parkway
60A - Every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Beck Bank, Hallgate, Cottingham and Cottingham Parkway

Together these services provided a bus every 15 minutes from Hull City Centre to Priory Road as far as Ledbury Road, and two to three buses an hour through to Cottingham. The 61C was one morning 61 that also served Castle Hill Hospital whilst the 64C was for evening extensions beyond Castle Hill Hospital to Willerby.

Since yesterday, Sunday 6th May, the above has been much simplified, with inevitable winners and losers. The main Monday to Saturday daytime service is now known as service 63 and comprises:

• A half hourly service between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road and Setting Dyke (Ledbury Road) - i.e. the old 62 route, and personally I might have kept that number for these journeys since the other journeys don't divert off Priory Road to Ledbury Road
• A half hourly service between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Cottingham, Eppleworth Road, Green Lane and Castle Hill Hospital - i.e. the old 64 route
• An hourly extension from Castle Hill Hospital to Beverley via Skidby, Little Weighton and Walkington, covering not only the 61 but also replacing the 180 via these villages

In terms of positives the service to Ledbury Road increases by an extra bus every two hours, whilst Eppleworth Road, Green Lane and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham are doubled from hourly to half hourly (Eppleworth Road did lose the hourly Stagecoach 9 in late April however). Skidby, Little Weighton and Walkington trade access to Willerby, Anlaby and Hessle on the 180 for an increased hourly service to Hull, Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital - personally I regard that as a worthwhile trade off. Beverley also gets an improved hourly frequency to Hull Royal Infirmary. It is also a far easier to understand service with less variations and everything on a standard hourly rather than two hourly pattern.

However there are negatives. Services to central Cottingham are reduced by one bus every two hours, but with a half hourly service remaining and options on other routes to both Hull City Centre (103, 105, 115) and Hull Royal Infirmary (115/154 via Castle Hill) I don't see this being a big issue. In Cottingham, New Village Road, Beck Bank/Hallgate and the southern end of The Parkway/Ganton Avenue are now unserved. Apologies if I am incorrect but the southern of The Parkway and Ganton Avenue look to be within walking distance of the 115 on Burton Road and the northern end of The Parkway. Similarly Beck Bank is close by to Thwaite Street, and Hallgate to the stops in Central Cottingham - both are also close to Cottingham Station. New Village Road however isn't close by to any alternatives.

Sunday daytimes see the hourly 64 replaced by an hourly 63 over the same route between Hull City Centre and Castle Hill Hospital. The daily evening 64C's to Willerby remain, renumbered as 63C, the only suffixed variation to remain.

Looking in detail at the timetable, there is now a 60 minute weekday morning gap from Hull Interchange after the 0615 to Castle Hill, as the 0635 60A is not replaced. The final service from Hull Interchange to Skidby/Little Weighton/Walkington is now five minutes earlier at 1708 rather than 1713, and from Beverley is 10 minutes earlier at 1700 rather than 1710.