13, 14 Changes

Stagecoach made some major changes to their 13 and 14 services between Hull and Orchard Park. at the start of September.

Previously service 13 had operated from Hull Interchange via Spring Bank, Chanterlands Avenue, Bricknell Avenue, Fairfax Avenue and Hall Road to Orchard Park Tesco. The service had operated every 10 minutes on weekday daytimes, every 15 minutes on Saturday daytimes, half hourly on Monday to Saturday evenings and Sunday daytimes, and hourly on Sunday evenings. Half hourly Monday to Saturday daytime journeys and hourly evening and Sunday services had operated as service 13A via Hotham Road Shops instead off Fairfax Avenue.

Now the main service 13 route has been routed via Hotham Road Shops, and Fairfax Avenue is served by a new 13b variation. The combined frequency remains every 10 minutes weekday daytimes and half hourly in the evenings. Saturday daytimes, unlike some other services in Hull, have an increased frequency, now operating every 10 minutes before a half hourly evening service. Sundays retain a half hourly daytime and hourly evening service. Monday to Saturday daytimes alternate journeys shall operate as service 13b via Fairfax Avenue, otherwise all journeys operate as service 13.

Service 13 has for quite some years formed a circular with service 14 between Hull City Centre, Beverley Road, Greenwood Avenue and Orchard Park, and still does. Since the start of the month the 14 has however had it's Monday to Saturday daytime frequency cut from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes. Monday to Saturday evenings and Sunday daytimes remain half hourly and Sunday evenings hourly. Beverley Road, parts of Greenwood Avenue and Orchard Park are well served by other services so this is not a major cutback.

Most service 13b's not operate as a circular, apart from afternoons. Services from Hull Interchange to Orchard Park Tesco will not return as a service 13b after the 1345 from Orchard Park, after which time the 13b will only operate in one direction, outbound from the Interchange. From Orchard Park the frequency reduces to every 20 minutes on service 13 only. Instead services will operate as service 14b from Orchard Park Tesco to Hull Interchange direct via Beverley Road. This seems to simply be an attempt to get buses back to the Interchange via the most direct route possible, and no attempt is made to co-ordinate the 14 and 14b to provide a 10 minute even interval service.

Other changes see substantial early morning improvements. Previously on weekdays there was a 0500 and 0630 service 13 from Greenwood Avenue (not serving Orchard Park Tesco) then the main peak service started at 0703 from Orchard Park Tesco. On Saturdays the service started at 0638 from Orchard Park Tesco. Now there is a half hourly early morning service from Greenwood Avenue between 0500 (0530 on Saturdays) and 0700, that continues as a service 30 at Hull Interchange to North Bransholme as part of the Workers+ initative. What stands out here to me is that these changes include Saturdays as well as weekdays. The weekday morning frequency from Hull Interchange between 0700 and 0900 drops from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes but on Saturdays increases from half hourly to every 20 minutes.

The inbound city centre routes for the 13 and 14 have also been revised. All services prior to 1400 daily will operate inbound via the city centre loop, except for those continuing cross-city as service 30. Those journeys, all services after 1400 will operate directly to Hull Interchange via either Park Street on service 13 or via Spencer Street and Brook Street on service 14/14b.