Sunday, 21 October 2018

Service 18 August Improvements

Service 18 between Holme on Spalding Moor Bubwith, North Duffield, Wheldrake, York Designer Outlet, Fulford and York was improved from Monday 6th August, compared to the previous timetable that had been in place from Tuesday 8th May. Back in May EYMS had cancelled their mostly commercial 'version' of service 18 between Market Weighton, Holme on Spalding Moor and York, that had operated every two hours Monday to Saturday daytimes (occasionally more frequent), along with a limited evening service on Friday and Saturday. They sent some service 46 journeys between Market Weighton and York to start/finish in Holme on Spalding Moor as a partial replacement, with a far more limited tendered service 18 covering the rest of the route. This more limited service 18 came in two parts; EYMS operated a Monday to Saturday daytime and limited Friday and Saturday evening service between Holme On Spalding Moor and York, but with most journeys being 'shorts' between Bubwith, North Duffield or Wheldrake and York and a Monday to Friday only East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) directly operated 'connection service' from Holme on Spalding Moor to North Duffield or Wheldrake, to feed into some of the EYMS operated off peak services.

Since Monday 6th August the whole service has been operated by EYMS, and with every journey operating between Holme on Spalding Moor and York, except for one 'short' between North Duffield and York. There are still five daytime journeys to/from York, plus the Friday and Saturday evening service, so no change in frequency between Wheldrake and York, but a far more attractive service for villages south of Wheldrake, especially on Saturdays when the extra ERYC journeys didn't operate.

Saturday, 20 October 2018

Service 25 Changes

For some years now, Lincolnshire County Council subsidised service 25 has run between Ludford, Binbrook, East Ravendale, Waltham, Matthew Telford Park/Scartho Top and Grimsby. A peak time service has been provided between Binbrook and Grimsby Monday to Friday, and a 'shoppers' service from Ludford to Grimsby on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, all operated by Stagecoach.

In July the weekday peaktime service was replaced by a timetabled CallConnect service 25A between Binbrook and Waltham, for connections onto Stagecoach service 10 to/from Grimsby Town Centre. This largely does the same 'job' as the old 25 peak time service, but probably results in a cost saving from using a CallConnect vehicle and driver that would otherwise be providing a demand responsive service, as opposed to using a separate vehicle and driver as happened until July. The need to return the CallConnect vehicle and driver to their main demand responsive role as soon as possible though probably explains the service's truncation in Waltham. An en-route change is far less attractive than a through service of course, and the Matthew Telford Park/Scartho Top part of the peak time service 25 within North East Lincolnshire is not replaced, leaving the area without a peak time link to/from Grimsby Town Centre.

Stagecoach continue to operate the 'shoppers' service 25 from Ludford to Grimsby, but the Saturday journeys have been withdrawn, reducing the 25 to a Tuesday and Friday only link.

Friday, 19 October 2018

Service 55 severely cutback

Catching up with the last of the July changes in North Lincolnshire, and a significant cutback to service 55. Until Friday 29th June, the 55 had operated Monday to Friday between Scunthorpe, Santon, Appleby, Winterton and Thealby, before routing on a one-way 'loop' around Normanby and Burton upon Stather. North Lincolnshire Council had operated the 55 'in-house'. A roughly two hourly frequency was provided late morning/early afternoon. The 'old' 55 effectively served Appleby and Santon to Scunthorpe passengers, and passengers from Santon, Appleby, Thealby, Normanby and Burton upon Stather into Winterton. At Winterton connections to Hull or Barton via the 350 Humber Fastcat were available. Winterton has the 350 Humber Fastcat as it's main service into Scunthorpe, whilst Thealby, Normanby and Burton Upon Stather have service 60 into Scunthorpe.

Earlier in the year North Lincolnshire Council reported that the 55 had "few passengers" "between Appleby and Scunthorpe". Appleby and especially Santon, are small communities, perhaps explaining why the 'old' 55 had struggled for custom from these villages. In it's place is a new 'fixed' service 55 journey provided by a Hornsby Travel operated CallConnect vehicle and driver. The 'new' 55 operates on Fridays only from Santon into Scunthorpe via Appleby, Winterton (including the surgery), Roxby and Dragonby; there is one journey from Santon at 0930, returning from Scunthorpe Bus Station at 1310. This maintains a basic 'traditional' bus service from Santon and Appleby to both Scunthorpe and Winterton, and also provides a service from the Manlake Avenue area of Winterton, where the Surgery is located, into Scunthorpe. The route from Santon and Appleby into Scunthorpe via Winterton is a lot longer than going via the steelworks however, the 'price' of providing a link to Winterton, as well as Scunthorpe with one journey, plus serving Dragonby en-route. At other times demand responsive CallConnect is available for pre-booked travel.

The section of route between Winterton, Thealby, Normanby and Burton Upon Stather is not directly replaced, with existing demand responsive CallConnect as the only alternative public transport option. I'm not aware of the 'old' 55's usage on this section to know how justified or otherwise that decision is.


Sunday, 7 October 2018

Isle of Axholme Local Service cut back

Until Friday 29th June, North Lincolnshire Council had directly operated the 58 Isle Shopper 'in-house', every Wednesday and Friday morning/lunchtime. The service provided links into Epworth Town Centre from Wroot (direct), from Sandtoft and Belton, and from Lockwood Bank in eastern Epworth.

Since the start of July however the 58 has become a Friday only service, operated as a 'fixed' CallConnect service - i.e. using the demand responsive Isle of Axholme CallConnect vehicle and driver to provide a traditional scheduled bus service. The Isle of Axholme CallConnect service is provided by Hornsby Travel. The remaining Friday service has also been scaled back, with one journey from Wroot to Epworth Town Centre via Sandtoft and Belton, arriving at 1013, and departing Epworth at 1215. Lockwood Bank in Epworth is no longer served.

For most, an Epworth shopping service is retained, and this arrangement does 'save' North Lincolnshire Council a bus, so is presumably a cost saving. However there is no getting away from this being a cutback. I'm not aware of any usage or cost figures for the 58, so it's not possible to assess if low usage and/or high cost is a justification.