Service 12a

Stagecoach replaced the evening and Sunday service on route 12 between Hull Paragon Interchange and North Point Shopping Centre in Bransholme with new variant 12a from Monday 30th April, continuing to operate every half hour Monday to Saturday evenings and Sunday daytimes, reducing to hourly Sunday evenings. Service 12a follows the main service 12 route from Paragon Interchange via Holderness Road, Summergangs Road, Gillshill Road and Sutton Village before deviating to serve Midmere Avenue and Barnstaple Road (on the very edge of the North Point site) instead of operating direct to Noddle Hill Way. The 12a then rejoins the 12 route along Noddle Hill Way before extending to Kingswood Retail Park to terminate as opposed to operating to North Point via Wawne Road as the 12 does (the latter partially covered by the 8a evenings and Sundays).

I guess the aim of the 12a is to provide links to Kingswood Retail Park whilst just about still serving North Point. It's a shame there does not appear to be enough time to extend to Kingswood Leisure Park too, as in the evening I would have thought that would have been a more popular destination than the Retail Park. The Leisure Park is walkable for the able bodied from the Retail Park however. The Monday to Saturday evening timetable also only allows a maximum of three hours (and four minutes) at Kingswood, which may restrict it's use for evenings out unless passengers are prepared to change en-route for one leg of their journey.

Service 12 continues to operate Monday to Saturday daytimes every 15 minutes.