Summer Saturday X90

From Saturday 24th June to 2nd September inclusive, Stagecoach are operating a new X90 Saturday Only service from Lea (just south of Gainsborough) to Cleethorpes, via Gainsborough, Hemswell Cliff, Glentham, Middle Rasen, Market Rasen, Nettleton and Cabourne. The service leaves Lea at 0840, arriving in Cleethorpes at 1005, before departing from Cleethorpes at 1445 and getting back to Lea for 1615.

The X90 is funded by the North Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire Community Rail Partnership (NNLCRP) and is intended to act as a partial replacement for the withdrawal of the Saturday Cleethorpes to Sheffield Northern Rail service via Brigg, Kirton Lindsey and Gainsborough back in May. This service had three journeys in each direction, so was relatively useful for Saturday leisure travel, but was replaced by a much less useful single daily Monday to Friday service. The X90 is therefore a welcome mitigation, albeit the restoration of the Saturday train service would be much better! It should be noted the X90 is timed to connect from/to Sheffield to Lincoln rail services at Gainsborough Lea Road Station.

I'm sure I've read that NNLCRP can't fund a service which overlaps entirely with a rail service, hence why it can't serve Brigg. That's a big shame because Brigg would benefit far more than Market Rasen from the X90. Market Rasen already has public transport access to Cleethorpes on a Saturday via a limited through rail service, including a 0857 departure, supplemented by the ability to connect via bus or train at Grimsby. Brigg on the other hand has no eastbound timetabled public transport on a Saturday, so trips to Cleethorpes either require the use of a demand responsive bus service to Barnetby Station, or catching a bus in the wrong direction to Scunthorpe for a connection there.

Additionally, I'm also surprised the service doesn't operate an hour or two later in each direction - it's an early arrival and departure in and out of Cleethorpes for a Saturday daytrip.