Two of the main longer distance bus services from Grimsby got some 'love' on Sunday 1st June, service 51 to Louth and service 250 to Hull via Barton.
One of the main elements to the changes was to interwork the 51 and 250 and to formally promote this to the public as a through/same bus Hull to Louth service. On one hand this was a rather 'risky' move, with the risk of delays in Hull impacting services as far away as Louth, and vice versa. However I do wonder if the journey time of each route played a part in the interworking decision? Grimsby to Hull can be done as a four hour round trip, but with little recovery time. Grimsby to Louth is around a two and half hour trip. Combine the two and there is a seven hour round trip time with sensible layover. The interworking means that as well as Hull access from the 51 route, the 250 route gains a link to Grimsby Hospital and Louth.
For a brief historical diversion, this isn't the first time Louth and Hull have been linked. Lincolnshire Road Car's X21 in the 1990's provided such a connection. From a June 1993 Humberside County Council timetable there were five journeys each way Monday to Saturday on the X21 between Cleethorpes and Hull via Grimsby, Immingham and Barton, with one starting back in Louth, operating via Grimsby to Cleethorpes then as per the main route, so serving Grimsby twice in each direction. The 0740 from Louth took three hours to reach Hull, and the 1555 from Hull got back into Louth for 1840. Today the 0745 from Louth reaches Hull at 1050 without serving Cleethorpes, and the 1600 from Hull reaches Louth at 1900, again without serving Cleethorpes.
Back to 2025 and the 51 remained hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes with the new interworking. The first arrival into Louth moves from 0655 to 0630 and the first arrival into Grimsby is at 0753 rather than 0803. Last departure from Grimsby is slightly later at 1840 rather than 1815, and from Louth at 2000 rather than 1930.
The bigger change came to the 250, which went from every 90 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes back to hourly. A very welcome return after cuts in 2023 from hourly to 'hourly with some 90 minute gaps' and then in 2024 to every 90 minutes. The 0550 from Grimsby to Hull that still used the old route via Great Limber and the A15 became a 0515 service via the main route through Ulceby and Barrow. Weekday evening peak services to Hull no longer divert into Wren Kitchens at Barton, but still serve Falkland Way outside the factory. Last departure from Grimsby became 1830 rather than 1750, and from Hull became 2030 rather than 1945.
The other big improvement was the addition of a two hourly Sunday service to both the 51 and 250. This provided a new Sunday service for Barrow, Thornton Curtis, Wootton, Ulceby, Brocklesby, Keelby, Laceby, Holton Le Clay, North Thoresby, Ludborough, Utterby, Fotherby and Louth, as well as doubling the Sunday service between Barton and Hull from two hourly to once an hour.
Not worth it's own post, but Stagecoach withdrew the Monday to Friday 2235 255 from Hull to Barton Wren Kitchens at the same time; service 350 provides departures from Hull to Barton at 2150 and 2300, so disappointing but not a massive loss.
Finally, the 51 was renumbered as service 251 on 31st August. The 51 had been a longstanding number for the Grimsby to Louth service. My timetable collection shows it was the 551 in 1986 but the Lincolnshire Road Car service had become the 51 by 1989 (Grimsby Cleethorpes Transport also had a service 24 around this time). If the 251 sounds familiar, it was used in the late 90's/early 00's for the Winter Sunday rail replacement service between Cleethorpes and Barton.
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Grimsby - Louth 51 used to be double-deck, whereas the 250 has always been single-deck because of the Humber Bridge.
Presumably the through linkage means the 51/251 is now also fully single-deck which to me is a downgrade.
I've noticed Stagecoach EM seem to be single-decking longer distance services now; the 1 (Grantham - Lincoln) and 53 (Grimsby - Lincoln) seem to be almost entirely single-deck now. A retrograde move from the point of view of a leisure traveller who enjoys looking out across the countryside, but I'm sure it's being done for strong economic reasons.
Ironic that the only route which had an 'original' 50 series number when someone at Stagecoach EM decided that all InterConnect routes had to be in the 50 series (except the 1 and 100!) has now been numbered out of that series.
Stagecoach EM do seem to like playing with numbers just because they can, though, which always seems to me to be viewing the long-term users of those routes with a degree of contempt.
Double deckers do appear on the 250 some days since the interworking with the 51/251. Not sure if there is any pattern to their use though
Sometimes I wonder if too much is made about the Humber Bridge and double deckers. The 255/256 (and East Yorkshire's Wyke College services) manage fine with double deckers as the regular allocation. Presumably it just needs the allocator to check the weather forecast before sending a double decker over the bridge, and a back up plan for when single decker substitution is needed - which is easier if route specific liveries are being phased out.
> Sometimes I wonder if too much is made about the Humber Bridge and double deckers.
I agree. I remember the 350 from Scunny often being decker back in Road Car days without too much hassle, and the EYMS contribution was always a decker in my experience, although I suppose back then there were still things like depot inspectors whose job it was to keep an eye on potential issues such as high winds.
I think the dislike of deckers over the Humber Bridge is a combination of operators being risk-averse and cutting supervisory staff to the bone so there's nobody on the spot to make the decision any more.
Funny you say that, yesterday (with high winds forecast) one of the Interconnect branded deckers was allocated to the 250/251 and subsequently got swapped with a Hull allocated single decker for the return!
Happened a couple of weeks ago with a 255 having to return via Goole to get the decker back as well.
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