Blast from the Past

Sunday 1st June saw the return of historic route number 45 between Immingham, Grimsby and Cleethorpes as part of a relatively small but very positive service enhancement. Stagecoach's 45 was renumbered as the 5 on 1st September 2014 to fit in with a wider renumbering scheme in North East Lincolnshire, but is now back alongside the 5 which continues to operate Monday to Saturday daytimes.

Daily evenings the 5 had been operating between Immingham and Grimsby every hour, with a Sunday daytime extension to Hewitts Circus via Ladysmith Road and Humberston Road, meaning that Humberston Road between Weelsby Road and Hewitts Circus had an hourly service Sundays compared to three buses each way Monday to Saturday. When introduced I speculated that operational reasons were behind this, enabling interworking with the 10.

Now the 45 replaces the 5 Monday to Saturday evenings and all day Sunday, operating hourly at all times between Immingham, Grimsby, Ladysmith Road, Clee Road and Cleethorpes Pier. This provides a new evening link from Immingham, Stallingborough, Healing, Wybers Wood and the Willows Estate to Cleethorpes as well as a new evening service for Ladysmith Road and Clee Road. Sunday daytimes, Immingham, Stallingborough and Healing regain a Cleethorpes service, whilst the frequency from the Willows Estate and Ladysmith Road to Cleethorpes and along Clee Road is doubled from once per hour on the 6, to twice per hour across the 6 and 45 (albeit unfortunately at a 15-45 minute interval). 

It is a nice nod to history that the 45 number has returned. However it is out of place compared to the main local routes within North East Lincolnshire being numbered in the 1-12 range, and the only exceptions being the 'also low numbered' 17 and 20. In reality the 45 is the 5 extended to Cleethorpes. There is an argument that using the 5 number could be confusing as one weekday morning service operates from Humberston, Cleethorpes and Grimsby to Immingham via Grimsby Road and Cleethorpe Road rather than Clee Road and Ladysmith Road, although that particular journey is a 5M not a 5.