EYMS new 80

EYMS's long standing service 180 between Beverley, Cottingham, Willerby, Anlaby, Hessle, North Ferriby and Swanland comes to an end after operation on Saturday 5th May, as does it's more recent 'sister' route the X80 between Beverley and Hessle. Both services operate every two hours Monday to Saturday, with some peak time extras.

The main replacement is new Monday to Saturday hourly service 80 between Beverley and Hessle, which will mostly use the route of service X80, operating direct between Beverley and Cottingham via the A164, before serving Castle Hill Hospital, Willerby Shopping Park, Willerby Square, Anlaby, First Lane and Hessle. Looking at the new timetable it seems Flemingate in Beverley will be served both inbound and outbound as opposed to the current 'loop' arrangement which sees buses serve Flemingate outbound only, but with inbound passengers able to stay onboard at Beverley Bus Station.

Looking in more detail at the timetable there is a two hour 10 minute gap on weekday afternoons from Beverley between 1355 and 1605 and a two hour 15 minute gap from Hessle between 1405 and 1620. The last weekday departure from Beverley is 35 minutes earlier at 1705 compared to 1740 on the X80, whilst from Hessle the last departure is 20 minutes earlier at 1720 compared to 1740 on the 180. On Saturdays the last departure from Hessle is 35 minutes earlier at 1705 rather than 1740 on the 180. If the service is to be worked from Beverley depot there appears to be 'dead running' for one vehicle to Hessle in the morning and for one vehicle back to Beverley in the evening. It is a shame these couldn't be run in 'service' given the 80's fairly direct route.

For those destinations served by the 80, this is a significant improvement. I can see Cottingham to Beverley fast being a good market; Cottingham is a very large village and is also home to one of the regions main hospitals - Castle Hill. In addition a limited evening and Sunday fast service between central Cottingham and Beverley is available on service X47. For the Cottingham to Hessle section what is currently two buses every two hours now becomes a standard hourly service.

The three villages between Beverley and Cottingham served by the 180 but not the X80 or the new 80 - Walkington, Little Weighton and Skidby - become served by the new 63 every hour. The new 63 maintains hourly links to Beverley, Castle Hill Hospital and Cottingham Village Centre currently provided by the 61 and 180, and increases the link to Hull City Centre and Hull Royal Infirmary currently provided the 61 every two hours, to every hour. The trade off is the loss of a service to Willerby, Anlaby and Hessle; to me at least that is a trade off worth making.

For the other areas served by the 180 but not the new 80, there is either no, or only a partial replacement. Between Cottingham and Hessle the only difference is that the Willerby Parkway area is no longer served. This area won't be 'bus less' as the 35 and 44A provide a link into Hull every 90 minutes, but links to Beverley, Cottingham, Castle Hill Hospital, Anlaby and Hessle are gone without a long walk to catch the 80 (Kingston Road does have the 154 to Castle Hill Hospital).

The section of the 180 between Hessle, North Ferriby and Swanland is cancelled almost without replacement. The 153 continues to link North Ferriby and Swanland, and the two villages to Anlaby, but Swanland and North Ferriby no longer have links to Hessle, Willerby, Castle Hill Hospital or Cottingham, and neither does Swanland to Beverley. It is worth noting a passenger from Swanland could only spend 45 minutes in Beverley on weekdays with the current 180 timetable. If the Hessle Town Service was still around it could have been an option to reduce the frequency to incorporate North Ferriby and Swanland, but sadly it's not, and no easy replacement options exist.

The one replacement introduced for this section is the extension of service 143 to North Ferriby. Service 143 provides one Monday and two Wednesday and Saturday round trips between Melton, Brough, South Cave and Beverley and will now start/finish in North Ferriby, maintaining a North Ferriby to Beverley link.