Back to once a week

Last April the Goole GoFar operated 358 'shopper' route between Holme on Spalding Moor and Goole gained a Wednesday service in addition to it's existing Tuesday service. As off April 1st 2025, the route has been reduced back to Tuesday only.

Coastal Positives and Negatives

For most of the past few years, East Yorkshire's Bridlington to Scarborough via Filey corridor has comprised:

-A year round hourly daily service 12

-An hourly daily 'full route' service 13 from early March to early November

-An hourly daily 'short' service 13 from Filey to Scarborough between early March and early November

In Summer 2023 the Filey 'shorts' were dropped on Sundays, and I seem to recall they were also dropped early on Monday to Saturdays last year at the end of August. This wasn't advertised at the start of the season, so possibly weather related?

Summer 2025 sees more cutbacks 'around the edges'. No seasonal uplifts commenced until Saturday 5th April, a month later than usual. In addition the Monday to Saturday Filey shorts do not commence until Saturday 24th May, and again finish at the end of August.

On a positive note, when the Filey shorts recommence, the first two shorts into Scarborough, and the last two from Scarborough are extended from/to Primrose Valley Holiday Village south of Filey. The 1730 and 1825 from Filey to Scarborough are withdrawn to help facilitate this.

In addition the 2040 and 2140 service 13's from Scarborough to Bridlington and the 2200 service 13 from Bridlington to Scarborough, previously Friday and Saturday only during the Summer, gain a Monday to Thursday service between 27th May and 29th August only. 

On service 14 between Bridlington and Flamborough, the Summer early/mid evening service is operating Monday to Saturday rather than Friday and Saturday only this year. In addition, whilst last year the evening service finished at the end of August, this year no end date has been advertised.

Saturdays to Sledmere

Service 535 between Driffield and Sledmere gained a Saturday service last week (19th April - Easter Saturday), funded by East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan allocation. The 535 was previously a Tuesday and Thursday only 'shopper' service operated by East Hull Community Transport, with two journeys journeys in a one way loop operating Driffield-Wetwang-Fridaythorpe-Fimber-Sledmere-Driffield. These are now joined by an East Yorkshire Buses operated Saturday service which also operates two journeys via the same loop, albeit with the afternoon service operating in the opposite direction. The Saturday 535 is timed to connect with the seasonal 200 between Pocklington and Thixendale at Fridaythorpe. 

Significantly Improved Monday to Friday 399

A major enhancement was made to the Monday to Friday Hornsby 399 between Scunthorpe and Doncaster via the Isle of Axholme on Monday 7th April. Previously there were two Scunthorpe to Doncaster round trips every weekday along with two Scunthorpe to Misterton round trips, a Scunthorpe to Epworth round trip, a Belton to Westwoodside journey and a Westwoodside to Scunthorpe journey.

Now the service has been significantly enhanced and simplified, with five roundtrips between Scunthorpe and Doncaster Monday to Friday - clockface every two hours for most of the day - and one additional journey in each direction between Scunthorpe and Westwoodside, extending to Misterton on college days only. (The Stagecoach evening peak service between Scunthorpe and Westwoodside remains as well). Apart from the the morning peak service not serving the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, all journeys are now 'full route' - no more omitting Althorpe Village/West Butterwick/Beltoft and/or Owston Ferry on certain 'contra-flow' journeys.

One notable aspect about the revised 399 is the provision of suitably timed journeys for commuting to/from Doncaster. As a result First service 357 between Doncaster and Finningley no longer has Monday to Friday extensions to/from Epworth via Haxey and Westwoodside. The Saturday peak extensions remain, retimed to run slightly earlier.

Overall a significant improvement has been made for not much extra mileage, There are still the same number of journeys from Epworth to Scunthorpe for example, and only one extra in the opposite direction. Even from Westwoodside to Doncaster it's not a significant increase when taking into account First's 357. However everything is much simplified compared to previously, which taken with a small increase in mileage makes a big difference.

60 to 21 Transport?

Rather quietly - i.e. I can't find a formal announcement anywhere - North Lincolnshire Council tendered service 60 between Scunthorpe and Whitton seems to have passed from Stagecoach to 21 Transport. The service operates Monday to Saturday daytimes on a somewhat variable frequency throughout the day. Stagecoach cancelled the 60 from Sunday 30th March, with 21 Transport registering from Tuesday 1st April. Not quite sure what happened on Monday 31st March. As per bustimes.org, the timetable is unchanged.

21 Transport have a registered office in Goole and currently also operate North Yorkshire tendered services from Foxholes to Malton and Harrogate to Wetherby, with an additional Esk Valley to Whitby tender due to commence next week. Last year they also briefly operated from Horton and Settle in North Yorkshire to Clitheroe in Lancashire - quite the disparate operation!