Better Links for Kingswood

Stagecoach service 12 in Hull was significantly revised on Sunday 31st August. The route had previously operated between Hull Paragon Interchange, Holderness Road Shops, Gillshill Road, Sutton Village, Noddle Hill Way, Wawne Road and Bransholme North Point Shopping Centre every 15-20 minutes Monday to Friday daytimes, every 15-30 minutes Saturday daytimes, every half hour Sunday daytimes and hourly daily evenings.

Now the 12 has been extended beyond North Point via Bude Road, Kingswood Retail Park, Runnymede Avenue, Barnes Road and Richmond Way to Kingswood Health Centre. New variant 12A has also been added, running from Paragon Interchange to Noddle Hill Way as per the 12, then via a northern part of Wawne Road to Pioneer Way and Kingswood Health Centre. Almost all journeys run as a circular, either a 12 to Kingswood Health Centre returning as a 12A, or vice versa - although based on my observations at Kingswood Retail Park last week, maybe that should be the 12/12A terminus. having the 12 going in two directions seemed to be confusing some passengers.

Monday to Saturday daytimes the 12 and 12A each operate every half hour. Over the combined section of route a 15 minute even interval frequency is maintained from Paragon Interchange, but 12-18 minute intervals exist from Noddle Hill Way back into Hull City Centre. On Sunday daytimes each route operates hourly, with a half hourly combined frequency from Paragon Interchange and a 29-31 minute interval from Noddle Hill Way in the other direction. Daily evening service are an hourly 12 from Paragon Interchange, returning as a 12A - i.e. a one-directional loop around Bransholme and Kingswood.

There are a lot of positives from these changes, with a standardised four buses per hour Monday to Saturday daytimes between Paragon Interchange and Noddle Hill Way, new links to Kingswood from Summergangs Road, Gillshill Road, Sutton Village and Noddle Hill Way, new North Point links from Kingswood and new services for previously unserved Runnymede Avenue/Barnes Road (along with the re-routed 11/111), Richmond Way and parts of Bude Road. 

Customers wanting North Point on the common service 12/12A section of route however now have a detour around Kingswood on approximately half the timetable, as do passengers between Wawne Road and Hull City Centre. The 1941 departure from Paragon Interchange on Saturdays has also been withdrawn without replacement, meaning the hourly evening frequency now begins at 1915 not 2011. Overall there seems to be more gains than losses.

At the same time as the 12A was introduced to Pioneer Way, service 6 was withdrawn from Pioneer Way; rather than operating a Kingswood Health Centre-Pioneer Way-North Bransholme-Kingsbury Way-Health Centre loop, the 6 now operates from the Health Centre to North Bransholme via Kingsbury Way in both directions.

45 Minute Gaps in a Half Hourly Frequency

In recent years, Stagecoach putting sporadic 15 minute gaps in a 10 minute frequency, or 30 minute gaps in a 20 minute frequency Monday to Friday daytimes has become a feature of some timetables in Hull. Presumably this cuts the vehicle requirement down by one and saves a driver or two whilst just about maintaining 'headline' frequencies? 

Stagecoach took things one stage further in their 31st August service changes - 45 minute gaps in otherwise half hourly services on routes 4 to Orchard Park and the 6 to Kingswood. To provide an example, from Orchard Park Tesco the 4 departs at 0900, 0930, 1000 then 1045, half hourly to 1315, then 1400. Again these apply Monday to Friday only - the 4 remains a consistent half hourly frequency on both Saturday and Sunday daytimes, as does the 6 on Saturday daytimes.

Saturday only commuter service?

Here is a little curiosity to come out of Stagecoach's 31st August service changes in Hull. On service 16, the 0730 Paragon Interchange to Siemens 'short' was withdrawn Monday to Friday (first journey now at 0908), but retained on Saturdays. Seems rather odd that a morning peak service to Siemens is being provided on a Saturday only? There is a Monday to Friday only 0700 East Yorkshire service 79 from the Interchange that serves Siemens - is the 0730 a Saturday replacement for that? Or is the explanation something else?

Service 677 Withdrawal

Stagecoach service 677 between Hull Paragon Interchange and Preston Cranswick Foods was withdrawn after operation on Friday 29th August last year "due to low passenger demand". The service offered two journeys from the Interchange at 0500 and 0530 and three from Preston at 0550, 0620 and 1820 - all Monday to Friday only. Services routed via Beverley Road, Clough Road, Leads Road, Ings Road, Holderness Road and Bilton.

Service 33 Extended

Stagecoach extended service 33 between Hull Paragon Interchange, Garden Village, Malet Lambert School, Ings Road, Leads Road, Sutton Village, Howdale Road, Kestrel Avenue, Biggin Avenue and North Point Shopping Centre on 1st September. At peak times only, the 33 now extends via Bude Road and Bodmin Road to Kingswood Retail Park (service 11/111 route), then to Kingswood Medical Centre via Runnymede Lane (service 6 route) and finally to the North Bransholme Hilltop Farm roundabout via the otherwise unserved Diversity Drive in one of the new sections of residential Kingswood.

Off peak, the 33 has been renumbered as 33C - these are just 'short' 33's between Paragon Interchange and North Point, but presumably the 'C' is to make this extra 'clear'. Overall frequency remains hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes, rising to half hourly in the evening peak out of Hull City Centre.

This is a slightly different version of what was suggested in March 2025. At that time the 33C was planned as introduced in September, but the 33 would have operated from Leads Road via Wawne Road to Diversity Drive and Kingswood Medical Centre, then via Richmond Way and Barnes Way to Kingswood Retail Park. The originally proposed 33 would have provided a more direct service to Diversity Drive and to Kingswood more broadly, but at the expense of peak time connectivity to Kestrel Avenue, Biggin Avenue and parts of Howdale Road; North Point would also have been unserved at peak times by the 33.

It will be interesting to see if there are any further changes in Kingswood to provide an all day service to Diversity Drive. The 33 looks to be an attempt to provide an initial service in marginal time via a convoluted route; that may make sense whilst the area is being developed and struggles to justify any more extensive provision, but I'm not convinced it will be viable long term. 

At the same time the 33S schools service from Victoria Dock to Malet Lambert School - with the afternoon return extended to Paragon Interchange - became a Monday to Friday (including School Holidays) 33A between Hull Paragon Interchange, Victoria Dock, Garden Village, Malet Lambert School, Ings Road, Leads Road, Midmere Avenue and North Point, with a 0745 departure from Paragon Interchange and a 1515 service from North Point.

Associated service 34 between Hull Paragon Interchange, Garden Village, Chamberlain Road and the Stagecoach depot on Foster Street gained extra departures at 1415 and 1515 Monday to Friday from Paragon Interchange and at 1445 from Foster Street.

Changes to the 11, 80, 110 and 111

A number of small changes were made to co-ordinated Stagecoach services 11 (Hull-Ings Estate-North Point-Kingswood-Castle Hill Hospital) and 110/111 (Hull-Ings Estate-North Point-Kingswood-Beverley) from 31st August.

In the Kingswood area, both services now serve Runnymede Way, Runnymede Avenue, Barnes Road and Barnes Way, but not Kingswood Leisure Park - with the exception of the early morning and evening service 11's that start/terminate at Kingswood and which now use the Leisure Park to do so, as opposed to the Retail Park previously. Service 6 maintains an 'all-day' service to the Leisure Park.

Service 80 between Hull and Castle Hill Hospital has been renumbered as service 11A, which is very logical as it follows much of the same route as the 11. Personally I would have taken the opportunity to reroute the 11A to follow the 11's route in Cottingham; the 11A's route differences in the village are covered by East Yorkshire Buses. Maybe a good place to note that service 83, also following a similar route as the 11 and 11A/80, has become a 'closed door' service for Wilberforce College students, along with the 81, 82 and 85.

At an individual journey level, Monday to Friday the 1400 service 110 from Hull Paragon Interchange has been withdrawn, as has the Monday to Friday 1623 service 11 from Castle Hill Hospital, the later has ended in favour of the 1610 service 80 being retimed as a 1620 11A. There is a new later departure from Beverley Monday to Friday at 2325 on service 111, previous last service at 2242; the Saturday 2342 service 111 from Beverley is retimed to 2325.

Service 111 operates an hour later on Sundays, with the last departure from Hull Paragon Interchange at 1730 not 1630 (replacing the 1730 service 11 to Kingswood), and from Beverley at 1855 not 1755. Later on Sunday evenings, the 11 has gained a new 2130 journey from Hull Paragon Interchange, filling a 90 minute gap in the hourly evening service. On the negative side, the 2212 from Kingswood Retail Park to Paragon Interchange is withdrawn, leaving the last Sunday service back into Hull as the 2120 from Kingswood Leisure Park.