Isle of Axholme Service 97 revised

North Lincolnshire Council directly operated service 97 in the Isle of Axholme was revised on 29th January. The 97 was launched last May, operating between Garthorpe, Crowle, Epworth, Sandtoft and Wroot Monday to Friday. There were two full route journeys from Garthorpe, three from Wroot plus a Garthorpe to Epworth 'short' in each direction. It was reported last September that some changes may need to be made in response to early passenger numbers; those changes came in January.

The route is unchanged between Garthorpe and Epworth but now operates to Sandtoft via Low Burnham, Haxey, Westwoodside and Wroot. Haxey and Westwoodside already have Epworth links on the 399. The timetable has also been reduced, to two journeys in each direction - albeit not quite that simple. There is a morning Sandtoft-Garthorpe-Sandtoft round trip, then in the afternoon the route operates Epworth-Sandtoft-Garthorpe-Epworth.

There are now new Humber Transport Summary Timetables available for Belton to Epworth and Epworth to Haxey and Westwoodside, including the revised 97. 

Reviewing co-ordination with other services in detail and from Epworth to Haxey and Westwoodside, the 1141 from Epworth fits almost perfectly into a four hour gap on service 399. The 1315 from Epworth leaves just 21 minutes before a 399 however. From Westwoodside, the 0952 is just 12 minutes after a 399, but the 1412 fits in better between the 1323 and 1623 service 399's.

From Belton to Epworth the 1133 follows two minutes behind a service 399, but the 1548 fits in better between the 1331 and 1651 399's. Departing Epworth to Belton, the 1006 duplicates the 1007 399, with the 1426 fitting in a little better between the 1350 and 1650 399's.

Turning to North Axholme, and from Ealand into Crowle, the 1026 97 fits in nicely between the 0957 361 and the 1055 service 90. The 1446 97 runs 9 minutes ahead of a service 90, so not so good. Returning from Crowle, the 1118 97 follows after the 1114 90, whilst the 1533 97 is just a minute in front of a service 90.

Finally departing Garthorpe for Crowle, the 1100 97 slots in almost perfectly between the 0956 and 1156 service 361's, and the 1515 97 in between the 1356 and 1556 361's. From Crowle co-ordination is not as good, but not awful; the 1031 97 fits in between 1004 and 1204 service 361's, and the 1451 97 follows on from the 1404 service 361, to provide the last service of the day north from Crowle (except for a college day service 90 to Eastoft).

Overall co-ordination with other services can be described as mixed, but not an easy job to fit around multiple different other services.