East Yorkshire 52 extended to Willerby

Sadly I have written quite a few negative posts about East Yorkshire's service changes that took place on 15th February. There were some positives to welcome though, including on service 52. I should point out however that I am fairly certain that service 52 has been receiving financial support since the COVID-19 pandemic, so whether these changes have been driven by East Yorkshire Buses, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, or both, isn't clear.

Service 52 between Hull Paragon Interchange and Anlaby was extended to Willerby Monday to Saturday daytimes, when it provides an hourly service. From Lowfield Road/Spire Hospital in Anlaby, the 52 now operates via Beverley Road and Gorton Road before performing a loop in Willerby via Willerby Parkway, Well Lane, Willerby Square and Kingston Road back to Gorton Road and Beverley Road. In Anlaby return journeys to Hull perform a somewhat convoluted route via Wilson Street, Lowfield Road, Beverley Road, Wilson Street (again) and Hull Road, but if the 52 simply followed it's route towards Willerby in reverse, it wouldn't serve any existing stops in Anlaby village centre, and it wouldn't be easy to add any new ones. 

As a result of this extension, Willerby Parkway and Well Lane go from a very limited service 26 between Hessle and Beverley to the 26 plus the 52 offering a hourly service to Hull City Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary and Anlaby Village; the same also applies to the local link between Anlaby and Willerby village centres. It also gives Willerby Square an extra service per hour to Hull City Centre and Hull Royal Infirmary.

Another benefit of this change is that co-ordination between the 52 and associated service 53 between Hull, Anlaby and Swanland is improved, with an even interval half hourly service between Hull and Anlaby, rather than two services per hour. Presumably this is helped by the 52 and 53 now being similar length routes with similar 'end-to-end' running times? 

In line with other Anlaby Road services operated by East Yorkshire, the 52 and 53 now operate inbound to Paragon Interchange via Park Street, omitting the City Centre Loop in this direction.