New Hull Service 34

On Monday 2nd September, new bus service 34 was introduced in Hull, operated by Stagecoach and funded by Hull City Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus allocation. The route links Stagecoach's Foster Street depot with Hull Paragon Interchange via Chamberlain Road and James Reckitt Avenue in Garden Village.

Operating Monday to Saturday, the 34 has one morning peak service from Foster Street, followed by an hourly frequency in both directions during the morning and early afternoon, extending later into the afternoon on Saturdays only. There are then four one-way only departures from Paragon Interchange at 1745, 1830, 1930 and 2030.

The 34 seems to serve two purposes, restoring a bus service along Chamberlain Road and boosting the service along James Reckitt Avenue in Garden Village. I have created a new Garden Village to Hull City Centre summary timetable, which shows how from Paragon Interchange to Garden Village off peak there are now departures at 00, 30 and 45 minutes past the hour across the 33, 34 and 40 routes. The early evening service 34's mean the last departure from Paragon Interchange to Garden Village is now at 2030 rather than 1800. Co-ordination between services in the other direction doesn't work out as well, with the 34 often following another service.

Better Evening Services in Hull

As part of Stagecoach's 1st September service changes in Hull, a number of services were increased from hourly to half hourly Monday to Saturday evenings, funded by Hull City Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding:

• Service 1: Paragon Interchange-Hessle Road-Boothferry Estate
• Service 2: Paragon Interchange-Anlaby Road-Boothferry Estate
• Service 3: Paragon Interchange-Orchard Park
• Service 7 (was service 8): Paragon Interchange-Beverley Road-Sutton Park-Bransholme North Point
• Service 10: Paragon Interchange-North Point-North Bransholme

This adds to Stagecoach services 5 and 13 that already had a 30 minute Monday to Saturday evening frequency.

One nice touch is that up Beverley Road services have been timed for a co-ordinated 15 minute evening frequency departing Paragon Interchange; the 4 at :00 past the hour, the 7 at :15 and :45 past the hour and the 6 at :30 past the hour.

Not worth a separate post, but all service 10 journeys now operate via George Street and North Bridge in Hull City Centre, as opposed to Alfred Gelder Street and Drypool Bridge. A more direct route, which should help with punctuality, but at the cost of inferior access to the Old Town area and Princes Quay. In a similar move, all service 4 journeys inbound from Orchard Park now operate direct to Paragon Interchange via Brook Street as opposed to using the City Centre loop.

Hull Service 12 Frequency Increase

Utilising some of Hull City Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding, Stagecoach service 12 in East Hull was improved from Sunday 1st September. The 12 links Paragon Interchange with North Point Shopping Centre in Bransholme via Holderness Road Shops, Sutton Village and Noddle Hill Way. Previously the 12 had operated every 20 minutes Monday to Friday daytimes, half hourly weekend daytimes and hourly daily evenings.

September's enhancements increased the Monday to Friday frequency to every 15 minutes, but with some 20 minute gaps remaining - to illustrate from Paragon Interchange between 1000 and 1200 there are departures at 1008, 1023, 1038, 1053, 1113, 1133 and 1153. 

Saturday's have been improved differently, with a 15 minute frequency from North Point between 1020 and 1250, and from Paragon Interchange between 1341 and 1811. This means quite a bit of 'dead'/out of service running between Paragon Interchange and North Point in the 'counter flow' direction where the 'in service' frequency remains half hourly. There is also a new Saturday only 1941 from Paragon Interchange, filling a previous one hour gap (that remains the rest of the week).

Hourly Grimsby to Lincoln

Stagecoach service 53 between Grimsby, Caistor, Market Rasen and Lincoln was enhanced on 2nd September 2024, using Lincolnshire County Council Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding.

Previously the 53 had operated hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes between Lincoln and Market Rasen, and every two hours, with peak time extras, between Market Rasen and Grimsby. Most journeys were the same bus all the way between Lincoln and Grimsby, but there was one occasion each morning in each direction were passengers had to change at Market Rasen. Now the frequency is hourly across the whole route, and all journeys are through services. In reality this means three extra journeys each way between Market Rasen and Grimsby, but they make a big difference. 

Also off note is that the schoolday only variation 53B, which operated between Grimsby and Market Rasen via Binbrook rather than Caistor, has been replaced by service 53A, which is a standard 53 via Caistor but additionally serving De Aston School in Market Rasen.

Bridlington Town Network Recast

East Yorkshire made significant revisions to their Monday to Saturday daytime town services in Bridlington from 1st September.

Starting first with service 2, which operated hourly off peak to the south of the town, departing Bridlington Bus Station via the town's health centre to Cardigan Road, Belvedere Parade and Avocet Way. Service 2 was withdrawn with only a partial replacement; the daily service 136 between Bridlington and Driffield now serves Avocet Way on all journeys. On one hand this does provide new morning peak and Sunday services to Avocet Way, but Monday to Saturday daytimes are cut from hourly to every three hours. Otherwise no mitigation was provided; it is worth noting that service 136 serves Shaftesbury Road near Cardigan Road outbound from Bridlington only, and the seasonal park and ride is located at the southern end of Belvedere Parade.

Service 3 from Bridlington Bus Station to the West Hill Estate and Bridlington Hospital became the 502. There is a new timetable, but it remains hourly off peak.

Service 4 and 4A had each operated hourly from Bridlington Bus Station to the New Pasture Lane Estate via different parts of the Old Town area of Bridlington; the interval was every 20-40 minutes between the two services, combining with service 5 for a twenty minute frequency out of Bridlington Town Centre along Quay Road. With the new network, the 4 became the 501 and the 4A the 500, with each service now also incorporating a loop around Harewood Avenue, Trentham Drive and Bempton Lane. The 500 and 501 are each hourly, with a perfect 30 minute interval from Bridlington Bus Station. The 0723 Monday to Friday service 4 from New Pasture Lane to Bridlington Bus Station, and the Saturday 0823 service 4 from New Pasture Lane were not included in the new 500 and 501 timetables.

Service 5 had been an hourly service from Bridlington Bus Station to the Bempton Lane area. The new network splits the service up between three different routes. As noted above, the 500 and 501 now serve the Bempton Lane area, reinstating two buses per hour, one of the positives from these changes. Along the western part of Queensgate, the 5 is replaced by the new 503. Watsons Avenue has a frequency reduction of one bus per hour, going from the 4/4A/5 to the 500/501. However the middle section of the 5, along St Mary's Walk and Jubilee Avenue is now only served by college services and the Sunday 512.

Finally to the previous service 6, which operated hourly off peak from the Bus Station to The Crayke area. in the north east of Bridlington. The 6 is now the 503, and still does perform the same function, however rather than departing Bridlington Bus Station via the Promenade and Flamborough Road, it takes a slightly longer route via Quay Road and Queensgate - still on a hourly frequency.

In summary, the hourly 2 and 5 have been axed, with the 5 largely split between the old 4, 4A and 6 services. I haven't studied in detail, but presumably one bus was withdrawn from the Bridlington Town network as a result? 

Going Year Round

East Yorkshire operated tendered service 129 between Withernsea and Hornsea has for a number of years only had a Sunday service between Easter and early September. However, utilising some of East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding, the Sunday service is now year round. 

East Yorkshire's September service change announcement also indicated the same arrangement for the historically Summer Saturday only journeys on service 130 between Hornsea and Bridlington, though I thought they had gone year round last year. 2023 or 2024, it's good news.

360 and 361 pass from East Yorkshire to Stagecoach

On Monday 2nd September, operation of tendered services 360 and 361 between Scunthorpe and Goole passed from East Yorkshire (Elloughton depot) to Stagecoach (Scunthorpe depot). The timetable for this daily service remained unchanged. 

In one sense, the unchanged timetable is logical - why should the timetable alter because of a change of operator? Yet the timetable is very much optimised for operation from the 'Goole end' of the route, and some minor changes could provide a better service for probably less cost.

Perhaps the biggest oddity is the Saturday timetable, which requires two buses for the sake of half an hour, as a service 361 departs Goole at 1110, with the arrival of the 'previous' service into Goole at 1139. When operated by East Yorkshire from Elloughton Depot that may have made operational sense if a a driver and vehicle change needed to take place. However now a bus has to run 'dead' from Scunthorpe to Goole for the 1110, and another returns 'dead' from Goole to Scunthorpe after 1139. Given that Stagecoach have a depot in Scunthorpe, surely the timetable could be rejigged slightly to require only one vehicle all day, with driver swaps in Scunthorpe as required? Or if a second vehicle is required, ensure any 'overlaps' between vehicle requirements are timetabled to the Scunthorpe end of the route, to avoid large amounts of dead running? Potentially an easy cost saving (and better for the environment with less dead running).

Another oddity is with the morning peak Eastoft to Goole service Monday to Saturday and the evening peak return. The main purpose is to link the East Riding villages along the Ouse to Goole, and the road network means starting back at Eastoft in North Lincolnshire is a sensible thing to do. For an Elloughton based operator, it is also the sensible start and finish points for these journeys, as they can easily run dead to/from Eastoft via the A161. However for a Scunthorpe based operator, the marginal costs of running as full route journeys from Scunthorpe to Goole would be marginal. Missed opportunity? Could miss out Tesco Extra and Ealand village to cut marginal costs back further? Or at least start in Crowle, which has to be run through 'dead' anyway to get to Eastoft.

The timetable also requires dead running from Scunthorpe to Goole each morning and reverse in the evening Monday to Friday and Sunday. Operating a full in service 360 or 361 at these times might be a little optimistic, but is there a missed opportunity to run a Scunthorpe-Crowle-A161-Goole fast service? Or at least to reinstate the early morning Swinefleet-Goole short and early evening return - the extra mileage would be zero? 

Extra Morning service between Bridlington and Beverley

Over the Summer Holidays, East Yorkshire service 121 between Hull, Beverley, Driffield and Bridlington gained extra Monday to Friday hourly 'short' workings between Beverley and Bridlington, not previously covered on this blog. 

On 1st September a new timetable was introduced, that removed most of those extras, but still provided an extra service compared to pre-holidays. Monday to Friday there is now a 0750 Bridlington to Beverley service, slotted in between the 0720 and 0820 Bridlington to Hull departures. The return leaves Beverley for Bridlington at 0855, in between existing 0813 and 0913 departures.

The all year Saturday extra journeys on this otherwise hourly daily daytime service remain.

Service 121 becomes the 41 on Sunday 10th November.