Saturday, 21 December 2024

New evening service for Epworth, Haxey and Westwoodside

Starting on 7th November, Epworth, Haxey and Westwoodside gained a limited evening service three days a week. Funded by North Lincolnshire Council, two journeys on First service 359 from Doncaster to Finningley via Bessacarr were extended to Epworth via Westwoodside, Haxey and Low Burnham every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Departures from Doncaster are at 1934 and 2134, with the previous last service at 1739 Mon-Fri/1752 Sat.

Returning back to Doncaster, the bus and driver operate as new route 360, operating direct from Epworth via Haxey, Westwoodside and Cantley Lane in Doncaster (i.e. as per the 399 between Haxey and Doncaster). Whilst seemingly intended to return to Doncaster as quickly as possible, these services maybe useful for an evening in Epworth, with departures at 2035 and 2235.

The extended 359 and new 360 are a trial service to March 2025 - hopefully they are being well supported.

The previous return 359 journeys from Finningley to Doncaster prior to the extension still operate, but with a different bus and driver that runs out of service to Finningley. From reviewing vehicle movements on bustimes.org there appears to be interworking with other routes, which is presumably more efficient than operating a standalone Doncaster-Epworth service.

Summary timetables for Epworth, Haxey and Westwoodside to Doncaster, and Epworth to Haxey and Westwoodside are available on the Humber Transport Summary Timetable page. As you will be able to see, the six departures from Epworth to Doncaster now available every Thursday, Friday and Saturday are split across three different routes, as are the five from Doncaster to Epworth. Across the week, there are also three different operators involved.

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