Cutbacks and small improvements

On Monday 2nd December, Hornsby Travel revised service 4 between Scunthorpe and Brigg, service 12 between Scunthorpe and Ashfield, and service 13 between Scunthorpe and Lakeside Retail Park. For the most part the changes were sadly cutbacks.

Starting with service 4 the main 'headline' is that Monday to Friday daytime services now follow the Saturday daytime route between Ashby Broadway and Lakeside, serving Bottesford Road, Bottesford Lane and Timberland, rather than the more direct route via Ashby High Street and Queensway, which are still served early mornings and evenings (and by the Stagecoach Sunday service). This is to compensate for the almost total withdrawal of service 13 along Bottesford Road, Bottesford Lane and Timberland (see below). Daytime journey times from Scunthorpe to Brigg increase from 45 to 49 minutes and from Brigg to Scunthorpe increase from 45 to 47 minutes.

Also on weekdays the 1730 and 1830 from Brigg to Scunthorpe now terminate 'short' at the Hornsby Depot in Ashby, with the 1830 now omitting Town Hill and South View in Broughton as well; the last bus from Brigg to these parts of Broughton is now at 1730. There are now no buses from Broughton to Scunthorpe Town Centre between 1646 and 2101; for Brigg to Scunthorpe passengers the X4 is available as an alternative and there is also a 1915 service 4 from Brigg to Scunthorpe omitting Broughton.

The Saturday timetable has also been extensively revised. Rather than operate at totally different times to weekdays - the 4 had been departing both Scunthorpe Bus Station and Brigg at :30 past the hour Monday to Friday and at :00 past the hour on Saturdays - the Saturday service 4 now mostly operates at the same or similar times to weekdays. Another Saturday improvement is the introduction of a limited service to Foxhills Industrial Estate. There is a new Saturday 0512 from Lakeside to Foxhills via Scunthorpe Bus Station, and 0610 return from Foxhills to Brigg (0630 from Scunthorpe Bus Station). These journeys also provide new early morning journey opportunities for travel within Scunthorpe and from Scunthorpe and Broughton into Brigg. The previous first service 4 from Lakeside into Scunthorpe was at 0732 and from Scunthorpe to Brigg at 0700. There is also a 1610 service from Foxhills Industrial Estate to Scunthorpe, Broughton and Brigg.

Elsewhere in the Saturday timetable there are slight cutbacks in the Town Hill and South View areas of Broughton, which are now served by departures from both Scunthorpe and Brigg between 0730 and 1730 rather than between 0700 and 1800. The first service from Brigg to Scunthorpe is 30 minutes later at 0730 rather than 0700. As on weekdays the 1730 and 1830 from Brigg terminate short in Ashby leaving a two and three quarter gap from Brigg to Scunthorpe between 1630 and 1915 but with no X4 as an alternative; unlike on weekdays the 1915 does serve Broughton though so the over four hour Monday to Friday gap for a service into Scunthorpe isn't quite as long on a Saturday. Saturday evening services no longer serve Scunthorpe Hospital. The last service is 10 minutes later in each direction, at 2010 rather than 2000 from Scunthorpe Bus Station and at 2050 rather than 2040 from Brigg.

Monday to Friday service 12 isn't changed, but the timetable now also applies on Saturdays. As a result the Saturday 'extras' from Scunthorpe Bus Station at 1745 and from Ashfield at 0815, 0915, 1315 and 1715 no longer operate. Neither do the extensions of certain services to Burringham and East Butterwick. East Butterwick now no longer has a 'fixed timetable' service, and Burringham only on a Friday.

Service 13 goes from an hourly Monday to Friday daytime service to one college day journey in each direction. The college day 13 follows the same route between Lakeside Retail Park and Ashby via Timberland, Bottesford Lane and Bottesford Road, but rather than follow the service 12 route into Scunthorpe instead operates via Ashby Road, West Common Lane, Glover Road (for John Leggott and North Lindsey Colleges), Kingsway, Church Lane (Scunthorpe Hospital) and Scunthorpe Station. Incorporating Scunthorpe Hospital and Station into the route is welcome, but there aren't many positives here.

Nowhere is left unserved by the change to the 13; as already noted the 4 replaces the 13 between Ashby and Lakeside, continuing to operate hourly and introducing new weekday links to Brigg in the process. Between Scunthorpe and Ashby the old 13 route along Cemetery Road, Old Brumby Street, Revesby Avenue, Alvingham Road and Collum Avenue also has the hourly 12, but frequency is cut from half hourly (12+13 combined) to hourly (12 only). Going back around 10 years ago Stagecoach also served this route half hourly Monday to Saturday, so a significant reduction in recent years. Cemetery Road is in the odd situation of having a more frequent Sunday daytime service than Monday to Saturday daytimes, as it is served by the Stagecoach 1A every half hour. Last departure from Scunthorpe Bus Station on service 12 is at 1715 rather than 1745 on service 13.