Monday 21 March 2011

Wawne Service Cuts

From April 4th cuts will be made to service 20 (Hull-Kingswood-Kingsbury Way-North Bransholme-Wawne) operated by Stagecoach Hull, mostly financially supported by Hull City and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils. It's another case of a marginal service which the operator is struggling to make viable. I recall from a Hull Bus Forum a few years ago that new development in North Hull around Kingswood is a primary reason why the service has been kept going, hoping to develop a new long term market.

Currently the 20 is mostly half hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes, with an hourly Friday and Saturday evening service to North Bransholme only (except the last journey extending to Wawne). Sunday daytimes see an hourly service operating the full route to Wawne.

From April 4th the Monday to Saturday daytime service will be half hourly between Hull, Kingswood Retail Park and Kingsbury Way, with an hourly extension to Wawne via North Bransholme, operating as a 20W. Peak times see half hourly 20W's. Most of the weekday gaps in the service seem to have been removed, but the weekday afternoon peak extension from the Guildhall is removed. Overall these changes 'save' 1 bus.

Friday and Saturday evenings now see a frequency of 75 minutes terminating at Kingsbury Way rather than North Bransholme. The last departure from Hull continues to serve Wawne.

Sunday daytimes also see a 75 minute frequency with all but the first service into Hull and last departure from Hull terminating at Kingsbury Way, not serving North Bransholme or Wawne. This 'saves' 1 bus, but the Sunday service level to Wawne is rather unattractive for visting Hull City Centre or Kingswood for leisure.

Not the best news for Wawne, but peak time links remain, as does an hourly daytime service, and a very limited evening/Sunday service. Not a bad service level for the village.

Unsure if this means a route change or not, but timings points at Kingswood Leisure Park and Bodmin Road have been removed from the new timetable.

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