196 passes to York Pullman

On Thursday 10th May, York Pullman took over operation of East Riding of Yorkshire Council tendered service 196 from EYMS. The 196 operates on Thursdays between Aughton and York via Sutton on Derwent, Newton on Derwent and Elvington, with one journey in each direction. The morning journey continues to depart Aughton at 0930 but the return now operates slightly later at 1337 from York Station Road, as opposed to 1320 previously.

Given cuts to the 18 and 195, off which more in a future post, it seems a shame the service hasn't been extended to start at Bubwith or be diverted to include Melbourne and/or Seaton Ross, but I guess schools services, the 0930 concessionary pass use start time and a desire to provide a good amount of time in York prevents this. However maybe a little time could be saved by operating between Newton upon Derwent and York via the A1079, as opposed to 'doubling back' to route via Elvington which has the 36 into York?

EYMS 277 May Changes

Last April EYMS revised their 277 service between Hull City Centre, Holderness Road, Bilton, Sproatley, Preston (Main Street and Station Road) and Hedon to also include Weghill Road in Preston, Burstwick and Thorngumbald. As part of this change the service operated as a circular between Preston Main Street, Preston Station Road, Hedon, Thorngumbald, Burstwick, Preston Weghill Road and Preston Main Street on most journeys.

On Tuesday 8th May, EYMS reversed this routing change. This provides more direct journeys in each direction between Holderness Road/Bilton,/Sproatley/Preston Main Street and Hedon, and meant that Station Road in Preston regained services in each direction all day, important for local travel to/from Hedon and for quicker journeys into Hull. On the other hand Weghill Road and parts of Burstwick are left with just the Saturday only 173 service (i.e. the pre-April 2017 arrangement). Thorngumbald and other parts of Burstwick remain served by the main Hull-Hedon-Withernsea services, some of which also serve the southern part of Holderness Road.

At the same time, EYMS have also reduced the number of journeys. From Preston to Hull 8 journeys on weekdays and 6 on Saturdays had been provided, but that is now 6 Monday to Saturday. From Hull Paragon Interchange 6 weekday and 5 Saturday departures become 5 weekday and 4 Saturday departures. The last two journeys from Hedon start in Hull as a service 79.

For Bilton and Sproatley the reduction is more significant as EYMS also withdrew their 220/221 services at the same time. I will cover these routes more in a separate post, but from these two villages the 220/221 had provided an extra 3 services into Hull and 4 services from Hull.

Service 134 Ends

Tuesday and Thursday service 134 between the village of Skerne and Driffield operated for the last time on Thursday 3rd May. EYMS had been the operator on behalf of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, with two service each way, leaving Driffield at 1010 and 1240 and Skerne at 1020 and 1250 - giving Skerne residents two hours 10 minutes in Driffield.

Comments on this post about associated service 135 indicate the 134 was little used. As a replacement, East Riding of Yorkshire Council have arranged for the Tuesday Driffield MiBus to include Skerne. Pre-Booking is required.

The 135 goes 'in house'

EYMS operated East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) tendered service 135 between Driffield and various villages to the west of the town for the last time on Friday 4th May. Most journeys operated via Little Driffield and Garton before performing a clockwise loop via Wetwang, Fridaythorpe, Fimber and Sledmere back to Garton, Little Driffield and into Driffield. One service operated the 'other way' around the 'loop'.

Following the bank holiday, ERYC have taken over the service themselves since Tuesday 8th May, but with some changes. The Tuesday and Thursday 'shopper' journeys from Driffield at 0910 and 1140 continue unaltered, giving travellers 99 minutes in the town. However the two Monday to Friday peak journeys have been cut back, and slightly retimed, to operate between Driffield, Little Driffield, Garton and Wetwang only, leaving Fridaythorpe, Fimber and Sledmere with just the two day a week shopper service.

I'm not too surprised EYMS are no longer operating the service; it may have been a logical tender for them when they had Driffield depot, but the 'dead mileage' will have become significant since then, I presume from either Beverley or Bridlington.

According to ERYC's 2016 Review of Bus Services the 135 and associated 134 (which I will cover separately) carried an average 6 passengers per journey at a subsidy of £6.39 per passenger journey. Annual passengers were 4099.

Now just the 63 (and the 63C)

Until Saturday (5th May), EYMS services on the 'Priory Road' corridor in West Hull comprised the 60, 60A, 61, 61C, 62, 64 and 64C. Monday to Saturday daytimes they ran as follows:

62 - 3 buses every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road and the Setting Dyke Estate
64 - Hourly between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Cottingham and Castle Hill Hospital
61 - Every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Cottingham, Skidby, Little Weighton, Walkington and Beverley
60 -  Every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, New Village Road, Cottingham and Cottingham Parkway
60A - Every two hours between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Beck Bank, Hallgate, Cottingham and Cottingham Parkway

Together these services provided a bus every 15 minutes from Hull City Centre to Priory Road as far as Ledbury Road, and two to three buses an hour through to Cottingham. The 61C was one morning 61 that also served Castle Hill Hospital whilst the 64C was for evening extensions beyond Castle Hill Hospital to Willerby.

Since yesterday, Sunday 6th May, the above has been much simplified, with inevitable winners and losers. The main Monday to Saturday daytime service is now known as service 63 and comprises:

• A half hourly service between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road and Setting Dyke (Ledbury Road) - i.e. the old 62 route, and personally I might have kept that number for these journeys since the other journeys don't divert off Priory Road to Ledbury Road
• A half hourly service between Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Priory Road, Cottingham, Eppleworth Road, Green Lane and Castle Hill Hospital - i.e. the old 64 route
• An hourly extension from Castle Hill Hospital to Beverley via Skidby, Little Weighton and Walkington, covering not only the 61 but also replacing the 180 via these villages

In terms of positives the service to Ledbury Road increases by an extra bus every two hours, whilst Eppleworth Road, Green Lane and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham are doubled from hourly to half hourly (Eppleworth Road did lose the hourly Stagecoach 9 in late April however). Skidby, Little Weighton and Walkington trade access to Willerby, Anlaby and Hessle on the 180 for an increased hourly service to Hull, Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital - personally I regard that as a worthwhile trade off. Beverley also gets an improved hourly frequency to Hull Royal Infirmary. It is also a far easier to understand service with less variations and everything on a standard hourly rather than two hourly pattern.

However there are negatives. Services to central Cottingham are reduced by one bus every two hours, but with a half hourly service remaining and options on other routes to both Hull City Centre (103, 105, 115) and Hull Royal Infirmary (115/154 via Castle Hill) I don't see this being a big issue. In Cottingham, New Village Road, Beck Bank/Hallgate and the southern end of The Parkway/Ganton Avenue are now unserved. Apologies if I am incorrect but the southern of The Parkway and Ganton Avenue look to be within walking distance of the 115 on Burton Road and the northern end of The Parkway. Similarly Beck Bank is close by to Thwaite Street, and Hallgate to the stops in Central Cottingham - both are also close to Cottingham Station. New Village Road however isn't close by to any alternatives.

Sunday daytimes see the hourly 64 replaced by an hourly 63 over the same route between Hull City Centre and Castle Hill Hospital. The daily evening 64C's to Willerby remain, renumbered as 63C, the only suffixed variation to remain.

Looking in detail at the timetable, there is now a 60 minute weekday morning gap from Hull Interchange after the 0615 to Castle Hill, as the 0635 60A is not replaced. The final service from Hull Interchange to Skidby/Little Weighton/Walkington is now five minutes earlier at 1708 rather than 1713, and from Beverley is 10 minutes earlier at 1700 rather than 1710.

198 now needs pre-booking

EYMS Market Weighton area service 198 operated for the final time on Friday 4th May, due to the operator giving up this East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) contracted service. Service 198 was introduced last year to replace the previous S1/S2/S3 services. It had operated on Fridays and provided a shopping service from North Cliffe, South Cliffe, Hotham, South Newbald, North Newbald, Sancton, Londesborough and Goodmanham into Market Weighton.

A replacement has been arranged by ERYC, and will be operated by Goole Go Far on Friday's, but with pre-booking required by 1600 on a Thursday. I cannot access the press release anymore, but I am sure ERYC put the lack of a 'like for like' replacement down to financial pressures - they have had to fund replacements for some previously commercial services and it maybe that when EYMS have handed back other tendered services that are continuing with new operators, they are now costing more.

Hotham, South Newbald and North Newbald still have service 143 with one journey into Beverley on Mondays and two on both Wednesday and Saturdays, but the other villages are now devoid of a 'traditional' bus service.

124 passes from EYMS to HART

From Wednesday 9th May, operation of East Riding of Yorkshire Council tendered service 124 passes from EYMS to North Holderness Community Transport (HART), with no changes to the timetable. The route provides a Wednesday shopping service into Bridlington, and a Thursday shopping service into Driffield, from various villages north of Driffield and west of Bridlington, including Burton Fleming.