For around two decades, the only dedicated town service in Scunthorpe on a Sunday has been a 'round-the-houses' circular, operating in both directions - currently numbered 1A. Out of town routes provided some additional services for local travel within Scunthorpe, notably along Ashby Road (services 4 and 350) and Frodingham Road (service 350), but at uneven intervals. Sunday buses in Scunthorpe have existed, but at a rather basic level.
Things got better on Sunday 5th May as three extra Sunday town services were introduced, all operated by Stagecoach and funded by North Lincolnshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding.
Firstly the 6, between Scunthorpe Bus Station, Ashby Road, Ashby High Street and Ashby Manifold Road. The 6 runs four times an hour Monday to Saturday daytimes, half hourly each by Hornsby and Stagecoach (departing every 15 minutes from Scunthorpe Bus Station, but the even interval is lost later on as they each have different timing points and running times). However despite being 'turn up and go' Monday to Saturday daytimes, there is no evening service and was no Sunday service. Along Ashby Road Monday to Saturday daytimes, as well as the 6 four times an hour along the Southern section, there is also hourly services 3, 4 and 100, plus the two hourly 103 - i.e. 7-8 buses per hour. Sunday daytimes however had just been the 350 on a frequency of every one to three hours, and the 4 on a frequency of every 90 to 120 minutes. So as can be seen, relative to the Monday to Saturday daytime service, the Sunday service was very poor.
Now there is an hourly service 6 Sunday daytimes, departing Scunthorpe Bus Station between 0900 and 1700. This fills a gap in the Manifold Road, Grange Lane South and Everest Road areas of Ashby, and provides an improved service for Ashby Road. Hopefully the Sunday 6 is a success.
Next up are the interworked services 7 and 8 in North Scunthorpe. Each service operates hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes between Scunthorpe Bus Station, Scunthorpe Hospital and Skippingdale Retail Park, each via different routes between the Hospital and Skippingdale. With the new Sunday service, each route operates every two hours, with the 7's to Skippingdale returning as an 8 and vice versa. The 7 and 8 gaining a Sunday service isn't such an obvious addition to the Sunday network, compared to the 6, but they are the only option to improve Sunday daytime buses in Scunthorpe without either duplicating or changing the 1A (which could then lead to a different route between Sunday daytimes and daily evenings - not ideal).
However rather unfortunately, the 7 and 8 leave Scunthorpe Bus Station at the exact same time each hour as the only other direct service to Scunthorpe Hospital on Sundays - the 1A. What could have been a half hourly frequency between the three routes remains an effective hourly service.
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Other than the poor co-ordination up to the Hospital - a good enhancement, and hopefully encourage more bus travel on Sundays. It might have been a good opportunity to review the 1A route, in line with the latest incarnation of the Scunthorpe network, as its not really changed for 20+ years. In its attempt to serve everywhere, it kind of serves areas that now have a better service on evenings/sundays that the rest of the week - serving Angerstien Road and missing out Burringham Road for instance, or running via Warley Road and Trent Street instead of via Cemetery Road - so its more consistent with the daytime service.
Id suggest stagecoach should merge the 6, 7 and 8 into a single service. (Maybe renumber 7 and 6A and 8 as 6B) - as the timetables fit together and having a half-hourly Ashby - Scunthorpe - Hospital - Skippingdales route might tap into a new market - with the Hornsby 6's providing the extra capacity on the busier Ashby end? The buses seem to interwork for most of the day already anyway.
Totally agree with the comments on the 1A and it's a shame that an opportunity wasn't taken with the new Sunday services to tweak this, although my biggest concern is that we still have a circular service in the 1 and 3 numbered the same as opposed to 1A and 1C (for clockwise and anti-clockwise) and the same for the 3. Of course this would mean the existing 1A to be thought about, but that could easily become 2A and 2C for example.
The other bizarre one is the 11 which doesn't really fit with anything and an earlier start with the 1 would solve this, but again it's an NLC decision who don't perhaps seem to know nor understand its purpose.
Evening 4s through Timberland would be of benefit as well as Sundays and Lakeside seems to be forgotten somewhat on Sundays with a token service from the 4 which perhaps could support hourly on Sundays and remove that issue and even via Timberland to provide a service up there and wouldn't require the 1A on Sundays for the small bit it covers through Bottesford Lane/Road.
Great to see BSIP being used to support a Sunday service, but a full recast would probably be the answer and also deliver better patronage and some thought into some better coordination on some routes would also be good.
One example is you have the xx45 number 4 to Brigg following the xx45 number 6 through to Ashby. Personally I'd see an opportunity for the 4 to divert via Cemetery Road and Collum Avenue to continue onto Bottesford Road which would give a (near) 30 minute frequency for those areas, although Hornsby Travel might not be too keen on missing off Ashby Road and the Broadway end of Ashby High Street in that case, but would give them a captive audience down Cemetery Road...
Re the 11 - I don't know what passenger numbers are like, but if you were to replace 'like for like' you would need the 3 and 6 to also start earlier as well as the 1. Would be good to see though
The issue with amending the 1A just on Sunday daytimes - is that you then need to either:
-Keep the existing 1A in the evenings, and you end up with three different service patterns - Mon-Sat daytime, Sun daytime, daily evenings
Or:
-Amend the 1A and some areas no longer have an evening service
Neither option is good, so I can see why the 1A hasn't been amended - although maybe a considered recast wouldn't be such a bad idea
A "well-considered" recast is probably what's in order - especially if it could be done collaboratively with Hornsby, but don't think that's allowed under competition regs. The geography of Scunthorpe - essentially a rectangle block of low-density housing, doesn't really lend itself to high frequency bus corridors, like some other towns, hence the endless recasts that come along every few years (2003, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2019...). Tesco, Skippingdales and Lakeside are now busier than town too - so the network focused on the centre is less important
As suggested above, the 6/7/8 becoming a single service, every 30 is a good idea - It would give quite a big chunk of town a direct bus to the Hospital and Skippingdales.
Running the Evening/Sunday 4's via Bottesford Lane, Cambridge Avenue, and Timberlands to Lakeside would get rid of quite a big "wiggle" from the 1A route - and allow it to follow a more simular route as the daytime service. A slight cut in those areas, but then in the bigger picture maybe not a bad thing.
Simple fix - renumber the 12 to 2
The 3 running into town from Ashby via Burringham Road, then duplicating the outbound trip via Westcliff instead of being another bus along Ashby Road might also be an interesting concept - giving those areas a 30 minute service back, and becoming the main Westcliff to Scunthorpe route - as the 1 takes best part of half an hour these days. Might use an extra bus however, so it may not cover its costs.
The enhanced partnership regulations should permit Hornsby involvement in any hypothetical recast. In Oxford, all routes on which Stagecoach and Oxford Bus Company competed became single operator last year under the guise of an enhanced partnership
Great idea with the 3. You could also go a bit further and instead of Scotter Road, go via Swinburne Road, West Common Lane, Bristol Road, Plymouth Road then back onto West Common Lane.
Yes Id suggest it runs as:
Scunthorpe - Brumby Corner - JLC - Plymouth Rd- Bristol Rd - Swinburne Rd - Manor Farm, then current 3 to Ashby, then back along Burringham Road from Ashby Turn, to Manor farm, then reverse of above.
My wishlist would be this:
Service 1
- Split to be renumbered 1A (anticlockwise) and 1C (clockwise)
- Evening and Sunday routes included as per 1 route
Service 3
- Split to be renumbered 3A (anticlockwise) and 3C (clockwise)
- Route modified to include Bristol Road, Plymouth Road and Swinburne Road
- Evening and Sunday routes introduced, every two hours on 3A and 3C to make an hourly service
Service 4
- All journeys to run via Bottesford Road, Bottesford Lane, Timberlands
- Bus stop on the opposite side to Morrisons to avoid double run round at Lakeside
Service 4C
- Cancel – see below for X4 uplift
Service X4
- Renumber to service 5
- If an uplift was available, consider Scunthorpe – Brigg but via service 4 route to Lakeside via Timberland every hour to give half-hourly frequency in daytime
Service 6
- Introduce evening services, every hour
Service 7/8
- Introduce evening services, every two hours to make an hourly service
Service 9
- Reintroduce park and ride service to hospital and include train station to coordinate with train departures
Service 10
- Remains as currently
Service 11
- Cancel and start services 1A/1C/3A/3C earlier to cover for its loss
Service 12
- Divert from Ashby Turn via Ashby Road, West Common Lane, Scotter Road then to Asda to avoid duplicating service 1. Increases connectivity with John Leggott
A few interesting suggestions on here. My wishlist is probably a combination of all the above, although I want to see a sustainable network above all else.
1A - Scunthorpe - Tesco - Westcliff - Ashby - Lakeside - Scunthorpe (Every 30) (Stagecoach)
1C - Scunthorpe - Lakeside - Ashby - Westcliff - Tesco - Scunthorpe (Every 30) (Stagecoach)
Evening/Sunday service as now (No idea on number though!)
2 - Scunthorpe - Ashby (Every 30) (Hornsby)
2A - Skippingdale - Crosby - Scunthorpe - Ashby (Every 60) (Stagecoach)
2B - Skippingdale - Berkeley - Scunthorpe - Ashby (Every 60) (Stagecoach)
(2/2A/2B combined 15 minutes on existing 6 route)
Hourly Evening and Sunday service introduced across the full 2A/2B route
3 - Scunthorpe - Westcliff - Ashby - Bottesford - Westcliff - Scunthorpe (Every 60) (Stagecoach)
3A - Scunthorpe - Westcliff - Bottesford - Ashby - Westcliff - Scunthorpe (Every 60) (Stagecoach)
3/3a provide half-hourly Scunthorpe - Brumby Corner - Westcliff route, including via Bristol Road.
4 - Scunthorpe - Ashby - Timberland - Lakeside - Broughton - Brigg - Kirmington (2-hourly) (Hornsby)
4A - Scunthorpe - Ashby - Timberland - Lakeside - Broughton - Brigg - Kirton (2-hourly) (Hornsby)
4/4A combine to hourly service. 2-hourly evening/sunday service
5 - Scunthorpe - Lincoln Gardens - Ashby - ASDA (Every 60) (Hornsby)
Renumbered 12
6 - Renumbered as 2/2a/2b
7 - Renumbered 2a
8 - Renumbered 2b
10 - as now
11 - replace with an early morning 1A/1C
12 - renumbered 5
103 - Messingham shorts re-introduced, timetable tweaked so 100/103 provide clockface half-hourly Scunthorpe - Messingham timetable. Maybe renumber the 103 to 101 so it co-ordinates better (Although appreciate 101 is currently a school variation)
90/360 - merged into a single service. Goole services numbered 90, crowle shorts numbered 90A.
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