Sunday 24 February 2019

Goole Town Service Changes

The EYMS operated off peak Goole Town Services 1, 2 and 3 are revised from Monday 4th March to serve the town's Lidl store. The 1, 2 and 3 operate Monday to Saturday under contract to East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Only service 3 will serve Lidl, but the 1, 2 and 3 operate as three interworked services to permit through travel to different parts of the town, for example from Old Goole to the Hospital, or the Fairfield Estate to Lidl, and to accommodate the change all three services drop from every 40 minutes to every 45 minutes.

Service 3 - a clockwise loop around the west and north of Goole - currently splits after leaving Goole Town Centre, with half of journeys operating via Dunhill Road, Grange Road, Kent Road, Newport Street and Clifton Gardens to Oxford Street, while the other half operate via the majority of Boothferry Road, Grosvenor Avenue and Centenary Road to Oxford Road. From Oxford Road all services route via Ilkeston Avenue, Woodfield Road, Goole Hospital, Newclose Lane, Thorntree Lane, Ivy Park Road, Thorntree Lane, Buttermere Road and Pasture Road back into Goole Town Centre.

With next month's changes, all journeys on service 3 will operate via Dunhill Road and Grange Road before routing to Lidl via Anderson Road and then serving Rawcliffe Road. Here a small divergence between alternate journeys remains, will some serving a small part of Boothferry Road and Clifton Gardens, and others Grosvenor Avenue and Centenary Road. The remainder of the route from Oxford Road back into Goole Town Centre is unchanged. Newport Street and part of Kent Road are left unserved, but are fairly close to Boothferry Road, Dunhill Road and Grange Road.

The Monday to Friday peaktime Goole Town Services 4 and 5 are unaffected.

Friday 22 February 2019

Stagecoach win Bridlington Park and Ride?

Going by the below two VOSA registrations, it would appear that Stagecoach have won the Bridlington Park and Ride contract, and will also be starting a Hull to Bridlington service.

PB0001484/398 Registered
LINCOLNSHIRE ROAD CAR COMPANY LIMITED
Route: Hull Interchange to Bridlington Park and Ride
Service number: HU_99 (99)
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 06 Apr 2019

PB0001484/397 Registered

LINCOLNSHIRE ROAD CAR COMPANY LIMITED

Route: Bridlington Park and Ride to Bridlington Park and Ride
Service number: HU_88 (88, 99)
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 06 Apr 2019


Yesterday, EYMS deregistered their Bridlington Park and Ride service


PB0000328/526 Cancelled
EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LIMITED
Route: Bridlington Park and Ride Site to Town Centre via East Riding Leisure
Service number: BPR (BPR)
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 06 Apr 2019

Sunday 17 February 2019

North Lincolnshire Council looking to cutback 260 and 450 services

This week Barton Town Council published minutes of it's January 2nd meeting, which contained the following disappointing and concerning item under the heading "correspondence received since issue of the agenda":

"Information from North Lincolnshire Council Public Transport about making savings on the 450 bus service by making changes to the 450 service and looking to incorporating the 260 to help serve some of the villages. The 450 would operate from Barrow to Barton and Brigg via the Low Villages. The 260 at present operates 4 days to Goxhill and New Holland and 1 day to East Halton. They are looking at changing this to 3 days operating to Goxhill and New Holland and 2 days serving Thornton Curtis, Wootton and Ulceby and also East Halton and South Killingholme. A proposed timetable has been forwarded. Any suggestions are welcomed by early in the New Year. "

To expand on and slightly correct the current arrangements stated above, service 260 'The Villager' links the villages of Goxhill, New Holland and Barrow with Barton, as well as East Halton on a Thursday only; the Thursday timetable also includes a service from Victoria House in Barton to the town's Tesco supermarket. Monday to Friday the service is operated by Stagecoach, operating off peak approximately every 60-90 minutes using one vehicle, and is interworked with a schools service from the Caistor Road Estate in Barton to St Peter's Primary School. On Saturday's a single 'timetabled' journey in each direction is provided between Goxhill and Barton by the CallConnect bus.

Service 450 operates between Immingham County Hotel, South Killingholme, Ulceby, Wootton, Thornton Curtis, Barrow, Barton, South Ferriby, Horkstow, Saxby, Bonby, Worlaby, Elsham, Wrawby and Brigg. The route is operated by Stagecoach with four journeys in each direction, albeit on schooldays one service from Brigg terminates at Barton and another is diverted after Barrow to Goxhill. The service requires two vehicles, and I think is interworked with the 552 South Killingholme to Barton Baysgarth School schools service. The 450 itself provides a schools service to Brigg for out of catchment area students.

The exact proposed new timetable has not been included in the Barton Town Council minutes, but would clearly involve cutbacks overall, with the possible exception of East Halton and North Killingholme (located between East Halton and South Killingholme and currently only served by the 552 and CallConnect). It would seem no community will be left unserved however. I presume the intention would be to reduce from a requirement for three vehicles on weekdays to two, at least in school holidays. Unless operated as circular, serving Wootton/Ulceby on one hand, and East Halton on the other, would not be possible without a trip via some very minor roads, but serving all four communities could be done by operating between Barrow and South Killingholme via Wootton/Ulceby in one direction and East Halton in the other.

It's not clear what is proposed for Saturdays. The minutes refer to serving some communities three days a week and others two, implying five day a week services, yet every village east of Barton apart from East Halton and North Killingholme currently has a Saturday bus service. It maybe that the Saturday 260 service isn't being considered as it's operated as part of the CallConnect contract, but that doesn't explain if the plan is to replace/continue the Saturday 450, or not.

In response, Barton Town Council resolved "that a letter be sent to North Lincolnshire Council with the town council’s concerns that the local bus services are to be reduced. As the town council currently support the town bus and it was noted that better information needs to be sought regarding the Call Connect service, the Clerk to invite the Public Transport Development Officer to a forthcoming meeting of the town council to further explain the service".

It is good to see Barton Town Council agree to respond with their concerns to North Lincolnshire Council. Barton Town Council currently contribute towards the 254 Barton Town Service and also fund a schools service within the town from the Caistor Road Estate to Castledyke Primary School. The remainder of the funding for the 254 comes from North Lincolnshire Council but there is no indication that is under threat. Older Barton Town Council minutes indicate that changes may be made to the 254 when Barton Library and Local Link relocates from the town centre to the Baysgarth Leisure Centre later this year.