Yesterday, Saturday 5th September, was arguably the end of an era, as First operated their last services to and from Goole and truncated service 87 between Doncaster and Goole at Moorends. I'm not sure of the exact history of First, and Mainline before them, in Goole, but for many years they also operated the Goole Town Services which at one point included Sunday journeys to Swinefleet and Snaith. Now First in Goole is no more.
While Goole has lost it's bus link with Doncaster and other destinations south of Thorne, a Goole to Thorne replacement service 88 will be introduced by EYMS on Monday, ensuring Rawcliffe Bridge retains a bus service and that Goole and Rawcliffe continue to be linked by bus with Moorends and Thorne where onwards connections can also be made if required. It is also worth noting that for Goole to Doncaster travel the train is faster and more frequent that the First bus services ever where.
First 87 had provided an hourly Monday to Saturday daytime services, however EYMS 88 is less frequent with 8 weekday and 6 Saturday return journeys. The weekday service is generally every 90 minutes with first departure from Goole at 0725 and last departure at 1740. From Thorne the first departure is at 0806 and the last at 1820. This allows for commuting and the timetable has been designed to meet the needs of Goole College students as well. The Saturday timetable is clearly designed to be run with less resources, with services every 80 minutes except for a 130 minute gap at lunchtime. There is a good spread of journeys throughout the day with departures from Goole between 0850 and 1620 and from Thorne between 0930 and 1700.
The EYMS 88 timetable is far from perfect and not very memorable, especially on Saturdays, however it is a lot better than nothing and for First to have cancelled the 87 north of Moorends indicates the demand for an hourly services may not have been there. Hopefully over time the service can be improved and at least there are commuter friendly services as well as shopper and college student friendly services.
So while it's goodbye First in Goole, EYMS continue to grow their presence. From just operating services from Hull (and the Wed/Sat 160/162) at one point to operating the town service, Scunthorpe service, Thorne service and Sunday Selby service as well.
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Bus Times: 30th December 2024
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Reading Time: 3 minutesI thought you would like a bit of peace and quiet
from me the last few days. Mainly because the Saturday service was all
Saturday ti...
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4 comments:
Thanks for a very interesting post - particularly the increasing involvement of EYMS in services in and around Goole. Back in 1968 (when I moved to the East Riding), there were just 7 EY departures from Goole to Hull on the 3, with their only other route being the weekend 11 to Bridlington, which also ran daily in high summer. Incidentally, this was then the only service along the Market Weighton to Driffield road, which is now served regularly by the 46 after many years with no service at all - a further example of EY's expansion in recent years.
In 1968, the Goole - Thorne - Doncaster route was served by Samuel Morgan and R. Store Ltd, with hourly departure from Goole between 0805 and 2005, with a later start on Sunday. For those who are interested, there is an excellent 54-page fleet history for this concern by the Local Transport History Society at http://lths.lutsociety.org.uk/library/PDF-060-1.pdf. The frontispiece shows a rather magnificent 1966 Guy Arab/Roe double decker displaying Goole/Stainforth/Moorends/Rawcliffe on the front blind and there are a couple of further pictures of Goole-bound buses in the body of the document. Morgan and Store sold out to South Yorkshire PTE in 1980, and First came to operate the Doncaster - Goole service when they purchased SYPTE's successor Mainline in 1998.
Yes I remember the blue buses at Rawcliffe Green on my school bus to Drax. Brought back memories when I was promoting the new 88 on Saturday.
I didn't know about this because when I visited Goole a few weeks ago, I noted First still working in from Doncaster. I'm quite surprised actually because although the Thorne to Goole section seemed a bit thin in terms of usage, to sever the whole lot is a major retrenchment by First who seem to be wielding the axe quite dramatically at the moment.
As you say in the very interesting report, the replacement isn't perfect and no doubt the vast majority of Doncaster bound passengers will use the train but there must have been some who used the through bus service, perhaps some shoppers at particular times. Wishful thinking I know, but I wonder if EYMS could be tempted into one or two through journeys along the lines of the Petuaria or the Wictsun?
East Yorkshire in Doncaster, now that really would be something!
Another bus company operating in Doncaster...I've lost count of how many that is now.
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