New Evening Services in the Beverley area

On Friday 2nd February, East Riding of Yorkshire Council started contracting East Yorkshire to provide one vehicle's worth of evening services in the Beverley area every Friday and Saturday, funded by Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding. Three routes have gained a new evening service - the 142, 180 and 525 - albeit in each case on a part route basis only.

Before I review each route, here is the 'diagram':

• 1900 Service 180 Skidby-Beverley
• 1930 Service 142 Beverley-Cherry Burton
• 1940 Service 142 Cherry Burton-Beverley
• 2000 Service 525 Beverley-Beverley Town Service
• [46 minute break]
• 2100 Service 525 Beverley-Beverley Town Service
• [46 minute break]
• 2200 Service 525 Beverley-Beverley Town Service
• 2230 Service 180 Beverley-Skidby
• [position out of service]
• 2315 Service 142 Beverley-Cherry Burton

Service 180 is otherwise operated by Stagecoach between Cottingham, Skidby and Beverley. Prior to the 1900, the last Stagecoach operated departure from Skidby to Beverley is at 1637. From Beverley, the last Stagecoach 180 is at 1715.

The new evening 180 could have even more purpose by serving Cottingham as per the daytime route. Cottingham lost it's evening service to/from Beverley last Spring when the X47 was routed away, whilst the last daytime service from Cottingham to Beverley is at 1817 Fri/1809 Sat on service 25 and from Beverley to Cottingham at 1715 Fri/1820 Sat. 

I've looked on bustimes.org to see if a Cottingham extension would be possible for the inbound service to Beverley. On Friday 8th March, bus 0769 arrived in Hessle on the 25 at 1821 before running 'dead' to Skidby for the 1900. Today (Saturday 9th March), bus 0362 arrived in Beverley on the 25 at 1835 before running 'dead' to Skidby for the 1900. In the Friday example a Cottingham start seems easy enough - superficially at least; on Saturday's probably not possible without changing the interworking. An extension of the 2230 to Cottingham would require the 2315 service 142 to be retimed slightly later. 

With Cottingham also having bars and restaurants itself - plus visiting at Castle Hill Hospital - it does strike me that the new evening 180 has potential for a more extensive timetable. 

Moving onto the 142, for the which the limited Monday to Saturday daytime service operates an extended route beyond Cherry Burton to Middleton and Bainton. The Friday timetable in particular now is rather unusual - 1150, 1350, 1930 and 2315 from Beverley and 1007, 1307 and 1940 from Cherry Burton. Saturdays also have a 1600 from Beverley and 1657 from Cherry Burton. Clearly the new evening 142's serve a clear purpose, to give Molescroft and Cherry Burton residents the option for an evening out in Beverley. However it is perhaps a legitimate question to ask whether the funding being used would be better spent funding a late afternoon weekday service instead?

Finally, the 525; the main daytime service serves the Swinemoor Estate as well as Holme Church Lane and Flemingate, whereas the new evening jouneys omit the Swinemoor Estate and instead operate direct from Beverley Station to Holme Church Lane via Grovehill Road. I presume this is related to anti-social behaviour issues on the Swinemoor Estate? Timetable wise it's another odd one - 0930, hourly to 1530, 1600 then 2000, 2100 and 2200. A four hour gap and no early evening service into Beverley. It feels like the new evening 525's are a way to 'pass time' before taking the village passengers back home again. Plus once again, if there is money to spend on improving the 525, a later daytime service Monday to Saturday feels like a better option.

Overall the intent is good - encourage people to spend an evening in Beverley by bus. However the 'execution' doesn't feel quite right and there are arguably bigger priorities in the Beverley bus network during the late afternoon period.

New Sunday Service on the 136

Five weeks ago on Sunday 28th January, East Yorkshire operated service 136 between Driffield, Skipsea and Bridlington gained a Sunday service, to add to it's approximately every 3 hours Monday to Saturday daytime service. The new Sunday service is funded by East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding allocation, with 0915, 1415 and 1655 departures from Bridlington, and 1025, 1530 and 1805 departures from Driffield. 

The new service is welcome, and provides the only Sunday bus service for Wansford, North Frodingham and Beeford, as well as new Sunday links to Driffield from Barmston, Lissett, Ulrome and Skipsea.

Between Bridlington and Skipsea the route is also served by daily Bridlington to Hornsea service 130, and unfortunately coordination between the 130 and 136 on a Sunday is poor, just like it already is Monday to Saturday. The Humber Transport Summary Timetables page now has a combined timetable, but as the main example, on a Sunday afternoon there are services from Bridlington to Skipsea at 1415, 1445, 1655 and 1715. To be fair, the Sunday morning timetable is better co-ordinated, and passengers may not be evenly spread across the day, but even still, a 30 minute gap followed by a 130 minute gap followed by a 20 minute gap is poor. 

On paper, with the 130 and 136 both having a similar end to end journey time, Bridlington to Skipsea could have a daily service every 90 minutes combined, without increasing the vehicle requirement. In the real world, it wouldn't be that perfect - the need to accommodate schools interworking on the 130 for example - but surely it must be possible to improve on the current situation? 

Pocklington to Driffield Reinstated

Returning now to East Yorkshire's recent changes, and the Pocklington to Driffield link was reinstated - in a very limited way - on Thursday 1st February with new service 544. The 544 operates Thursdays only between the two towns via Warter, North Dalton, Bainton (Wolds Village stop on the outskirts only), Tibthorpe and Kirkburn. There are 0930 and 1240 departures from Pocklington and 1015 and 1325 departures from Driffield, giving passengers either 3 hours 15 minutes in Driffield on market day, or 1 hour 45 minutes in Pocklington.

The 544 has been attributed to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding, but from the wording in their press release, it would seem that is only for the 0930 and 1325 Driffield market day links; the 1015 and 1240 may well be commercially operated, which if so would be a good use of otherwise 'dead' time.

New Thursday off-peak shopping service to Driffield. Departing Pocklington 0930, Warter 0942, North Dalton 0949, Tibthorpe 0955, arriving in Driffield at 1010. Returning at 1325 from Driffield. 
In addition East Yorkshire buses will run a service from Driffield to Pocklington. Departing Driffield 1015, Tibthorpe 1030, North Dalton 1036, Warter 1043, arriving in Pocklington at 1055. Returning at 1240 from Pocklington. 

North Dalton, Bainton and Kirkburn have a regular Monday to Saturday off peak link to Driffield on service 145, so it seems like the main purpose is to link Pocklington, Warter and Tibthorpe to Driffield. Warter is otherwise only served by the Tuesday only 199, whilst the 544 is Tibthorpe's only bus service.

Extra Sunday Services on the 350

When does an enhancement leave you wanting more? When the vehicle requirement of a route increases for just one extra journey each way, on a service that could do with more additions than just that.

On Sunday 18th February, Stagecoach added a new 0755 Sunday service 350 from Ashby to Hull via Scunthorpe and Barton, offering an 0925 first arrival into Hull. The new journey is supported by North Lincolnshire's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding allocation. Stagecoach have then added a new 0930 Hull to Ashby. These additions are very welcome, particularly the earlier first arrival into Hull. Overall there are now seven services each way on a Sunday, on a very unbalanced timetable with three hour gaps at certain times of the day - 0755, 0855, 0955, 1255, 1455, 1755 and 1955 from Ashby; 0830, 0930, 1030, 1330, 1530, 1830 and 1930 from Hull.

These extra journeys now increase the Sunday vehicle requirement of the 350 to 3 - 1 from East Yorkshire (unchanged) and 2 from Stagecoach's Scunthorpe depot. However the notional 2nd Stagecoach vehicle finishes it's day at 1051. It is a bit disappointing that the opportunity hasn't been taken to do more with it. On a Sunday, three vehicles could provide an hourly all day service. Even if there was no desire to go that far, the current three hour gaps in the Sunday timetable could have been reduced. 

My frustration aside, I did take a trip on the first run of the new 0755. It's obviously unknown how representative this will turn out to be, but for the record, I and one other boarded at Barton Market Place, 1 got off and 10 were already on board. At Barton Interchange a further three boarded for a total of 15 heading across the Humber Bridge. Briefly observing the 0830 from Hull at Barton Interchange, it only looked to have two or three on board. 

Once over the bridge, one got off at Wingfield Farm on Boothferry Road, 1 on at Fiveways, 1 off at the North Road stop on Boothferry Road, 1 on at the Wheeler Street stop on Anlaby Road, 2 off and 1 on at Wenlock Barracks, 1 off and 2 on at the MKM Stadium and finally 2 on at Hull Royal Infirmary. On arrival at Paragon Interchange in Hull there looked to be 5 waiting for the 0930. Overall quite encouraging for an inaugural run on a damp February Sunday. There looked to be 2 people in Tesco uniform so potentially some commuter travel as part of the passenger mix.

Not wanting to wait until the 1330 to go home, that meant returning on the 1030. The inbound arrival at Paragon Interchange I counted 36 passengers get off. 16 boarded the 1030 at Paragon Interchange and 1 more at the first stop on Anlaby Road after turning off Park Street. 1 got off at Hull Royal Infirmary, 1 boarded opposite the East Yorkshire depot, 2 boarded at the Anlaby Road Sandringham Street stop and 3 at the Anlaby Road Wheeler Street stop. Once turning onto Boothferry Road, 3 got off at Wistow Grove, 1 off at Fiveways, 1 on at Costello Stadium, 1 on at Darleys Roundabout and 1 off at Wingfield Farm. In Barton there was 1 off and 1 on at the Ferriby Road Forkedale stop, 5 off and 3 on at the Interchange and then me off on Butts Road. Again encouraging numbers for the time of day and direction of travel.

For the record, as part of the same change to the 350, Stagecoach no longer divert via Wren Kitchens in Barton on Saturdays. Rather than reduce journey times on the affected journeys, buses wait time in Barton to avoid deviation from the Monday to Friday timetable.

More enhancements coming to North Lincolnshire's bus network

I'm taking a brief break from reviewing East Yorkshire's January changes this weekend, to cover a couple of other things.

This batch of improvements might not be fully implemented yet, but more enhancements are coming to the North Lincolnshire bus network. The minutes of the North Lincolnshire Enhanced Bus Partnership on 17th January contains the following:

New Proposals 

AB ran through the new BSIP+ funding proposals to be agreed by the Board. Discussions took place and the following proposals were fully supported. 

Additional Journeys on Service 350 New timetable for evening services from Scunthorpe Bus Station to Hull hourly commencing at 17:45. Last return journey from Hull at 23:00. Service will run Monday to Saturday. 

Board agreed that there may be the need for an additional evening journey on service 350 in the future to run at 21:30 from Hull and return at 23:00 from Scunthorpe, Monday to Saturday. 

Addition evening journeys on Service 103 Additional teatime service Monday to Saturday on 103 to Kirton in Lindsey at 18:00 and return at 18:30. Extra Friday and Saturday services to Kirton between 19:10 and 21:50. 

Additional teatime journey on Service 57 from Doncaster Teatime service from Doncaster to Isle of Axholme. This will extend the 17:39 from Doncaster to Epworth via the same route as the morning service. 

Provision of Service 6 on Sundays To run service 6 on Sundays hourly between Scunthorpe bus station and Ashby. To commence at 09:00 from Scunthorpe bus station and return. Last bus from Scunthorpe bus station at 17:00. 

Provision of Service 260 on Saturdays Run the 260 service between Immingham and Barton on Saturdays. This will be the same timetable as Monday to Friday.

Extension of Service 4 on Saturdays To include Normanby Hall into service 4 from Easter until 31st October. Discussion took place around the price of parking at Normanby Hall and consideration to be given to possibly running promotions with Normanby Hall in the future. 

Provision of Services 7 and 8 on Sundays To run services 7 and 8 on Sundays between Scunthorpe bus station and Skippingdale retail park on a Sunday.

Proposals Deferred until next meeting 

Sunday service to Normanby Hall Discussion took place around whether a service was required on a Sunday. AB told the meeting that the footfall for Normanby Hall on a Sunday was a lot higher than that of a Saturday. KRob believed that by running the bus service on a Saturday the footfall would increase. This is something that could be monitored via operator information. Operators to work out the costs for running a Sunday service and revisit at the next meeting. 

Additional journeys on Service 35 To run two extra journeys to Amcotts on a Saturday. One at 08:00 and one at 17:30 from Scunthorpe Bus Station and return. Currently the first bus is 09:00 and the last bus 15:00. Current 35 tender to be renewed 1 April 2024. There is currently no 360 service on a Saturday. Discussion took place around options for the proposal. One option is for NLC to contact East Riding Council to see if they would be willing to price for a Saturday 360 service to be funded from BSIP+ funding for at least a year. The other option is for operators to tender for service 35 and run the current timetable or include the extra runs on a Saturday. Deferred until next meeting.  

I should point out that at a subsequent meeting on 15th February, it was agreed to use up to 10% of BSIP+ funding to maintain existing services. That may mean some of the above proposals don't get implemented. However from this weeks updates to the Vehicle Operating Licensing database, enhancements to the 103 and 350 are coming at Easter - maybe other routes too, but it's not always clear from the summary of change provided. The evening peak Doncaster to Epworth service was also included in First's recent consultation for their proposed April service changes.

(There are also a lot of interesting changes to the Stagecoach network in Hull due at Easter).

Return of the 144

Some of you may recall former EYMS service 144. It started in December 2008 as a Tuesday and Friday 'shopper' service from North Ferriby to Beverley via Swanland, Kirk Ella, Willerby and Cottingham. In February 2012 it was extended to start in Elloughton, also serving Brough, Welton and Melton before picking up the existing route at North Ferriby; a Thursday journey was also added. The route ended in July 2013 though when service 180, operating between Hessle and Beverley at the time, was extended to become a Swanland to Beverley via Hessle service.

Fast forward 10 and a half years, and the 144 is back, in a slightly different form. The route recommenced on Tuesday 30th January, operated by East Yorkshire and funded from East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus allocation.

This time the 144 starts in South Cave (West End) before serving Elloughton, Brough, Welton, Melton, North Ferriby (including the Station area) and Swanland. From Swanland the 144 then routes to Beverley direct, serving only the Skidby Roundabout and Bentley Lane End stops in between. Willerby and Cottingham are presumably omitted to avoid extracting revenue from the commercial service 25. The new 144 departs South Cave at 0930, arriving into Beverley at 1030, with the return leaving Beverley at 1300. It operates Tuesdays and Thursdays only.

The 144 restores the link from Swanland to Beverley, last provided by the 180 in May 2018 (albeit arguably only usable for such a journey on Saturdays). South Cave, Elloughton, Brough, Welton, Melton and North Ferriby are already linked to Beverley on service 143, albeit on Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays only. The 144's return now gives them a five day a week Beverley link.

150 goes 5 Days a Week

Another beneficiary of East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding has been service 150, operated by East Yorkshire. The 150 is a morning and early afternoon local service from Hessle Sainsburys to Hessle Square, from where it then operates a large clockwise 'rectangle' via North Ferriby, Swanland and Anlaby back to Hessle Square and Sainsburys. As well as being a shopping service to Hessle and Sainsburys, it also serves a GP Practice in Anlaby used by North Ferriby and Swanland residents. Previously the 150 operated Tuesday and Thursday only, but since Monday 29th January, has become a Monday to Friday service.

Sunday Buses Return to Easington

Since Sunday 28th January, service 71 between Withernsea and Easington has gained a Sunday service. The route is operated by East Yorkshire with financial support from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and the new Sunday journeys are funded from the council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding.

There are four daytime journeys in each direction on a two hourly frequency. All Sunday journeys operate via Holmpton, unlike Monday to Saturdays where some serve Patrington instead. There is a lot of layover in the new Sunday timetable, 30 minutes in Withernsea and 34 minutes in Easington, although the service is due to be extended (presumably on a seasonal basis) to Kilnsea and The Spurn Discovery Centre from Easter.

Going through my timetable collection, this is the first Sunday service to Easington since some time between 2003 and 2006. In the early 00's, service 71 had three Sunday journeys year round between Withernsea and Easington, supplemented by Summer service 73 from Withernsea to Kilnsea and Spurn via Patrington and Easington.

Better Evening buses between Hull and Withernsea

East Yorkshire's service 75 between Hull, Hedon and Withernsea has had an improved evening timetable since Monday 29th January, thanks to East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding.

The 1847 Withernsea to Hull and 2010 Hull to Withernsea now operate Monday to Saturday rather than Friday and Saturday only; this fills a two hour gap in the Monday to Thursday evening service. Meanwhile there are new 2047 Withernsea to Hull and 2210 Hull to Withernsea services Monday to Saturday, filling another two hour gap from Withernsea and a 1 hour 50 minute gap in departures from Hull. Overall the Monday to Saturday evening service is now hourly, with Sunday evenings remaining two hourly.

Hull Services 56 and 57 Frequency Increase

East Yorkshire revised service 56 and 57 on Sunday 28th January, primarily to increase their frequency. Both services run a common route from Bilton Asda via Longhill, Holderness Road and Hull Paragon Interchange to Hull Royal Infirmary, were they split; the 56 extends via Albert Avenue to Wymersley Road, whilst the 57 runs via Hessle Road and Summergroves Way to Hessle Square.

Both services had been running every half hour Monday to Saturday daytimes for a combined frequency of every 15 minutes, albeit with some 35 minute gaps on Saturdays (20 minute gaps on the combined section). Now both services are increased to every 20 minutes, with an every 10 minute frequency on the joint route; a couple of 25 minute gaps do exist on Saturday afternoons. Overall this is a significant increase, and a welcome one as the Holderness Road and Hessle Road corridors, especialy the latter, have felt underserved over the past year or two, whilst every 20 minutes provides much more flexibility for Wymersley Road area passengers.

Service 66 Frequency Increase

East Yorkshire introduced changes across many routes in their network yesterday - Sunday 28th January. Overall these are a mix of East Riding of Yorkshire Council Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funded enhancements, and commercially driven alterations. It is with a commercial change that I will begin.

Service 66 between Hull Paragon Interchange and Hessle Square via Hull Royal Infirmary, Fiveways and the Boothferry Estate has been increased to operate every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes, up from every 20 minutes Monday to Friday daytimes and a horrible every 20-25 minutes on Saturday daytimes. Evenings and Sundays remain hourly. 

This isn't a return to the pre-COVID service level, but it's much better than this time last week!

What Could Be Coming to the North Lincolnshire Bus Network in 2024

Last week, North Lincolnshire Council published the North Lincolnshire Enhanced Bus Partnership Plan and Scheme on their website, along with a fairly vague press release about the improvements to come. The associated decision report contains the most detail however:

2.4 A number of measures have been identified as part of the delivery of the Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme: 

• Additional bus services 

• Review ongoing maintenance, repair and servicing of bus infrastructure 

• Section 22 Community Transport in North Lincolnshire 

• Bus disruption survey 

• Extensions to existing services 

-Villages South and East of Brigg including Humberside Airport. 

-Scunthorpe to Barton and Hull 

-Main residential corridors in Scunthorpe 

• Reduced fares for young people 

2.5 Based on the above measures identified in the Enhanced Partnership Scheme, the following proposals related to bus services have been approved at the Enhanced Partnership Board pending final sign-off. 

• Improved Maintenance of Bus Infrastructure – ongoing development of improved maintenance scheme. 

• Additional services on service 4 Sundays and Bank Holidays - 9.00am service from Scunthorpe to Brigg and return journey. Extend the 17.45 service to Brigg which currently terminates at 18.02 at Morrisons. Return journey from Brigg at 18.30. 

• Revision of service 10 timetable – Additional services from Burringham Monday to Friday. 9.30am from Burringham to Scunthorpe. 12.00 return from Scunthorpe to Burringham. 12.30 from Burringham to Scunthorpe. 

• Additional evening services on service 90 – Additional 7pm evening service Monday to Saturday from Scunthorpe to Crowle and return. Additional 9.30pm Friday and Saturday service from Scunthorpe to Crowle and return. 

• New Saturday Service for South and East of Brigg – The new Saturday service c4 will link into Brigg giving the same frequency of buses in the area on Monday to Friday. 

• Ferry Ward – Additional Bus Services – Service 260 Extend service 260 to Immingham incorporating South Killingholme, North Killingholme and East Halton. 

• Section 22 Community Transport in North Lincolnshire - Route 96 is between Barton and Brigg. Route 97 on the Isle of Axholme between Garthorpe and Wroot. Monday to Friday.

• Additional Sunday service provision on service 350 - A new 7.55am Scunthorpe to Hull service to alleviate the pressure of the 10am service. 

• Bus Disruption Survey – To be carried out by NLC staff in conjunction with operators and drivers. Working group to be set up.

It should be noted the c4 was introduced earlier this month. I cannot find timelines for the other proposed measures to commence. 

I presume the above is an updated version of these ideas from the September Enhanced Bus Partnership meeting. Early evening improvements to the 350 are no longer mentioned, whilst mention of the devolution of bus infrastructure to town and parish councils has morphed into 'improved maintenance'. New are the potential improvements to services 4, 10 and 90.

New Summary Timetables

I have added a new summary timetables page to the blog, with an initial 8 timetables summarising bus services on the following corridors:

• Althorpe, Gunness and Keadby to Scunthorpe
• Amcotts to Scunthorpe
• Barrow to Barton
• Crowle and Ealand to Scunthorpe
• Crowle to Ealand
• Crowle to Eastoft, Luddington and Garthorpe
• Eastoft to Scunthorpe
• Grimsby to Laceby

Feedback welcome, please post a comment. More will follow as and when I have time.

Christmas and New Year Bus Services 2023/2024

Here is my annual summary of Christmas and New Year bus services across the Humber Region. It covers the following operators, but not their services outside the region:

• Arriva Yorkshire
• CallConnect
• East Yorkshire (excluding JustGo)
• First South Yorkshire (Doncaster Area)
• First York
• Grayscroft Coaches
• Hornsby Travel
• PC Coaches
• Stagecoach
• York Pullman

Please check exact details before travelling as I have only summarised here, or for any occasions were publicity is incorrect (it's happened before!). If you have any information for other operators, or to correct any details listed below, please post a comment.

Christmas Eve:

Normal Sunday service with an early finish between approximately 1700 and 2000. 

Christmas Day:

No services.

Boxing Day:

No services. Which deserves a comment as previously East Yorkshire had provided Boxing Day daytime buses on main routes around Hull as well as from Beverley and Withernsea; going back to 2021 the network had extended to Bridlington and York. This follows Stagecoach ceasing Boxing Day buses in Hull from 2021 onwards.

Wednesday 27th December:

Predominantly a Saturday service, with the following exceptions:

• Hornsby Travel and PC Coaches will operate a normal Wednesday service.
• East Yorkshire services 131 (Bridlington-Carnaby Industrial Estate), 142 (Beverley-Middleton), 145 (Market Weighton/Lund-Driffield-Bridlington), 360/361 (Goole-Scunthorpe), 504 (Bempton-Bridlington) and G1-5 (Goole Town Services) will operate as normal.
• Stagecoach services 35 (Amcotts-Scunthorpe), 60 (Whitton-Scunthorpe), 79 (Hull-Hedon), 90 (Crowle-Scunthorpe), 260 (Barton Villager) and 277 (Hedon-Hull) will operate as normal.
• Stagecoach service 255 (North Bransholme-Barton Wren Kitchens) will operate two journeys only, at 0700 from North Bransholme and at 1710 from Barton Wren Kitchens. (The 255 would not normally operate on Saturdays).

• East Yorkshire service 196 (Allerthorpe-York) will not operate as per East Yorkshire's timetable page (wouldn't usually operate on a Wednesday).
• East Yorkshire services 18/25/54/55/63/75/121/747/X47 Friday and Saturday only evening journeys will not operate (normal Wednesday evening journeys on the 54/55/63/75/121/X47 will however).
• East Yorkshire services 57/66/104 Saturday only nightbus journeys post midnight will not operate.
• Stagecoach services 5/6/8/13 in Hull Saturday only nightbus journeys post-midnight will not operate.

As has become annual in recent years, the usually Saturday only Stagecoach 173 between Withernsea and Hull will be operated Wednesday to Saturday for one week only.

Stagecoach operating their morning journeys on service 79 between Hull and Hedon makes sense, as their is no equivalent in the Saturday timetable provided by the main operator of the route, East Yorkshire. However the afternoon service operating is odd. Stagecoach's tendered 1600 service 79 from Hull to Hedon is to cover for the East Yorkshire 1550 service 79 being Saturday only. However as East Yorkshire are operating a Saturday service, the 1550 will operate today, and on the 28th and 29th, in addition to the 1600. Likewise with the 277, Stagecoach's tendered Monday to Friday 1644 from Hedon to Hull is to cover for the East Yorkshire 1629 operating in the Saturday timetable only.

South of the Humber and if you take the publicity at face value, Hornsby are operating a full Monday to Friday service 399 between Scunthorpe and Doncaster, and Stagecoach a full Saturday service. Stagecoach's Saturday service operates all day to cover for no Hornsby 399 on Saturdays. So as per publicity, that means both operators will have an all day service 399 on the 27th, 28th and 29th. Presumably Stagecoach will actually operate their Monday to Friday timetable on the 399 on these three days, with just an evening peak service after the Hornsby service finishes for the day.

Finally, I do wonder if Stagecoach would be better off just running a normal weekday service in Scunthorpe between Christmas and New Year? Their commercial services are almost identical Monday to Friday and Saturday, whilst their North Lincolnshire Council tenders all seem to specify Monday to Friday service. It would be easier to communicate service levels to the general public at least.

Thursday 28th December:

Predominantly a Saturday service, with the following exceptions:

• Hornsby Travel and PC Coaches will operate a normal Thursday service.
• East Yorkshire services 131 (Bridlington-Carnaby Industrial Estate), 142 (Beverley-Middleton), 145 (Market Weighton/Lund-Driffield-Bridlington), 150 (Swanland-Hessle), 360/361 (Goole-Scunthorpe), 504 (Bempton-Bridlington) and G1-5 (Goole Town Services) will operate as normal.
• Stagecoach services 10 (Ashby Parklands-Ashby), 35 (Amcotts-Scunthorpe), 60 (Whitton-Scunthorpe), 79 (Hull-Hedon), 90 (Crowle-Scunthorpe), 260 (Barton Villager) and 277 (Hedon-Hull) will operate as normal.
• Stagecoach service 255 (North Bransholme-Barton Wren Kitchens) will operate two journeys only, at 0700 from North Bransholme and at 1710 from Barton Wren Kitchens.

• East Yorkshire service 143 (North Ferriby-Beverley) will not operate (wouldn't usually operate on a Thursday).
• East Yorkshire services 18/25/54/55/63/75/121/747/X47 Friday and Saturday only evening journeys will not operate (normal Thursday evening journeys on the 54/55/63/75/121/X47 will however).
• East Yorkshire services 57/66/104 Saturday only nightbus journeys post midnight will not operate.
• Stagecoach services 5/6/8/13 in Hull Saturday only nightbus journeys post-midnight will not operate.

Friday 29th December:

Predominantly a Saturday service, with the following exceptions:

• Hornsby Travel and PC Coaches will operate a normal Friday service.
• East Yorkshire services 1 (Holme-Selby), 131 (Bridlington-Carnaby Industrial Estate), 142 (Beverley-Middleton), 145 (Market Weighton/Lund-Driffield-Bridlington), 183 (Hessle Town Service),  197 (Pocklington Town Service), 360/361 (Goole-Scunthorpe), 504 (Bempton-Bridlington) and G1-5 (Goole Town Services) will operate as normal.
• Stagecoach services 10 (Burringham-Scunthorpe), 25 (Market Rasen-Grimsby), 35 (Amcotts-Scunthorpe), 60 (Whitton-Scunthorpe), 79 (Hull-Hedon), 90 (Crowle-Scunthorpe), 260 (Barton Villager) and 277 (Hedon-Hull) will operate as normal.
• Stagecoach service 255 (North Bransholme-Barton Wren Kitchens) will operate two journeys only, at 0700 from North Bransholme and at 1710 from Barton Wren Kitchens.

• East Yorkshire service 143 (North Ferriby-Beverley) will not operate. Not stated on their festive services page, but as per East Yorkshire's timetable page, neither will service 196 (Allerthorpe-York). Neither route would normally operate on a Friday.
• East Yorkshire services 57/66/104 Saturday only nightbus journeys post midnight (early hours Sunday morning) will not operate.
• Stagecoach services 5/6/8/13 in Hull Saturday (early hours Sunday morning) only nightbus journeys post-midnight will not operate.

Saturday 30th December:

Normal Saturday service.

New Years Eve:

Normal Sunday service with an early finish between approximately 1700 and 2000. 

New Years Day:

No services (train services will be operating however, in many instances to a normal Monday timetable apart from early morning services and engineering works related disruption).

Tuesday 2nd January:

Services return to normal, albeit with a mix of School Day and School Holiday variations.

Nightbuses return to Hull (for at least 3 months)

Hull City Council are focusing some of their Bus Service Improvement Plan funding on the pre-Christmas period. There are Thursday evening and Sunday daytime park and ride journeys being added to the Priory Park and Ride, along with a £1 fare offer. What is most interesting to me though is the return of Nightbuses to Hull, and not just for December.

From Saturday 2nd December - or technically the early hours of Sunday 3rd December - seven routes will gain a nightbus service until Saturday 24th February as per Hull City Council, or for an initial three months as per Stagecoach. The latter would seem to suggest there is a possibility of them continuing beyond February, but Hull City Council seemingly aren't making any commitments at this stage.

The lucky routes are:

• Stagecoach Service 5: Hull City Centre to Kingswood Retail Park via the Avenues and Orchard Park
• Stagecoach Service 6: Hull City Centre to North Bransholme via Beverley Road and Kingswood
• Stagecoach Service 8: Hull City Centre to Bransholme North Point via Holderness Road, Ings Estate and Spring Cottage
• Stagecoach Service 13: Hull City Centre to Bilton Grange via Greatfield
• East Yorkshire 57: Hull City Centre to Asda Bilton via Longhill
• East Yorkshire 66: Hull City Centre to Hessle via Anlaby Road, Boothferry Road and the Boothferry Estate
• East Yorkshire 104: Hull City Centre to Cottingham via the Avenues

All services will operate from Hull City Centre only, departing at 0010 and 0110. This standardisation does mean the 5 and 104 will be following each other along the Avenues, and so will the 8 and 57 along Holderness Road. Depending on the service, routes will either start at Hull Truck Theatre or at Alfred Gelder Street.

The return of nightbuses is very welcome, and pretty good coverage of Hull - and some adjoining areas of the East Riding of Yorkshire - has been achieved. There are certainly gaps, but it's an excellent start. Hopefully they are well used and can extend beyond February.

One oddity, service 8 doesn't have a full evening service in East Hull - service 11 operating instead - so will be in the unusual situation of having a gap in City Centre departures between 2020 and 0010.

Return of the C4

What I think is the first service enhancement from North Lincolnshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding begins next Saturday - 2nd December. Hornsby Travel service C4 in the Brigg area recommences for the first time in just over three years.

First a brief history. The C4 was introduced on the 7th July 2018 as a Saturday only service in the Brigg area, linking Kirmington, Humberside Airport, Barnetby and Wrawby to Brigg with four services in each direction, and also Redbourne, Hibaldstow and Scawby to Brigg with two journeys in each direction. Some 'counter flow' services omitted certain intermediate villages. This continued until COVID-19 and after being suspended in March 2020. the route briefly returned in Summer 2020 but omitting Kirmington and Humberside Airport. The C4 was withdrawn at the end of August 2020 however, with no replacement.

The 'new' C4 is an improved version. It still operates between Kirmington, Brigg and Redbourne, but now with an additional extension to Kirton in Lindsey plus additional journeys. Between Kirmington and Brigg the 'new' C4 has five journeys in each direction, every two hours and matching the times of the weekday service 4 over this section of route. Between Brigg and Hibaldstow there are four journeys in each direction, with a 'perfect' two hourly service from Brigg; two in each direction extend to/from Kirton in Lindsey.

Overall this is an excellent reinstatement and enhancement. Kirmington, Humberside Airport, Barnetby, Wrawby, Scawby, Hibaldstow and Redbourne regain Saturday bus services, and Kirton in Lindsey gains a limited but usable Saturday service to Brigg. Brigg is a popular shopping destination for many surrounding villages and has a monthly Farmers Market on a Saturday.

Interestingly the C4 uses the exact same number of vehicles as the service 4 extension from Brigg to Kirmington and the 94 between Brigg and Kirton in Lindsey combined require Monday to Friday - one. It is a shame that the weekday pattern hasn't simply been extended to Saturdays, which would also allow through journeys to Scunthorpe to be made from all the villages served. I guess the reason why not maybe driver related? 

If the weekday pattern isn't to be operated on Saturdays, then personally I would have used the 94 service number rather than C4 - the C4 uses the same route as the 94 between Kirton in Lindsey and Brigg, just extended beyond Brigg to Kirmington. However this is a rather minor point - the good news is the C4's return.

Going by bustimes.org, the limited Monday to Friday Hornsby X4 at 0800 from Scunthorpe to Brigg via Lakeside and Scawby, and at 1745 from Brigg to Lakeside via Scawby, will also operate on Saturdays from 2nd December.

Where might North Lincolnshire's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding be spent?

North Lincolnshire Council (NLC) is publishing Enhanced Bus Partnership (EP) meeting notes on it's website. The 14th September notes have caught my attention, with a long list of ideas for how to spend Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) Plus funding.

Firstly the attendance list, to explain some of the abbreviations:

Cllr Tim Mitchell(TM) - North Lincolnshire Council (Chair) 

Cllr Carol Ross (CR) - North Lincolnshire Council (Deputy) 

Kate Robinson (KR) - North Lincolnshire Council 

Heather Barratt (HB) - North Lincolnshire Council 

Dave Skepper (DS) - Stagecoach 

Karl Robinson (KRob) - Hornsbys 

Abigail Burridge (AB) - North Lincolnshire Council

Below are the ideas, published in full. The Saturday services in the Brigg area are happening, more in a future blog post. Otherwise the status of the other proposals are unknown. Two things have struck me here. Firstly the operators are focused on their existing services and are concerned about what happens when Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding runs out. From their perspective that is understandable. Secondly there are no improvements to local services in Scunthorpe suggested. 

1. Bus Disruption Survey. The proposal is for funding for NLC to undertake an in house disruption survey to identify congestion issues. NLC Highways team would also design the work to be carried out. This would lead to junction improvements and would benefit NLC and Operators. DS asked that the proposal be amended to state that operators and drivers would contribute their time as part of the process. The officers and operators would work together to identify hotspots and then commission the work. 

Board Comments – Fully supported to be included in the Scheme. Upper limit £40,000. 

Action – NLC to amend proposal. 

2. New Saturday Service for South and East of Brigg. To implement a bus service to the villages South & East of Brigg on a Saturday. The service is an extension to the existing Monday to Friday route. 

Board Comments - Proposal could be paid by de minimis. Fully supported to be included in the Scheme. 

3. Devolution of Bus Infrastructure.  North Lincolnshire Council currently maintains 761 bus stops and 205 bus shelters across the authority. The purpose of this project is to support town and parish councils with the devolution/transfer of the following types of assets: bus shelters, poles, flags, timetable cases and timetables. 

Board Comments – Fully supported to be included in the Scheme. Upper limit £10,000. NLC inhouse staff to undertake a full survey of assets before transfer to Parish Councils. 

4. Additional Evening Journeys on Service 350. To extend service 350 by adding additional evening journeys. This could potentially see the current 30 minute headway maintained until 20:30 hours from Hull and around 20:00 hours from Scunthorpe. 

Board Comments - To ask operator to provide more information including timetables and costs. 

Action – NLC to ask operator for further information. Updated proposal to be discussed at EP Traffic Working Group. 

5. NLC - Ferry Ward – Additional Bus Services To extend Service 260 to Immingham incorporating South Killingholme, North Killingholme and East Halton and therefore provide residents in the villages with increased choice in Public Transport. DS expressed concerns that the route was unlikely to become a commercial route and would probably not continue without funding once BSIP+ money has ceased. DS and KRob agreed it was better not to promise passengers a service which could not be continued. DS believed that raising the frequency on existing routes would be better use of the funding. TM believed that the route was socially necessary but acknowledged operator’s comments. 

Board Comments - Happy to be included in Scheme with further discussions to take place. 

6. Section 22 Community Transport in North Lincolnshire – 96 and 97 services. The purpose of this project is to continue to provide Section 22 Community Transport on two registered bus routes in North Lincolnshire which operate Monday-Friday. This will require the continued hire of two 16-seater minibuses to provide the current bus services and the maintenance of two ticket machines in order to take payments. The routes are registered with the Traffic Commissioner and are an open service so any member of public can use the services. Board agreed that the modal for rural transport is never going to be commercially viable. More marketing needed around route 97 running to isolated villages whilst not having impact on commercial services. TM confirmed that North and East of Isle need to connect to 399 to Doncaster and more work around the timetable is needed. KRob worried about what would happen when the services are taken off but happy to progress. 

Board Comments - Happy to be included in Scheme. 

7. Procurement of New Back Office System for DRT. The aim of the project is to apply for a funding for the feasibility study and procurement of a back office system to manage the DRT service in North Lincolnshire. The current software isn’t offering alternative journeys, availability and advance booking and is in need of new software. DS told the Board that other authorities usually tender for the whole service and not a separate service for back office systems with a number of different suppliers available. Some bus operators have commercial agreements with app providers, which can offer a better overall price for DRT tender submissions to local authorities. 

Board Comments – Agreed not to implement the proposal into the Scheme 

Action - Consider further at EP Traffic Working Group. 

8. Extension of 350 service to Hull. 3 x bus services an hour run in and out of Barton Monday to Saturdays, 2 x 350 and 1 x 250 with extra 255 services at Wren Kitchens shift changes running Monday to Friday. The issue is on a Sunday. With the first bus to Hull at 10am this service can be full of passengers having to wait an hour for the 11am service. The next one after that is 2pm. The proposal is to provide an extension to the timetable on a Sunday with an 8:10am Scunthorpe to Hull service to alleviate the pressure of the 10am service. CR showed concerns over why a service would be needed so early. DS told the Board that practical issues are contributing to the oversubscribed routes i.e. £2 fare, busy bank holidays. Colder weather may see a decline in passengers but overall the journeys should bring good value for money. 

Board Comments – Happy to be added to the Scheme with further discussions to take place. 

9. Reduced Fares for Young People. The proposal is to enhance the provision of reduced fares for the youth market (aged 16 - 24) by introducing a “Scunthorpe Card” – Weekly and day travel within the Scunthorpe Town Area and a “NLC plus Card” – Weekly and day travel around the wider area of North Lincolnshire. Operators gave an overview of the current concessions available to Young people in North Lincolnshire. They agreed a Scunthorpe Card would be preferred to the NLC Plus Card. Actual concept was considered a good idea, flip side is it will use up quite a lot of funding. More work was needed on the level of discount or price of ticket and how the operator would claim the difference. Concerns were raised around when funding started to run out. DS spoke about the scheme currently running in Hull. 

Board Comments – Agreed to include in the Scheme but required further discussions. 

The 350 changes suggested would potentially lead to wider changes. A round trip takes approximately three hours, so an extension of the half hourly frequency for approximately two hours extra in the evening will probably require additions or reductions in the morning, and/or some later evening services. Likewise on Sundays an 0810 from Scunthorpe to Hull would probably lead to an additional Hull to Scunthorpe service, and if an extra vehicle is used for that, maybe it would do more than one extra round trip?

243 goes twice a week

Concluding my look at the first batch of Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funded service enhancements in the East Riding of Yorkshire - there are more due starting in January, including in Beverley and Bridlington - and reference was made in the associated press release to "an additional weekday service 143 between Withernsea and Beverley". Those familiar with the local bus network will know that the 143 operates between North Ferriby and Beverley, and there has been no change to that service. 

However the 243 between Withernsea and Beverley does seem to have gained a Thursday service is addition to it's existing Tuesday service, as per bustimes.org. There was a change to the 243 registered in September, for which I couldn't find details off at the time, so I presume that is when the Thursday service started. The 243 is operated by Holderness Area Rural Transport (HART) and provides passengers from Withernsea, Roos, Burton Pidsea, Sproatley, New Ellerby and Skirlaugh with three hours in Beverley. Sproatley and Skiralugh are also served by the 242 Beverley 'shoppers service' Monday to Saturday.

Old Goole Service 1 gains Evening and Sunday Journeys

One of the Goole Town Services - the 1 to Old Goole - gained a limited Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday daytime service from 5th November, as part of East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding enhancements. The new journeys appear to be interworked with service 55. The 1 is operated by East Yorkshire Buses.

On Friday and Saturday evenings the 1 has two circular trips from Goole North Street at 1925 and 2130. On Saturdays due to no evening peak Goole Town Service being provided, there is a gap in departures from Goole North Street to Old Goole Cottingham Street between 1600 and 1925, and from Old Goole Cottingham Street between 1525 and 1940. 

On Sundays three circular roundtrips are provided from Goole North Street at 1115, 1315 and 1515.

Service 55 Improved

It's fair to say that bus services from Hull to Brough and destinations east have taken a bit of a battering in the past couple of years. Various attempts at a second hourly service between Hull and Brough have been abandoned, while late evening and Sunday services were withdrawn. All journeys between Elloughton and Goole are now subsidised I believe. 

There was some good news though last week, when on Sunday 5th November a revised timetable was introduced on East Yorkshire service 55 between Hull, Brough, Elloughton, South Cave, Gilberdyke, Howden and Goole. The service operates approximately hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes and early evenings between Hull and Elloughton, with hourly extensions to Gilberdyke off peak, and further extensions to Goole four times a day.

Focusing first on the 'core' Monday to Saturday service and the 1720 from Hull to Elloughton now extends to South Cave. This is a small but notable enhancement, as the last service from Hull to South Cave was previously at 1410. There is no morning peak journey into Hull, but the 1720 provides more options for shopping and/or other leisure related trips.

Now to the headline enhancements, as part of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funded improvements - new Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday daytime journeys. For both the evening and Sunday enhancements they operate as two separate services, one at the Hull end of the route and one at the Goole end.

Starting with Friday and Saturday evenings; at the Hull end of the route a 2145 Elloughton to Hull and 2300 Hull to South Cave have been added; last journeys previously 1930 Elloughton to Hull and 2025 Hull to Elloughton. Not a huge volume of extra journeys, but enough to facilitate an evening out. A very welcome improvement. South Cave is in the unusual situation of going from a last bus from Hull at 1410 to a last bus at 2300.

Meanwhile at the other end of the route, there are now Friday and Saturday journeys at 1845 from Gilberdyke to Goole, 2025 and 2225 from Howden to Goole, 2000 and 2200 from Goole to Howden and 2300 from Goole to Gilberdyke. Again here very much facilitating evenings out, and a welcome addition to the network. It is interesting to note that there is no evening peak service between Gilberdyke, Howden and Goole, so there are approximately four hour gaps between the end of the off peak service and the start of the evening service.

Looking at the timetables and it is a shame that the 1720 from Hull to South Cave does not run through to Goole on Fridays and Saturdays - incorporating the 1845 from Gilberdyke to Goole. This would provide a later last bus service from Hull to North Cave, Newport, Gilberdyke, Eastrington and Howden for marginal extra mileage. Alternatively the 1840 Elloughton to Hull could start back at South Cave. Also could the 2300 from Goole extend beyond Gilberdyke, even if just to Newport? It presumably is heading 'dead' back to Elloughton depot.

Moving onto Sundays, there are new journeys at 0930, 1230 and 1530 from Gilberdyke to Hull, returning at 1100, 1400 and 1700. From Gilberdyke to Goole there are departures at 1030, 1230 and 1430, returning at 1145, 1345 and 1545. Overall these journeys provide basic Sunday shopping and leisure links and again are very welcome. Plus once again, it's a shame the first service into Goole and the last return don't serve Newport at least en-route from/to Elloughton depot.

Sunday Services Return between Goole and Selby

Arriva service 401 between Goole and Selby is revised from today - Monday 30th October. The Monday to Friday changes relate to extra school and college journeys, otherwise the Monday to Saturday service remains hourly daytimes.

The big development is a new two hourly Sunday service being introduced, leaving Goole at 0900, 1100, 1300 and 1500, returning from Selby at 0955, 1155, 1355 and 1555. This will be the first Sunday service between Goole and Selby - and the first Sunday bus service for Rawcliffe, East Cowick, West Cowick, Snaith, Carlton and Camblesforth - since the 400/401 tendered service was cut during East Riding of Yorkshire Council budget reductions in Spring 2017. It's good to see it return.

The new Sunday service has 21 minute layover at Goole, so it's a shame that Airmyn village and Goole Hospital haven't been included on the new route, unlike the old Sunday 400 - or maybe an extension to the Fairfield Estate in Goole. Possibly something for the future?

I can't find any mention of this to confirm in either the Arriva announcement or East Riding of Yorkshire Council Press Release, but presumably the new Sunday 401 is being funded by the Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding as the date coincides with other new Sunday services.

Goole to Scunthorpe gains a Sunday Service

Goole is not currently served by any local bus services on a Sunday, but from next week - 5th November - it will have four Sunday bus routes, thanks to East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding. In this post I take a look at one of those routes, the 361 to Scunthorpe.

The 361, a tendered service operated by East Yorkshire, links Goole and various East Riding villages on the south side of the River Ouse and west side of the River Trent with North Lincolnshire, where it diverts inland to operate via the small town of Crowle en-route to Scunthorpe. Associated service 360 operates a shorter route in North Lincolnshire by the banks of the River Trent serving Amcotts instead off Crowle. Monday to Friday there is an approximately two hourly service between the 360 and 361, with the 360 operating most peak journeys and the 361 mostly off-peak. On Saturdays the 361 operates approximately every three hours.

As off the 5th November, Sundays also gain a three hourly daytime service 361, with three departures from Goole at 0935, 1235 and 1535, returning from Scunthorpe at 1100, 1400 and 1700. For various villages - plus Crowle - this opens up the opportunity to visit Scunthorpe or Goole on a Sunday by bus for the first time in years. Passengers can spend either 6 hours 10 minutes or 3 hours 10 minutes in Scunthorpe, or 3 hours 21 minutes in Goole.

By way of historical context, my July 1980 'Lincolnshire' bus company South Humberside timetable book showed two Sunday Scunthorpe to Goole journeys plus various 'shorts' between Scunthorpe and Crowle that appeared linked to steelworks shift times. By 1982 this was three Goole journeys plus Crowle shorts. All these had gone though by the time my 1989 Humberside County Council Scunthorpe to Goole pamphlet was published. The Goole to Swinefleet section did regain a Sunday daytime service for many years in the 2000's and 2010's, interworked with other routes, latterly the Goole to Selby service, but not the bulk of the route between Swinefleet and Scunthorpe.

What is also notable here is that there is a significant benefit to North Lincolnshire. The villages of Gunness, Althorpe, Ealand, Eastoft, Luddington and Garthorpe all gain a Sunday service along with Crowle; some Keadby residents are also within walking distance of the Althorpe Station stops. There is no acknowledgement of funding from North Lincolnshire Council that I can find, so it seems the East Riding maybe paying the full cost. Scunthorpe is an important regional centre for Goole and the Ouse & Trent villages and operating the longer 361 route via Crowle - instead of the quicker 360 via Amcotts - will likely provide more passengers. As such East Riding of Yorkshire Council's decisions can be understood, although somewhat contrasting to the Monday to Saturday 88 from Goole terminating at the county boundary at Rawcliffe Bridge, as opposed to extending to Thorne or Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

The Sunday 361 means a 33% increase in the number of Sunday North Lincolnshire bus routes (the others being the 1A, 4 and 350) and will be the only Sunday bus service in North Lincolnshire to operate west of Scunthorpe.

At the same time there are minor timing changes to the Saturday 361 timetable. Whilst the Sunday service can keep perfect three hour intervals between journeys, Saturdays cannot. What was 0820. 1120, 1430 and 1735 from Goole becomes 0820, 1110, 1430 and 1745, whilst from Scunthorpe the 1015, 1315 and 1620 become 1025, 1310 and 1630 departures. Not perfect before, even less perfect from next month.

747 goes 7 days a week

Starting on Sunday 5th November, the East Yorkshire operated tendered service 747 between Pocklington, Stamford Bridge and York gains services on Sunday daytimes plus Friday and Saturday evenings, thanks to East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding. 

The 747 currently provides three services into York Monday to Saturday daytimes and four from York, providing commuting links into York, shopping links into Pocklington and York as well as access to Full Sutton Prison during early afternoons, presumably for visitors. The 747's route includes the villages of Bolton, Fangfoss, Full Sutton and Murton on all current journeys, plus Meltonby, Bishop Wilton and Yapham on off peak journeys. 

The new Friday and Saturday evening journeys comprise an 1830 from Pocklington to York, serving all the villages on the off peak route except for Murton. There is then a 2000 from York to Pocklington via the peak time route and also excluding Murton. Finally there is an 'unbalanced' 2245 from York to Pocklington via the off peak route but again excluding Murton. Overall this provides a basic 'evening out in York' service and the 2000 from York may attract those wanting to visit York for the day/afternoon then have a meal or drink before returning home. 

On Sunday daytimes there is a more straight forward timetable of three services in each direction - operating every three hours - all via the Monday to Saturday offpeak route, but excluding Murton. 

This is a fantastic development for the villages served only by the 747, and hopefully their residents take advantage. It's a shame the Monday to Saturday timetable is so messy though. Ignoring the Prison diversion, and the morning peak variation within York City Centre, there are four different variations:

• Via all villages (Monday to Saturday off peak)
• Via all villages except Murton (Friday and Saturday 1830 from Pocklington and 2245 from York, plus Sundays)
• Via all villages except Meltonby, Bishop Wilton and Yapham (Monday to Saturday peak)
• Via all villages except Meltonby, Bishop Wilton, Yapham and Murton (Friday and Saturday 2000 from York)

The omission of Murton on the new journeys is odd. Yes the village comes under the City of York, not the East Riding of Yorkshire, but as I will cover soon, another East Riding enhancement will not be taking the direct route within another authority (the new Sunday Goole to Scunthorpe service operating as a 361 via Crowle in North Lincolnshire rather than a shorter 360 via Amcotts), so omitting a minor diversion via Murton on the 747, which has plenty of layover, seems odd.

To end, some trivia. Meltonby, Bishop Wilton and Yapham will have a better Sunday service than Monday to Thursday. Monday to Thursday the villages have three services to Pocklington and two from York, whereas Sundays will be three in each direction.

New Saturday Service on the 196

From Saturday 11th November, the previously Thursday only service 196 'shopper' bus from Allerthorpe to York will also gain a Saturday service. Saturday journeys will operate at the same time as Thursday services, departing Allerthorpe at 0910, returning from York at 1337. This provides a new Saturday bus for the villages of Allerthorpe, Melbourne, Aughton, Ellerton, East Cottingwith, Storwood and Newton upon Derwent. The 196 also serves Sutton upon Derwent and Elvington, which also enjoy a Saturday service into York every two hours on York Pullman route 36.

Service 196 is operated by East Yorkshire under contract to East Riding of Yorkshire Council. The new Saturday service is linked to the council's Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus funding.

124 and 135 to East Hull Community Transport

To update this post, an anonymous commentor has posted that the tendered 124 and 135 in the East Riding of Yorkshire haven't been cancelled, but have instead passed from East Yorkshire Buses to East Hull Community Transport. The 124 runs from Ruston Parva to Bridlington on Wednesdays and from Boynton to Driffield on Fridays, with one journey in each direction. The 135 operates two circular round trips from Driffield to Sledmere and back every Tuesday and Thursday.

Changed and Cancelled on the Quiet?

As far as I can tell, three tendered bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire - all operated by East Yorkshire Buses since last year - ceased in early September:

• 5: Beverley Town Service - 3 circular round trips Monday to Saturday, interworked with unaffected service 142
• 124: Driffield to Bridlington - 1 return service from Ruston Parva to Bridlington on Wednesdays, 1 return service from Boynton to Driffield on Fridays
• 135: Driffield to Sledmere - 2 circular round trips Tuesday and Thursday

All three were cancelled by East Yorkshire, see here, here and here although never publically announced by the operator; they just 'disappeared' from it's website. Subsequent internet searches have failed to find mention of any replacement services for the 124 and 135, so I can only assume there was no replacement. Anyone able to definitely confirm please? Assuming these services were cancelled without replacement, various villages north of Driffield are now without a timetabled bus service.

In the case of service 5, it seems that existing town service 526 from Beverley Bus Station to Copandale Road has been extended to cover the service 5 route, still with three circular round trips Monday to Saturday. Again though this was done without any announcement. Likewise the 527 town service from Beverley Bus Station to Morrisons also seems to have been diverted via Armstrong Way (for Flemingate) at the same time without any publicity. This lack of announcement in particular seems very odd as it's actually a useful enhancement.

North Lincolnshire Services 96 and 97 Update

Earlier this year I covered the launch of two new bus services in North Lincolnshire; the 96 from Barton to Brigg and the 97 from Garthorpe to Wroot via Crowle and Epworth. In both cases I suspected the provision could be over ambitious. The Local Democracy Reporting Service recently reported the following after speaking to the North Lincolnshire Council Cabinet Member for Connectivity:

Cllr Mitchell indicated the Brigg to Barton bus route through the low villages had been successful with passenger numbers. However, the piloted Isle of Axholme service, that ran east to west across the Isle, had not had as many passengers yet, 

"We just need to do a bit of tweaking to the route and timetable," he said. But he urged people to use the route to ensure it continued."We have just got to think very carefully how we spend taxpayers' money on this. But also in recognition that some of these routes have huge social and economic value. We can't really put a price on tackling social exclusion."

Saturday Improvements in the Isle of Axholme

The Stagecoach operated Saturday tendered services in the Southern Isle of Axholme are revised from Saturday 7th October.

Presently there is the 291 from Owston Ferry to Doncaster via Epworth and Westwoodside with two daytime journeys each way, and the 399 from Scunthorpe to Westwoodside via Epworth and Owston Ferry with four journeys each way. From next month the 399 will have six journeys each way between Scunthorpe and Westwoodside, with two extended to Doncaster, presumably replacing the 291. Two morning journeys from Scunthorpe to Westwoodside will run 'fast' omitting West Butterwick and Owston Ferry, which is reasonable enough at 0645, and at 0915 when there is a 0900 service as well (the 0900 goes to Doncaster, whereas the 0915 is a 'positioning' service for the 1000 Westwoodside to Scunthorpe).

With the exception of the small village of Low Burnham served by the 291, this is excellent news. There are two more journeys overall between Scunthorpe and Westwoodside, and in terms of 'useful' journeys - as opposed to 'in service positioning journeys' - there will be three useful departures from Scunthorpe back to the Isle of Axholme at 1300, 1620 and 1735, as opposed to two at 1320 and 1735 presently.

In addition there will be greater consistency between the Monday to Friday and Saturday services. Most Monday to Friday services are run by Hornsby on what I think is a part commercial/part council funded basis. Currently the only consistency is the final 399 round trip from Scunthorpe to Westwoodside (run by Stagecoach 6 days a week). From next month the 0645, 0900, 1300, 1620 and 1735 from Scunthorpe will be consistent Monday to Saturday (during college holidays at least), as will the 0728, 1725 and 1845 from Westwoodside and 1245 and 1545 from Doncaster. 

East Yorkshire Bridlington Changes

East Yorkshire are amending their local services in Bridlington from tomorrow - Sunday 3rd September. The changes are to make services "more reliable", which should happen as running times are slightly increased. However it seems little or no extra resource is being added to the network, so out goes clockface timetables largely consistent between weekdays and Saturdays, and in comes harder to remember times and notable differences on a Saturday. I understand that extra resource for clockface timetables and consistency probably can't be justified, but the new timetables aren't very user friendly. 

On service 2 to the south of Bridlington, the 1420 and 1530 circulars from Bridlington Bus Station no longer operate Monday to Friday during school holidays. Most Saturday journeys operate 5 minutes later than Monday to Friday.

For service 3 to the West Hill Estate, the 1515 from Bridlington Bus Station no longer operates Monday to Friday during school holidays. The service remains mostly hourly, but journey times are slightly extended, and vary from journey to journey, and between weekdays and Saturdays.

The 4 and 4A to New Pasture Lane Estate are amended from operating hourly each for a combined half hourly frequency to a combined frequency of between every 20 and 45 minutes Monday to Saturday mornings and early afternoons. School Holiday weekdays are reduced to hourly, as already occurs on schooldays, though clockface half hourly departures return from Bridlington Bus Station on Saturday afternoons.

The 5 and 5A to the north of Bridlington retain some semblance of a clockface timetable from Bridlington Bus Station in the morning and early afternoon at least, running hourly each for a combined half hourly frequency. However the first service of the day at 0800 from Bridlington Bus Station is cancelled, as is the 1200 leaving an hours gap. Following that the 1230 is a 5A Monday to Friday but a 5 on Saturdays, the 1300 a 5 Monday to Friday but a 5A on Saturdays and there is then a 1325 5A Monday to Friday and a 1330 5 on Saturdays. The late afternoon service gains a 100 minute gap Monday to Friday from Bridlington Bus Station, previously just a 60 minute gap schooldays only.

On Service 6 to the North of Bridlington, the 1445 circular from Bridlington Bus Station is withdrawn Monday to Friday, leaving a 130 minute gap. Otherwise an hourly service remains (with two 65 minute gaps on Saturdays), but again with slightly extended journey times, times varying slightly from journey to journey, and between weekdays and Saturdays.

Finally service 14 from Bridlington to Flamborough is also slightly revised with extended running times and slight variations at timing points depending on the day of the week - for example 1430 from Flamborough to Bridlington Monday to Friday, 1433 Saturday and 1431 Sunday.

Improved Weekday Service for the Isle of Axholme

The Hornsby Travel part-subsidised service 399 between Scunthorpe, the Isle of Axholme and Doncaster, operating Monday to Friday, will be revised and improved from next Monday, 4th September.

From Scunthorpe:

• The 0645 'fast' from Scunthorpe to Graizelound is diverted to Westwoodside.
• The 0830 from Scunthorpe to Doncaster will operate at 0900.
• The 0910 from Belton to Westwoodside will operate at 0920.
• A new 1100 'short' from Scunthorpe to Epworth is added.
• The 1230 from Scunthorpe to Westwoodside is amended to become a 1300 from Scunthorpe to Doncaster.
• The 1605 (College Days)/1620 (College Holidays) from Scunthorpe to Graizelound is terminated at Westwoodside.

To Scunthorpe:

• The 0725 from Graizelound to Scunthorpe becomes a 0728 from Westwoodside to Scunthorpe.
• The 0930 from Westwoodside to Scunthorpe will operate at 0938.
• A new 1136 from Epworth to Scunthorpe is added.
• The 1215 from Doncaster to Scunthorpe will operate at 1245, and also incorporates the withdrawn 1335 Westwoodside to Scunthorpe.
• A new 1545 Doncaster to Scunthorpe is added.
• The 1730 Graizelound to Scunthorpe becomes a 1725 Westwoodside to Scunthorpe.

Overall there is an extra journey to/from Doncaster, an extra journey between Scunthorpe and Epworth each way, simplification from removing the Graizelound extension and at certain times, a move towards an even interval frequency.

To cover Graizelound, a new 499 from Misterton to Scunthorpe is added on college days, operating from Misterton via Graizelound and Low Burnham to Epworth and then acting as a duplicate on the 399 to/from Scunthorpe. There is no replacement to Graizelound during college holidays, and I suspect Graizelound may have only been served by the 399 during college holidays to avoid too much variation to the timetable.

There are no changes to Stagecoach journeys for now, but redacted decision records on North Lincolnshire Council's website indicate that amendments maybe coming, and also to service 291.

Stagecoach September Changes in Hull

Stagecoach are amending most, but not all, of their Hull services from next Sunday - 3rd September. Not for the first time, no commentary or explanation has been provided, not even for the enhancements. So apologies if I miss anything, it's a case of doing lots of timetable comparisons to work out what has changed. Overall there appears to be more good than bad.

Services 1 and 2 from Paragon Interchange to the Boothferry Estate appear largely unchanged, except for some additional early morning journeys from the City Centre; on service 1 at 0656 Monday to Friday and at 0541, 0611 and 0641 Saturday (first service currently 0711) and on service 2 at 0715, 0745 and 0815 on Sundays (first service currently 0845). All these journeys seem to be 'positioning moves' for current early morning services back into Hull City Centre. 

Service 3 from Paragon Interchange to Orchard Park is one of the big winners, doubling from every 20 minutes Monday to Friday daytimes to every 10 minutes, and also increasing on Saturdays from every 20 to every 15 minutes. A very welcome enhancement from the current provision. 

On the other hand service 4 from Paragon Interchange to Orchard Park doesn't come out of these changes well. The new Stagecoach Hull map shows it is re-routed away from Cranbrook Avenue to it's more traditional route, using Beverley Road as far north as Greenwood Avenue - so one positive is an increased service for the section of Beverley Road between Cottingham Road and Greenwood Avenue. Otherwise the every 20 minute frequency Monday to Saturday daytime is reduced to half hourly, putting the route in the unusual situation (away from tourist areas) of having the same frequency 7 days a week. 

Monday to Friday the first service from Orchard Park moves from 0545 to 0610, but on Saturdays moves from 0700 to 0610. The final 2330 departure from Paragon Interchange is moved earlier to 2255, but with 2330 departures on services 5, 6 and 8 - which between them cover about 99% of the service 4 route - this is perhaps a good move rather than the negative it appears to be at first sight.

Also of note is that the Monday to Saturday peaktime hourly Mizzen Road extensions move from service 5 to service 4, retaining an 'A' suffix. Unlike the 5A, were the route operates 'over and above' the standard frequency, the 4A is a simple extension from Orchard Park of the main service. In the evening peak Mizzen Road gains 'counterflow' services back into Hull City Centre. I know the Hull Royal Infirmary link would be lost, but could the 4A operate all day, replacing the 1C at an improved hourly or half hourly frequency? It might give the 4 a bit more purpose.

The change of the 4 away from Cranbrook Avenue might sound negative, but it's not as service 5 from Paragon Interchange to Orchard Park and Kingswood via Cranbrook Avenue gains a major frequency uplift from the current service. Monday to Friday daytimes see the current every 20 minute service from Paragon Interchange to Kingswood supplemented by Interchange to Orchard Park shorts every 20 minutes, for a combined 10 minute frequency on this section, and doubling the Stagecoach service along Princes and Newland Avenue. On Saturday daytimes a different approach is taken, with the every 20 minute frequency from Paragon Interchange to Kingswood increased to every 15 minutes across the whole route - it makes sense that Kingswood with it's Retail and Leisure Parks can justify a slightly higher Saturday frequency, although it does mean 2 buses an hour less for Cranbrook Avenue when taking the 4's re-route into account. Monday to Saturday evenings increase from hourly to half hourly, and the last bus from Kingswood will be at 2332 rather than 2247 currently.

Service 7 from Paragon Interchange to North Point sees the Monday to Friday 1400 and 1430 from North Point withdrawn, leaving a 90 minute gap, but gains a Monday to Friday 1520 from the Interchange, partly filling a 90 minute gap. It is worth remembering the 7 is essentially a 'part-route' service 8, so there are no 90 minute gaps when allowing for both routes. On Saturday mornings departures from North Point will start at 0600 rather than 0900 - first journey opportunity currently the 0745 service 8.

Turning to circular service 8, and firstly the clockwise timetable. Monday to Friday the 1400 and 1530 from Paragon Interchange to Wilberforce College become full circulars and now depart at 1405 and 1535, in line with the standard pattern. Anti-clockwise the Monday to Friday 0852 from Wilberforce College to Paragon Interchange is now a 0835 circular from Paragon Interchange, whilst the Monday to Friday 1430 and 1600 Paragon Interchange to Wilberforce College 'shorts' are withdrawn, with the 1405 circular from Paragon Interchange moved to 1435. The gaps at 1405 and 1605 are somewhat covered by service 83, now operating year round rather than just college days; the 83 has 1400 and 1600 departures from Paragon Interchange which follow a similar route to Sutton Park. In addition new service 111 (more below) has a 1400 departure college days and a 1555 departure Monday to Friday from the Interchange.

On service 10 from Paragon Interchange to North Bransholme, and on some journeys Wawne, the Monday to Friday evening peak frequency from North Bransholme into Hull City Centre is reduced from every 20 minutes to half hourly, but three extra 'shorts' from North Point are added to give a 15 minute frequency from 1640 to 1810. In the opposite direction early evening services are better spread out from the Interchange; the present 1737, 1757. 1817, 1842 and 1942 Monday to Friday become 1737, 1807, 1837, 1912 and 1942. On Saturdays there are new journeys from North Bransholme at 0505 and 0535, current first service 0605, but the 0732 from Wawne will start at North Bransholme (0702 and 0802 from Wawne remain). A 1912 from Paragon Interchange is also added on Saturdays, keeping the half hourly frequency going an hour longer.

For service 14 to Greatfield, the 2330 final departure from Paragon Interchange moves to 2251 Monday to Friday but not Saturday.

I don't normally cover college routes, but here is an exception as it is linked with service 11 and seems to have one journey which runs year round. New service 111 is to commence from Beverley to Paragon Interchange via Wilberforce College. From Beverley it operates via Woodmansey and Dunswell to Kingswood Retail Park, then as per service 11 to Paragon Interchange except for taking the service 8 diversion via Wilberforce College in East Hull. There are two morning departures from Beverley at 0740 and 0900 college days only, which operate 'over and above the half hourly service 11, likewise with the 1400 from Paragon Interchange. The oddball journey is the 1555 from Paragon Interchange which operates Monday to Friday and replaces the 1550 service 11 - is there really going to be demand for a one-way service 111 during college holidays between Kingswood and Beverley? Anyway, it's good to see the 111 as it does provide some extra journey opportunities for the general public. For the record, previous Beverley to Wilberforce College service 81 will serve Wawne instead.

There are also minor changes to routes 12, 16 and 33. The 3B and 15 also have new timetables, but I can't see any change at all.

Swapping Danby for Helmsley

I'm almost too late with this, since the service finishes for the year on Monday, but East Yorkshire's peak Summer Sunday and Bank Holiday ME1 'Moors Explorer' service from Hessle, Anlaby, Willerby, Hull, Cottingham and Beverley to Malton, Pickering and the North Yorkshire Moors has been revised for 2023. Firstly it now serves Flamingo Land theme park between Malton and Pickering, whilst secondly the service now terminates in Helmsley rather than Danby.

Acklams Coaches end final bus services

As expected, Acklams Coaches have exited the local bus service market. They gave up their Beverley and Driffield area work last October, and ceased operating their final services on Friday 14th July - the tendered 131 and 504 in Bridlington. The 131 is a workers service from Bridlington to the Carnaby Industrial Estate, whilst the 504 is an off peak service from Bempton, Buckton and North Bridlington into Bridlington Town Centre; both services operate Monday to Friday only.

From Monday 17th July, East Yorkshire took over both services, with the timetable looking to be unchanged on each route. 

Acklams Coaches continue with their extensive coaching operation, as well as school and college contracts and a Hull City football service. 

Summer Saturday X90

From Saturday 24th June to 2nd September inclusive, Stagecoach are operating a new X90 Saturday Only service from Lea (just south of Gainsborough) to Cleethorpes, via Gainsborough, Hemswell Cliff, Glentham, Middle Rasen, Market Rasen, Nettleton and Cabourne. The service leaves Lea at 0840, arriving in Cleethorpes at 1005, before departing from Cleethorpes at 1445 and getting back to Lea for 1615.

The X90 is funded by the North Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire Community Rail Partnership (NNLCRP) and is intended to act as a partial replacement for the withdrawal of the Saturday Cleethorpes to Sheffield Northern Rail service via Brigg, Kirton Lindsey and Gainsborough back in May. This service had three journeys in each direction, so was relatively useful for Saturday leisure travel, but was replaced by a much less useful single daily Monday to Friday service. The X90 is therefore a welcome mitigation, albeit the restoration of the Saturday train service would be much better! It should be noted the X90 is timed to connect from/to Sheffield to Lincoln rail services at Gainsborough Lea Road Station.

I'm sure I've read that NNLCRP can't fund a service which overlaps entirely with a rail service, hence why it can't serve Brigg. That's a big shame because Brigg would benefit far more than Market Rasen from the X90. Market Rasen already has public transport access to Cleethorpes on a Saturday via a limited through rail service, including a 0857 departure, supplemented by the ability to connect via bus or train at Grimsby. Brigg on the other hand has no eastbound timetabled public transport on a Saturday, so trips to Cleethorpes either require the use of a demand responsive bus service to Barnetby Station, or catching a bus in the wrong direction to Scunthorpe for a connection there.

Additionally, I'm also surprised the service doesn't operate an hour or two later in each direction - it's an early arrival and departure in and out of Cleethorpes for a Saturday daytrip.

Brigg Town Service May 2023 Revision

The Hornsby operated Brigg Town Services, provided under contract to North Lincolnshire Council, were amended from 15th May. The routes operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Service 91 to the Springbank and Churchill Avenue areas of the town was split out into service 91 for Springbank and service 92 for Churchill Avenue, the opposite way round to the pre-July 2018 timetable. The Aldi and Lidl extensions were withdrawn at the same time. Timetable wise there is now a two hour gap late morning, but there are afternoon improvements; the last service to Springbank is now at 1430 rather than 1330 Sat/1410 Tue+Thu, whilst the last Churchill Avenue service is at 1445 rather than 1330.

Elsewhere what was the 92 to Howsham and Cadney was renumbered back to the 93 as it was until July 2018. The 1345 'short' to Brigg Garden Centre was retimed to 1400.

Bus Service Improvement Plan in North East Lincolnshire

A bit late with this, but back on Sunday 7th May, Stagecoach introduced changes to most services in North East Lincolnshire, linked to the area's successful Bus Service Improvement Plan bid. As I've already posted the 250 lost out, but local services had more mixed fortunes. There are some further changes from Sunday 3rd September, which I also cover below.

Service 3 between Laceby Road Morrisons, Nunsthorpe, Grimsby and Cleethorpes saw some minor Sunday evening improvements in May, and from September gains a new 0500 from Morrisons Monday to Friday (first bus currently 0530) whilst the last service from Morrisons daily will be at 2315 rather than 2245. Service 4 from Laceby Road Morrisons to Laceby Acres, Grimsby and Cleethorpes saw some minor evening improvements in May, whilst September sees some further changes; most last evening buses will be half an hour earlier, except for Grimsby to Morrisons which will be half an hour later.

The 'core' of service 5 between Grimsby and Immingham has remained but with changes 'around the edges'. In May the first 3 services to Immingham Monday to Saturday mornings were cut back to start from Grimsby rather than Cleethorpes. On Sundays the extensions to/from Cleethorpes Pier were withdrawn in favour of a daytime extension to Tesco Extra at Hewitt's Circus, operating via the service 50 route along Ladysmith Road; a somewhat oddball extension but I presume driven by operational reasons to allow interworking with service 10, which in turn maintains an indirect through service to Cleethorpes Town Centre. September's changes add some extra early morning journeys between Grimsby and Immingham, including the first service from Immingham Monday to Friday now operating 20 minutes earlier at 0535 rather than 0555.

Service 6 from Wybers Wood to Grimsby was extended in May to Cleethorpes Town Centre via Ladysmith Road and Clee Road, replacing service 7 along the former and the 250 along the latter. This provides new Monday to Saturday links from Wybers Wood and the Willows Estate to Cleethorpes (and maintains a direct Sunday daytime service), as well as giving Ladysmith Road a direct Cleethorpes service plus a new Sunday service (along with the 5), whilst Clee Road goes from an hourly to half hourly service Monday to Saturday daytimes and also gains a new Sunday daytime service. Overall lots of positives here.

In contrast service 7 was very substantially reduced. The route had operated half hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes from the Grange Estate to North Sea Lane via Bargate, Grimsby Town Centre, Ladysmith Road, Curzon Avenue and Hewitt's Circus Tesco Extra; peak time services started at/extended to Laceby Village. Since May however, the 7 has been reduced to an off peak hourly service from Grimsby Town Centre to the Curzon Avenue area only.

Looking in more detail and Laceby Village received no replacement services, leaving it with the 53 and 250; the first service from the village into Grimsby is now the 0754 53 rather than a 0622 service 7.

For the Grange Estate off peak service 12 from Bradley Park to New Waltham via the Grange Estate, Littlefield Lane, Grimsby and Cleethorpes was doubled from hourly to half hourly between Bradley Park and Grimsby Town Centre as a partial replacement. Great news for Bradley Park and Littlefield Lane, whilst half hourly does seem a fair service for the Grange Estate. There are however two problems; firstly the 12 serves some roads in the Grange Estate in one direction only, meaning a walk or trip via Bradley Park, and secondly the limited operating hours - 0911 to 1411 into Grimsby from the Grange Estate, and 0917 to 1417 from Grimsby Town Centre. 

Ideally the 12 would operate for longer each day solving at least one of those problems. Assuming any extra journeys are deemed unviable though and the only service which could easily be diverted is the 250 providing a 60-90 minute frequency during the peaks and late afternoon. Short of cutting Bradley Park off the route, no easy answer to the one-way routing in the Grange Estate unfortunately. 

Whilst on the subject of the 12, the May change saw the 0705 from Waltham to Grimsby withdrawn and the 1740 return cut back to terminate at New Waltham. The 1400 from New Waltham to Grimsby Monday to Saturday became a Saturday only 1410 departure. 

Returning back to the 7, and I doubt the service is missed too much along Bargate between the Grange Estate and Grimsby Town Centre, which is already very well served with buses. Elsewhere Ladysmith Road gained the 6 as a replacement - unless passengers were heading to the Colleges or Tesco Extra, the 6 is probably more useful with it's direct Cleethorpes link. Meanwhile in Humberston, the 9 and 10 were extended from North Sea Lane to Hewitt's Circus, providing for a more frequent local link every 15 minutes, albeit less attractive for journeys into Grimsby.

The remnants of the 7 now leave Grimsby via Hainton Avenue rather than Ladysmith Road, providing an off peak replacement for the 250. It then operates via Weelsby Road before providing a one-way loop via Windsor Road, Curzon Avenue, Warwick Road, Brian Avenue, Middlethorpe Road, Taylors Avenue and Humberston Road. Departures leave Grimsby hourly between 0857 and 1357 Monday to Friday and from 0857 to 1657 on Saturdays. A basic shopping link from Windsor Road, Curzon Avenue, Warwick Road, Brian Avenue, Middlethorpe Road and Taylors Avenue into Grimsby, with the peak time service not replaced, and no indirect through service to Cleethorpes Town Centre as used to be provided by service 7 interworking with the 9 or 10 at North Sea Lane. It should be noted the 4 and 12 do also operate in the broader area.

Things do get slightly better from the September Changes. The Windsor Road to Middlethorpe Road section will be served in both directions, with most of Humberston Road (that has no stops on the section concerned) omitted. A new loop is also added via Belvoir Road and the Humberston Road side entrance to Hewitt's Circus Tesco Extra; Belvoir Road is also served by the 12 so hopefully the 7 won't abstract from the 12 here. Timetable wise, there are two extra late afternoon services Monday to Friday, last departure from Grimsby Town Centre to be 1640 rather than 1357.

Turning next to service 8, which previously operated between Grimsby Town Centre, Grimsby Hospital, New Waltham, Humberston and North Sea Lane, where it then interworked with the 9 or 10 to Cleethorpes (and beyond). Since May that interworking has stopped with the 8 extended to Cleethorpes Town Centre via the more direct service 17 route avoiding the Thrunscoe Estate. Also the 8 has been diverted via Westward Ho and Chelmsford Avenue to better serve Franklin College.

Whilst these changes might sound good news, I'm not convinced. Taking the Franklin College diversion, most students could walk quite easily to Nuns Corner and the diversion could be omitted, helping to keep journey times low. The diversion could be more use if there was a stop nearer to where it skirts the Grange Estate, but one hasn't been provided according to bustimes.org.

Along with the 9/10 there are now six buses per hour Monday to Saturday daytimes between Humberston Church Avenue Roundabout, North Sea Lane and Cleethorpes Town Centre, which feels a bit like over-bussing. Personally I would have kept the 8 terminating at North Sea Lane, interworked with either the 9 or 10 for Cleethorpes Town Centre. The other service out of the 9 and 10 could have run to Hewitt's Circus Tesco, reducing another perhaps over generous frequency. 

Focusing on service 9 and 10 between Waltham, Grimsby Hospital, Grimsby, Cleethorpes and North Sea Lane and the main change in May was the already alluded to extension beyond North Sea Lane to Hewitt's Circus Tesco Extra. Timetable wise extra Monday to Friday early morning journeys were added, partially replacing the early morning service 5 Cleethorpes extensions mentioned earlier. Daily evening services were withdrawn between Cleethorpes Town Centre and North Sea Lane, leaving the Thrunscoe Estate without an evening service, but this section of route, extended to Tesco, will be reinstated in September.

Finally, one longer distance change from May that isn't worth a separate post, the 1440 and 1540 service 51 journeys from Grimsby to Louth were merged into a single 1515 journey Monday to Friday; Saturday times were not affected, so there is still a 1440/1540 from Grimsby.

Overall there have been some welcome improvements from the Bus Service Improvement Plan, and September's changes make things slightly better, but it's certainly not been all good news.