Traveline East Midlands now has details of the changes to Scunthorpe Town Services operated by Stagecoach from 2nd April.
Service 10, currently an hourly Monday to Saturday daytime service, mostly operating via 'side roads' in eastern parts of Scunthorpe, now forms a circular back into Scunthorpe. Traveline doesn't have a detailed route, but a commentor says from Ashby the 10 will operate to Beacon Hotel (my geography of Scunthorpe isn't good enough to know where that is) and then as the current 33/34 route via Westcliff (Bristol Road area) and John Leggott College. Frequency remains hourly. The service will run as route 10 in both directions, in contrast to other circulars in Scunthorpe that have a different route number in each direction.
The 10 has run as a circular before, with the 11 in the opposite direction. This happenned when the Scunthorpe Town Service network was recast in 2006. Back then the 10/11 operated from Ashby via Priory Lane, Bridges Road, Bristol Road, Scotter Road, Tesco and Scunthorpe Hospital.
Changes to circular service 31 are not showing (to me anyway) on Traveline East Midlands yet but a commentor suggests some early and/or late journeys will start/finish at Ashby rather than operate a full circular to/from Scunthorpe Bus Station.
The 31A, the Evening and Sunday Scunthorpe Town Service has some very minor timing changes on Monday to Saturday evenings and the Friday and Saturday 2330 departure from Scunthorpe Bus Station will terminate in Ashby rather than operate back into Scunthorpe 'in service' as at present. The mileage and time saving to their depot, close to Scunthorpe Bus Station, will be marginal.
The 32, which is the 'opposite' of the 31 sees the first two journeys Monday to Saturday start in Ashby rather than Scunthorpe Bus Station. Otherwise the mostly 20 minute frequency in unaltered.
The 32A, which runs in the opposite direction to the 31A also sees minor timing changes in the evening and the Fri/Sat only 2330 from Scunthorpe truncated in Ashby.
The biggest change comes to the 33/34 circulars; currently half hourly Monday to Saturday daytime, they will be reduced to hourly. However the changes to the 10 compensate for this around Westcliff.
It also won't be a disaster for passengers along Cemetery Road, Old Brumby Street, Alvingham Road and Collum Avenue who have the half hourly Hornsby 12 - though gone is the co-ordinated 15 minute frequency between the 12 and 34 from Scunthorpe Bus Station. Furthermore I suspect Stagecoach have just given Hornsby a big present here as they will have an inferior frequency compared to their independent rival.
In Bottesford passengers also have others services; the 11 and 22. It's Yaddlethorpe and Riddings that will be most affected, but these areas are 'roughly' half way on the 33/34 so passengers have 2 services an hour into Scunthorpe Town Centre. Still it's a big reduction compared to 2003 when High Leys Road and Quebec Road for example had the 341 every 20 minutes and either the 323/333 or 322/332 every half hour.
Overall these changes could have been a lot worse, and unless there are specific journeys that cause an issue, I can't see the changes causing hardship. I suspect however the 10/33/34 changes could mean a PVR reduction (by 1?) and combined with the cancellation of the 90/590, Stagecoach's Scunthorpe depot will see a significant loss of work in April.
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2 comments:
Having studied the changes on Traveline - it seems that the changes will result in a PVR reduction of 1 vehicle on the town network, plus 2 on the 90. No details yet on what the timetable/route change to the 100 will be - I would have thought this service would be safe - until details of the 3 were revealed, now I am not so sure.
The new town network seems to go back 10 years, where the network was a complex mix of services running mostly at hourly frequencies, before it was rationalised into key corridors operating at higher frequencies over the last few years. IMHO, the next step for me would be to recast the full network again. I am sure the 31/32 could be extended to run via Quebec Road, High Leys Road, Angerstien Road, then via Messingham Road and Cambridge Avenue to Ashby. Trips would take about 55-58 minutes all the way round, so only 1 extra bus would be needed to keep a 20 minute frequency - whilst saving 4 off the current 33/34 set up. The revised 10 circular could then be used to 'fill the gaps' in the 33/34 routes no longer served , running every hour, and requiring 1 extra bus. It would however mean Stagecoach withdrawing from the 12 corridor, in Old Brumby, but in the new network, the 12 runs at 00/30 from Town, and the new stagecoach service leaving at 00 also. Returning from Ashby, the services also run within 2 minutes of each other - so really is 3 buses an hour, but still a 30 minute frequency.
Other issues I have spotted, seem to be Cambridge Avenue will be served by the 34 and 11 as the main services - with a 33 going the long way round - Except, the 34 leaves at 00 past, and the 11 at 05 past - which doesnt seem very logical to me. Surely the 11 should be moved to 30 or 35 past to keep a regular service?
As you say, the biggest looser here seems to be Yaddlethorpe, going from 4 buses an hour to 2. In 1996, this are had a total of 7 buses an hour:
306 x 3 (Every 20 minutes)
341 x 2 (Every 20 minutes combined with 334/5)
334 x 1 (Hourly)
335 x 1 (Hourly)
This was cut to 5 in 2003 (323/333/341), then 4 in 2005 (2/3 circulars), and now, just 2...
Looking on the traveline east midlands site the 101/601 are cancelled, so the 100 changes could be related
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