Most proposed Grimsby bus cuts not now happening

Today's Grimsby Telegraph reports that most of the cutbacks planned by Stagecoach in Grimsby Cleethorpes from 2nd April will not now happen following agreement with North East Lincolnshire Council on the level of concessionary fare reimbursement.

The cutbacks that will be happening are:

• The Interconnect 3 between Grimsby and Lincoln reduced from hourly to 5 journeys per day (one requires a change at Market Rasen) plus additional short journeys. Full details here (since confirmed on Stagecoach website)


• The Sunday daytime service on route 7 between Grange Estate and Grimsby Town Centre will be withdrawn


• The Sunday daytime service on route 8 between North Sea Lane, New Waltham and Grimsby Town Centre will be withdrawn, but in a change to the original proposal a replacement service will run from North Sea Lane via Humberston Avenue to Waltham and then follow the route of service 9 into Grimsby Town Centre. This retains Sunday buses for Humberston and New Waltham


• The Interconnect 51 cut back from half hourly to hourly. The Grimsby Telegraph states this is between Grimsby and Louth, but I presume they mean just the Holton Le Clay to Louth section as originally proposed

The extension of services 13/14 to Morrisons will also still be going ahead.
This would therefore imply that the following proposed cuts will not now be hapenning:

• Withdrawal of service 12


• Withdrawal of late evening services on route 8, 9 and 46


• Withdrawal of Sunday service on route 16


• Curtailment of alternate service 16's from Wybers Wood at Grimsby Bus Station, omitting Asda


• Withdrawal of off-peak service 45's from South Killingholme


• Withdrawal of peak time service 45 extensions to Immingham MIC plant


• Diversion of service 150 away from Habrough

I should caution that exact details are still being finalised as per a North East Lincolnshire Council official in the Grimsby Telegraph.
This is very welcome news though, particularly with service 12 being saved. The big remaining reductions are Interconnect routes 3 and 51, but this is no surprise considering their length and the fact that these services mostly operate within Lincolnshire, which I guess may have a different level of concessionary fare payment.