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.