Bits and Pieces

A few corrections and updates:

260 Villager Changes; From next month when the timetable for North Lincolnshire Council operated service 260 'Villager' changes, the journeys to Victoria House in Barton will continue to operate, but on a Thursday rather than a Friday.

Stagecoach's Humber Flyer has been transferred from Stand D to Stand 3 in Hull Interchange, the same stand as the Humber Fastcat. However from my observations, the Humber Flyer is seeing little use for Barton-Hull traffic (apart from me).

The new EYMS X55 Petuaria Express will operate into Hull via the Clive Sullivan Way, not Boothferry Road.

X55: Petuaria Express

Details are starting to be announced about EYMS's new X55 Gilberdyke to Hull service that starts on April 26th. It will be called the Petuaria Express. While the EYMS announcement says times will be released next week, they are available on their website now.

The timetable shows the service will operate Monday to Friday only with an hourly frequency in the daytime, increased at peak times. The vehicle requirement would appear to be for 2 buses. Timing points are given at Gilberdyke, Newport, Elloughton EYMS Depot, Brough Memorial, Hull Royal Infirmary and Hull Interchange. This would seem to imply use of the A63 for large parts of the route though it is not clear if the service will use the Clive Sullivan Way or Boothferry Road/Anlaby Road into Hull City Centre. Peak time services will operate via Wilberforce Drive in Hull - I think the only other service to serve Wilberforce Drive is the 1C. This will be useful for Hull College students as well as commuters.

Journey times are, as would be expected, are quicker than the 155 which provides the current main link between Hull, Brough and Gilberdyke. Daytime X55 journeys from Hull to Brough take 32 minutes compared to 48 minutes on the 155 via Ferriby, Melton and Welton. The time savings are more significant to Gilberdyke; 51 minutes on the X55 compared to 80 minutes on the 155 via South and North Cave. Though of course the train is quicker than the X55 to both Brough and Gilberdyke (and to Brough is more frequent than the 155 and X55 combined).

From Hull the 155 leaves at 35 minutes past the hour and the X55 on the hour during the day, so good co-ordination. Though that difference is just 9 minutes by the time the two services reach Brough, and the X55 arrives 4 minutes ahead off the 155 in Gilberdyke despite leaving Hull 25 minutes later. In the reverse direction the X55 leaves Gilberdyke 15 minutes ahead off the 155 in the daytime, and leaves Brough 28 minutes ahead of the 155, so again good co-ordination here.

From the above, it would seem that very few passengers will end up still using the 155 for full length journey's between Hull and Newport/Gilberdyke when the Petuaria Express starts. However as the 155 continues as the 156 to Howden and Goole it shouldn't be empty after North Cave. And no doubt the business case for introducing the X55 has factored this in. The Petuaria Express also creates a roughly half hourly Brough to Hull frequency which is an effective doubling of the service (excluding Stagecoach's X62 which is primarily meant for travel to/from Leeds), and unlike Gilberdyke and Newport, it should complement the 155 rather than take passengers from it.

The new X55 has the potential to increase bus use on the busy A63 commuter corridor, and the initative is to be welcomed. Though what, if any, impact will this have on the train services between Hull, Brough and Gilberdyke? Any local knowledge would be appreciated. Just leave your thoughts a comment on this blog post.

Hutchinsons takeover 488 to Goole

I'm sure everyone has heard of the saying about waiting for a bus and two turn up at once. Well we wait for a Hutchinson's service into East Yorkshire, and two come at once. In addition to the new 133, Hutchinson's have registered a Wednesdays only service 488 from Hut Green to Goole with VOSA, operating Wednesdays only from week commencing 18th April.

The 488 is currently operated by Shaws Coaches, and provides a shopping link from villages including Hensall and Gowdall to Goole, via Snaith.

New Driffield to Malton Summer Service

A registration is now showing on the VOSA website for a new service 133 between Driffield and Malton, to be operated by North Yorkshire independent Hutchinsons. The service will operate at weekends and Bank Holidays. Confusingly the effective date is 22nd May but the other details section says it will operate from Easter Saturday until 26th September.

184 Swanland to Hessle: Further Information

Further to my earlier post about a new EYMS Swanland to Hessle service a commenter has directed me to the Swanland Village website which contains further information about it.

The service is being funded by East Riding of Yorkshire Council following representations by both North Ferriby and Swanland Parish Councils. Starting on 10th May it will be reviewed after six months. There is one departure each way; from Swanland at 0930 and Hessle at 1200. Journey time is 25 minutes operating via North Ferriby.

The Swanland Village website also reveals unhappiness about retimings to service 153 made last month.

Hull City Circle (Service 10) May Changes

The VOSA website todays has details that from Tuesday 4th May Stagecoach's Hull City Circular, service 10, will have a new route and timetable. The route was originally cancelled from next Monday, but has been reregistered and will continue to the current route and timetable until the change in May.

Service 910 to Garthorpe

Earlier this month I posted that the 909 was being reduced to three journeys only to/from Doncaster with a new service 910 maintaining a roughly hourly Brigg to Scunthorpe services. Now Stagecoach have released their timetable showing that service 910 will extend to Crowle and Garthorpe, incorporating service 356. This will retain the current roughly two hourly service between Scunthorpe, Crowle and Garthorpe and along with the 909 maintain an hourly Stagecoach service between Brigg, Scunthorpe, Gunness and Althorpe.

Who would have thought you could travel between Brigg and Garthorpe on the same service! Seriously while it is a shame to see the 909 reduced, at least Stagecoach have taken the opportunity to create some new through links.

Grimsby services 13/14 notes

To update this earlier post, from the 5th April Stagecoach services 13/14 in Grimsby and Cleethorpes will remain every 10 minutes on weekday daytimes. The frequency reduction to every 15 minutes on Saturdays still appears to be happenning however. Also daily daytime services will now Cleethorpes Sea Road again.

The 45B and 45H aren't quite dead yet!

Following on from my post last week about the new arrangement for the 45 group of services, the new Stagecoach timetable reveals some corrections.

The new core half hourly Monday to Saturday daytime Grimsby to South Killingholme service will be numbered as service 45, not 45K. However the 45B and 45H are not dead yet. The 45H remains a weekday peak time service from Habrough, and also Ulceby, to Grimsby. The peak time link from Habrough has existed for a number of years, though the extension to Ulceby is new. The 45B must have developed some commuter traffic from Ulceby in the past few months.

While the 45H makes sense, the remaining 45B is more curious. There will be one departure at 1740 on weekdays. However there is no morning inbound service for commuters on either the 45B or 250. So unless the plan is to take home some late Grimsby shoppers this journey seems rather strange.

New Sunday service to Grange Estate, Grimsby

From Sunday 5th April Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes will introduce a new hourly Sunday daytime service to the Grange Estate in Grimsby on service 7. The rest off route 7 between Grimsby and North Sea Lane remains Monday to Saturday only.

The Humber Flyer via Barton

From Tuesday 6th April, Stagecoach's Humber Flyer (recently saved again) between Hull, Humberside Airport, Grimsby and Cleethorpes will be diverted via Barton. This gives Barton a 3rd hourly bus to Hull (it was just 1 bus an hour until a year ago), retains the hourly link to Grimsby lost when the 45B is axed, and creates new bus links to Humberside Airport, Grimsby College and Cleethorpes.

As a Bartonian who travels to Hull a lot by bus, and who sometimes visits Humberside Airport (don't forget www.freewebs.com/airhumberside ) I should be happy about this. But it appears a very curious change to the Humber Flyer.

On one hand it could add extra passengers to what it obviously a struggling route. The section between Melton Ross and the Humber Bridge is a long one with no bus stops, and now the Humber Flyer has the chance to pick up custom in Barton, including the few passengers who may have used the 45B from Barton to Grimsby. Some new custom could also be attracted. And by serving another town, politically the route becomes even more important.

However my fears are twofold. Firstly the diversion into Barton does slightly increase the journey time - it's almost two hours from Hull to Pleasure Island in Cleethorpes. This could put some people off. Not those that need to travel, possibly to work, but say a family with young children wanting to go to Pleasure Island. A two hour bus journey is far from ideal. The service has had to become a partly local service to try and make it more financially viable, but the balance away from being an express service could swing too far.

And is the diversion into Barton worth it? Interestingly the Stagecoach announcement makes no mention that the diversion will provide extra links between Barton and Hull, just the links to the airport and North East Lincolnshire. Now there will probably be some limited passengers on these flows, such as maybe a few Grimsby College students, or OAP's who can't travel free on the train. But are these flows enough to make the diversion worthwhile, or will the diversion have to rely on Hull travellers?

This leads onto my second concern. I am concerned about the effect on the Humber Fastcat (350). Since it's relaunch and frequency increase almost a year ago, passenger levels do seem to have increased. However while some services are almost full, others are rather empty. While a quiet late afternoon service into Hull is to be expected, overall it does mean the average loads across the bridge don't seem spectacular from my observations. So adding a third hourly service between Hull and Barton could only serve to reduce average loads on the Fastcat and potentially threaten the viability of the current half hourly frequency.

Having said that the Humber Flyer is quite well timed to compliment the Humber Fastcat in both directions apart from at peak times (there are now two buses from Hull to Barton at 0725, and two from Barton to Hull at 1730 and 1830). The Humber Flyer also appears not to serve Barton Market Place, and uses a stand some distance away from the Fastcat stand in Hull Interchange. This will partially mitigate the effect on the Humber Fastcat. Though if these measures do that and the Barton diversion has to rely on North East Lincolnshire traffic, is it worth doing, as discussed above?

The best thing to do will be to see what happens next month. If the Barton diversion is well customised by passengers to Grimsby and Cleethorpes and/or helps grow the market to Hull, then great. But if not then I hope Stagecoach will remove the diversion quickly to ensure the Humber Fastcat remains viable.

Finally a couple of side notes - I guess the service 1 registered between Grimsby and Keelby will be cancelled? And the first morning bus from Grimsby to Hull will not serve Barton - yet on Saturdays at least if it did it could restore the early morning bus to Hull axed in 2006.

The new 250 timetable

The drip feed of information with regards to the Stagecoach April service changes on the South Bank continues. Now the new service 250 timetable between Barton, Immingham and Grimsby is available on the Traveline East Midlands website. The 250 will be reintroduced to replace the 45B, which had replaced the 250 last September. The new timetable will commence on Tuesday 6th April.

The new 250 timetable provides three service a day between Barton and Grimsby Monday to Saturday, along with 1 short journey from Barton to Ulceby, and 2 short journeys from Ulceby to Barton. The services are well spread out to maintain basic links for shopping etc in Barton and Grimsby, and a basic peak service to /from Barton remains. Although the peak service appears not to serve Barrow Haven, New Holland and Goxhill as it currently does. If this is the case, the last bus from Barton to New Holland and Goxhill will be just after 4pm (though there is also the train).

The service appears to be interworked with service 450 between Barton and Brigg. This was once common place but under the 45B was limited to just one weekday service each way, with a change of bus being required at all other times.

While the new 250 timetable appears to be adequate, it is the worst service between Barton and Grimsby via Ulceby for a number of years. The hourly 45B seems to have been too much and before it was introduced last year the 250 ran every two hours or so. Going to be before the 2006 cutbacks the 150 and 250 combined operated hourly between Barton and Grimsby; the 250 via Ulceby being the route taken by most services. Prior to that I seem to recall there was the 21 and 250, which I think was about every two hours.

And what must have been at least 10 years ago, the X21 used to provide a service every two hours or so on the corridor, but starting in Hull and extending through to Cleethorpes. Plus the 21 providing a few extra journeys.

Villager Changes in May

From 17th May, the 260 'Villager' service between Barton, Barrow, New Holland and Goxhill will be revised on Thursdays and Fridays according to a timetable on the Traveline East Midlands website. The service is operated directly by North Lincolnshire Council.

The Friday service appears to revert to the Monday to Wednesday timetable (which is unaltered), with the extensions to Victoria House in Barton dropped. These were introduced before the Barton Town Service was converted to low floor operation, and as I think the town service serves Victoria House, the extensions to the Villager would appear to be no longer required.

However the Thursday morning service is revised to include East Halton, which would appear to be the replacement for service 253 between East Halton and Barton. There is an overall reduction of one round trip on Thursday mornings, and the timetable is different to the rest of the week, but it does replace the 253 without needing extra resources. And at a time with pressure on the North Lincolnshire Council bus budget, such measures need to be taken.

Stagecoach Scunthorpe Area Easter 2010

In the Scunthorpe area, Stagecoach will operate services as follows this Easter:

Good Friday - normal Friday service
Easter Saturday/Sunday - normal services
Easter Monday - Sunday service

Stagecoach Hull Service Changes March 2010

From 29th March 2010, Stagecoach Hull will make minor alterations to services 38 and 38A between Hull, Garden Village and Bransholme. Service 38, and service 38A towards Hull will now stop at Foredyke Pub rather than the Shopping Centre at North Point in Bransholme. Also the 1715 departure from Hull on service 38A appears to be dropped on a Saturday.

Positive changes in East Hull as the 41/42 to Greatfield will be operated by low floor buses (displaced Dennis Dart SLF/ALX 200 from the 1/2?) while the Friday and Saturday evening service 52C to Salthouse Road will be replaced by an hourly Friday and Saturday evening service on routes 52 and 53, which will also gain a Sunday daytime service.

Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes Easter 2010

Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes services will operate as follows this Easter:

Good Friday - Sunday service except on services 3, 25, 51, 150 and Humber Flyer which will operate a normal Friday service. On the Grimsby-Immingham-Barton corridor a Saturday service will operate on service 45B alongside a Sunday service on route 46.
Easter Saturday - normal service
Easter Sunday - normal service
Easter Monday - normal service to the new timetables being introduced this weekend

Stagecoach Hull Easter 2010

This is nice and simple!

Good Friday - Sunday service except the Humber Fastcat (350) and Humber Flyer which will operate a normal Friday service
Easter Saturday and Sunday - normal services
Easter Monday - Sunday service on all routes

Johnsons Service 253 - East Halton to Barton

NL Johnson have registerted with VOSA to cancel the Thursdays only East Halton to Barton service 253 from 13th May. I am unsure if this is a tendered service or commercial operation.

The 253 was introduced a short while after the 2006 cutbacks by North Lincolnshire Council to tendered bus services. Until September 2006 the 150 ran between Barton, East Halton and Grimsby 6 days a week, however it was then cut back to link East Halton and Grimsby only, removing the link from East Halton to Barton. A few months later (late 2006, early 2007?) the current 253 was started to restore link for East Halton shoppers to Barton once a week.

Is this related to East Halton's enhanced service to Grimsby from April, or unconnected? And will the 253 continue?

Enhanced 150 from April

It would appear that there are winners as well as losers in the April service changes as service 150 from East Halton to Grimsby changes from a mostly Wednesday and Friday only service to operate Monday to Friday with a new timetable. I am guessing the main reason for this enhancement is to replace the 45H to Habrough. Currently Habrough has an hourly service (with some gaps on weekday afternoons) Monday to Saturday to Immingham and Grimsby.

(Source, Traveline East Midlands website)

Stagecoach South Bank April Service Changes update

A few further updates:

• The new timetable for the 450 Barton to Brigg is now on the Traveline East Midlands site. The service has been retimed to irregular intervals but with the exception of the weekday evening peak service all current journeys remain. Curiously the VOSA registration shows the 450 as operating through to Ulceby but the Traveline site doesn't show this.
• The 10, 150 and 327 has also been reregistered by VOSA. Along with the 450 their future had been at risk until earlier this month
• Looks like the 250 between Grimsby and Barton will return acording to the VOSA website. The would fit in with the 45 group of services appearing to no longer operate beyond South Killingholme as posted earlier in the week
• The 30 in Scunthorpe is axed - introduced last year it operates from the colleges in Scunthorpe to Scunthorpe Bus Station in the afternoon

EYMS Easter Bus Services

This Easter EYMS will run it's services as follows:

Good Friday service operate to a Sunday timetable except the 350 Humber Fastcat and Goole Town Services which will run to a weekday timetable.

Normal services Easter Saturday and Sunday with Sunday services on Easter Monday

(Please note some Scarborough and District Services are different)

New Swanland to Hessle service

A new registration has appared on the VOSA website from EYMS for a new Monday to Saturday service 184 between Swanland Main Street and Hessle Square from 10th May. It will be a normal stopping service.

I wonder if this is another new shopping service, like the Ferriby-Beverley and Hedon-Beverley services introduced last year?

(I would copy and paste the registration but for some reason my computer won't let me do it today).

Orange Stagecoach Volvo's

From my personal sightings and information on the Stagecoach East Midlands Yahoo group three Volvo's at Stagecoach's Scunthorpe depot, two Paladin bodied examples and 1 Volvo B10M/Alexander (20414) have been repainted in allover orange - the same orange as used on the Humber Fastcat Livery. One of the Paladin's was in use on the 350 Humber Fastcat yesterday, and 20414 has been in use on the route today. Also a Dennis Dart SLF/East Lancs Spryte has been in use on the 350 both yesterday and today.

So this raises two questions - why has only one out of the four Scunthorpe Depot MAN/Enviro 300's bought to operate the 350 been in use on the service so far this week? And why do Scunthorpe depot now have three step entrance Volvo's in orange livery?

As a side note worth pointing out that Hull's 2 MAN/Enviro 300's are operating as normal on the 350 this week, and that Hull will be seeing a lot more MAN/Enviro's soon as new examples takeover the 1/2 Boothferry Estate routes.

Stagecoach April Changes - Grimsby Area and 909

Some of the Stagecoach changes in the Grimsby area from April 5th/6th (Easter weekend) are now showing on the traveline east midlands site. Not all changes appear to be loaded onto the site yet so probably best not to draw any conclusions until the full details are released though at this stage it would seem many of the changes are cutbacks.

A new service 1 will operate generally hourly between Grimsby, Laceby and Keelby and Monday to Saturday daytimes.

There appear to be some changes to intermdiate times on services 9 and 9A between Cleethorpes and Waltham, while evening journeys will operate slightly later and the Sunday daytime service switches from service 9 via Freeman Street to operate as a service 9A via Tesco on Victoria Street and the Stagecoach depot instead.

Services 13 and 14 between Bradley CrossRoads, Grimsby and Cleethorpes will be reduced from every 10 minutes in the daytime to every 12 minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes on Saturdays.

Service 16 between Wybers Wood and Grimsby appears to have it's weekday frequency reduced from every 12 to every 15 minutes.

The 45 group of services is showing as being principally a half hourly 45K between Grimsby, Immingham and South Killingholme, supplemented by some 45M's and 46's which appear largely unchanged. 45B's to Barton and 45H's to Habrough are showing as cancelled at the moment.

The 150 and 450 are showing as cancelled in their entireity still, despite last week's news, which makes me think further updates will be made to the information on the Traveline East Midlands site. Also despite the new service 1 showing, the Humber Flyer appears unchanged as off the time off writing.

Also showing are major changes the 909. The Scunthorpe to Doncaster part of the service appears to be reduced to just three journeys a day from the current hourly frequency. On the Brigg end roughly hourly services appear to continue, though some services are showing as new service 910. (The 910 sort off isn't new, as it operated between Hull and Grimsby in the old 909 days, and remained for a while after as a Summer Sunday Hull to Cleethorpes service. However it never served Scunthorpe or Brigg).

Praise for EYMS Staff

EYMS have published some comments from customers about their staff on their website.

North Lincolnshire Bus Cuts not hapenning

More good news, the potential threat to 4 bus services operated by Stagecoach under contract to North Lincolnshire Council has been lifted after a solution was agreed - sadly the online article on this does not elaborate further. Stagecoach had been unhappy about planned reduction in reimbursement levels for concessionary fares.

The services under threat were:
10 - a Scunthorpe Town Service
150 - East Halton to Grimsby
327 - Dragonby to Scunthorpe
450 - Barton to Brigg

There has also been reports that the issue of concessionary fares may also lead to the cutting of the largely commercially operated 45B and 45H from Barton and Habrough to Grimsby. The Scunthorpe Telegraph article linked to above does not refer to the 45B or 45H but incorrectly reports the 450 as running between Grimsby, Barton and Brigg. So does this mean the 45B/H are safe or not?

UPDATE Tuesday - a comment (see below) advises that a full retendering will take place in September and that timetable changes will be made in April

Scunthorpe Hospital Shuttle becomes commercial operation

A little less pressure on council bus subsidies for once; Hornsby Travel have agreed to takeover operation off the service 9 between Scunthorpe's Bus Station and Hospital on a commercial basis. Until recently they operated the service with subsidy of £10,900 per year from North Lincolnshire Council and the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Humber Flyer saved

Late last year threats around the future operation of the Humber Flyer between Hull and North East Lincolnshire were raised again due no funding being available from local councils and Humberside Airport. Now North East Lincolnshire Council have said they will continue their annual £10,000 subsidy for the next three years which seems to have saved the service for now. However talks with the other funders will take place soon to find an extra £20,000 off subsidy to meet the levels of financial support Stagecoach say they need to continue operation of the vital service.

New EYMS X55?

From VOSA today:

PB0000328/360 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS

• Registration Accepted
• Starting Point: Hull Interchange
• Finish Point: Gilberdyke, Village
• Via:
• Service Number: X55
• Service Type: Normal Stopping
• Effective Date: 26-APR-2010
• Other Details: Mondays to Fridays.

Just guessing but a new peak time express service?

EYMS take on Goole Town Service 8th March

A bit later than originally posted, EYMS have confirmed they will takeover the Goole Town Service from First South Yorkshire starting Monday 8th March. The only major change will be a diversion of the peak time services via Capitol Park.

North Lincolnshire Bus Cuts: Council Position

Apologies for only posting this now - I have only come across this today. On 12th January North Lincolnshire Council made a statement regarding Stagecoach cuts to bus services in North Lincolnshire. Stagecoach have said this is due to reduced concessionary fare payments from the Council that will cause losses of £75,000 compared to last year.

The council say this cut is based on recommendations from independent consultants, who used data from Stagecoach in their work. In the January statement North Lincolnshire Council were standing by their decision believing their proposed rate should not leave Stagecoach worse off.

The North Lincolnshire Council statement also states that Stagecoach have an issue with the reimbursement rate in North East Lincolnshire, something that I have not posted on this blog before.

North Lincolnshire Council also said they were in talks with other operators and "will be doing all we can to keep the services running or find alternatives".

As a final side note though, North Lincolnshire Council are still referring to the Grimsby to Barton service as the 250, despite the fact it became the 45B last year.

Stagecoach Grimsby Area Changes April 2010

There are various entries on the VOSA website indicating changes in the Grimsby area from Stagecoach on April 5th. I have summarised these below, but I would advise caution until any officially announcement is made from Stagecoach about changes:

Services 25 (Grimsby-Ludford)/51 (Grimsby-Louth)/366 (Goxhill-Brigg/Scunthorpe) have been re-registered from the Lincolnshire RoadCar license to the Grimsby Cleethorpes license.

Changes will be made to Grimsby/Cleethorpes local services 7, 9, 13, 14 and 16.

An application has been made to cancel one license for service 45 between Grimsby and Barton, and the vary another between Grimsby and South Killingholme. This may link into unconfirmed reports from an anonymous commenter that Stagecoach will cease the 45B and 45H. If this happens, it would remove the link between Barton and Immingham, and the villages in between, and it would be highly likely North Lincolnshire Council would have to fund a replacement.

Talking of North Lincolnshire Council, in today's VOSA entries Stagecoach have cancelled tendered services 10, 327 and 450 as threatened to do so last month. The date for withdrawal has been moved from 29th March to 5th April if the VOSA entries are correct.

And a potentially concerning development with regards to the Humber Flyer; the section between Humberside Airport and Cleethorpes has been cancelled, but an application has been made to vary a service I didn't even know about, numbered service 1, between Grimsby and Keelby.

Finally not in the Grimsby area, but changes to the 909 between Brigg, Scunthorpe and Doncaster are also planned.

Most service 28 journeys to operate via Hull City Centre Loop

From Monday 28th February, Stagecoach in Hull will divert most inbound service 28's from Bransholme, Sutton Park and Beverley Road to operate via Princes Quay instead of Brook Street in the City Centre. Buses will continue to operate via Brook Street for part of the afternoon. This means the 28 has the same city centre route as most other local services from Beverley Road.

This has been a much requested route change, though at the October 2009 Hull Bus Forum, it was stated that at the time Stagecoach where not prepared to make the diversion until they had received comments from Councillor Carl Minns (Leader, Hull Cuty Council) about a bus priority scheme. So I presume progress has been made on such a scheme?

Stagecoach reroute 110

In a correction to a previous post, the 109 around Cottingham will cease after operation on Saturday. Instead from Monday 8th February, Stagecoach shall re-route hourly service 110 to act as a partial replacement thanks to funding from East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Based on the timetable released, It shall now serve New Village Road and St Margaret's Avenue in Cottingham. Cottingham Rail Station shall now also be served, to replace changes to service 154.

Again seems like a sensible change to replace the 109. Also I wonder if EYMS will continue to two-hourly service 60 via New Village Road, now the 110 will provide an hourly link into Hull? Could be an opportunity to simplify the 60/60A/61/62/64 group of services?

Stagecoach takeover 41

From Monday 8th February Stagecoach will takeover service 41 (Hull-Greatfield), currently operated by EYMS. It's future was under doubt after EYMS planned to withdraw it.

The new 41 will follow the same route around Greatfield as the 42, but continuing to serve the Newbridge Road area rather than Holderness Road shops. The 42 shall be reduced in frequency Monday to Saturday daytimes. Currently it operates every 12 minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes on Saturdays, but from the 8th it shall operate every 20 minutes on weekdays and every 30 minutes on Saturdays.

The 41 shall have the same frequency, and on sections of the route shared with service 42, weekdays shall see an extra bus every hour - Saturdays maintain the current frequency on common sections of route. This means a slight reduction in Saturday frequency on the 41 from EYMS's 20 minute service to Stagecoach's half hourly but I can't see this being a huge issue.

These changes do not require any extra vehicles from Stagecoach and seem a sensible solution to maintain daytime buses for Newbridge Road.

Posted edited 3rd February

Some other EYMS Hull service changes

Overshadowed by other changes, services 56/57 (Longhill-Hull-Hessle), 66 (Hull-Hessle), 105 (Hull-Cottingham) and 151/2/3 (Hull-Anlaby-Willerby/North Ferriby) shall see revised timetables from 7th February. There will be extra daytime journeys between Longhill and Hull City Centre.

Introducing Twenty-Ten

Last month I posted about EYMS service changes in the Willerby and Cottingham area. Timetables have been released, with no major differences to my original post.

Worth noting is that the 64 shall continue to extend from Castle Hill Hospital to Willerby in the evenings (daily) to maintain evening Willerby to Cottingham links not provided by the 115/154. The Willerby services shall be numbered 64C, and continue to operate back into Hull via WIllerby Road, as at present, though as a 44C rather than the current 47. A sensible arrangement for relatively quiet time off day.

Also two morning peak journeys on service 44 from Hull to Willerby shall operate as service 44A via Willerby Parkway; the 35 will not serve Willerby Parkway at these times.

The new network has been branded Twenty-Ten. This is based around the core services in the network operating every 20 minutes, Monday to Saturday daytimes. For key places, such as Cottingham and Willerby, two services combine to offer a 10 minute frequency into Hull City Centre. A nice piece of marketing in my opinion.

EYMS Twenty-Ten guide.

Who will takeover the 41 and 109?

As previously reported, Hull City Council has agreed to continue to fund operation of services 1C and 41. Service 1C (Sibelius Road-Hull-Kingswood) will continue to be operated by EYMS, but not the 41 (Hull-Greatfield-Bilton Grange) from 7th February onwards. Sadly from a passenger perspective they do not say who the new operator will be. The same also applies to East Riding of Yorkshire Council contracted route 109 (Bricknell Estate-Cottingham), which will continue to operate, despite also being under threat.

So if anyone knows the new operators, please leave a comment. Stagecoach maybe? But nothing on their website as off 11.30 on Friday 22nd. CT Plus? But would anyone award them a contract after the park and ride debacle? Or an independent - Lords Coaches? Ellie Rose? Jim Bell?

EYMS will cease to operate Priory Park Park and Ride from 1st February

As also mentioned in a comment, EYMS have now confirmed from Monday 1st February they will no longer operate the Priory Park Park and Ride. CT Plus are the new operator ... if they are ready. If they are not, then who knows?

The Priory Park Park and Ride Saga

After the controversial award of the Priory Park Park and Ride Contract to CT Plus, they may now be unable to takeover the contract on the 1st of February as scheduled, and EYMS may have to continue operation until CT Plus are ready to takeover.

The reason for this - potential late delivery of CT Plus's new buses for the operation. But surely CT Plus could rent in some vehicles temporarily? Is there another reason for the possible delay?

Hull City Council to save 1C and 41

A small piece in today's Hull Daily Mail says Hull City Council will step into fund EYMS commercially operated services 1C and 41, due for withdrawal next month. Though where the money will come from remains to be seen. More information as and when known.

New Year, New Services Under Threat

Happy New Year ... or maybe not so happy as the issue of concessionary travel hits the news again, with four Stagecoach operated services in North Lincolnshire under threat from 29th March after plans from North Lincolnshire Council to cut reimbursement rates for operators. The four services are operated under contract to North Lincolnshire Council and Stagecoach claims they will loose £75,000 compared to last year if it continued operation with the proposed new reimbursement rates.

The services affected are the:
10: Scunthorpe local service, hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes
150: East Halton-North Killingholme-Immingham-Grimsby, two return journeys Wednesday and Friday, plus a one-way service from East Halton 5 days a week
327: Scunthorpe to Dragonby, Fridays only
450: Barton to Brigg, 5 weekday services and 3 on Saturdays

North Lincolnshire Council will either have to increase it's proposed reimbursement rate or retender the services. However any retender would likely result in a higher cost than at present considering the new reimbursement rate. Therefore unless any extra funding is found, some cutbacks have to be considered.

Cutbacks will mean hard decisions, particularly as these are the only bus services for various villages and some parts of Scunthorpe. The 10 uniquely serves Lilac Avenue, Sandhouse Crescent, Harley Road, Bellingham Road Dudley Road and Fulbeck Road in Frodingham and Ashby. Some of these areas have other services nearby, but some do not. One option could be a reduced frequency and an attempted interworking with other low frequency services in Scunthorpe such as the 11, 16 or 17, but without knowing the current diagrams it's impossible to say how practical this idea would be.

The 150 is the only fixed bus service for North Killingholme; East Halton also has a Thursday service to Barton (253). The 150 also serves South Killingholme and Habrough but both of these benefited from the service 45 changes last year. Maybe a reduction in operating days to one day a week, and/or reduction to a single return journey could be an option to reduce costs. Habrough could possibly be omitted now it has the hourly 45H, and maybe a diversion via bus-less Stallingborough Village introduced?

The 327 is also the only bus service for the village it serves; Dragonby. Residents can walk to the A1077 and catch the 350 Humber Fastcat as an alternative, but for OAP's this maybe easier said than done.

The 450 is potentially the biggest issue here; it carries a large number of school students, mainly from Barton, to school and sixth form in Brigg - there is a reason why a double decker is used on the service. However the rest of the day, and on Saturdays and School Holidays, it is rather empty. The 450 is also the only bus service for the 'low villages' of Horkstow, Saxby, Bonby and Worlaby (except for the 640 to Scunthorpe Colleges and a Tesco free bus).

Personally I would question the need for a six day a week service considering the low usage. So maybe a potential cutback possible here. Would it be cheaper to split the schools service from the rest of the service, which could then possibly be reduced to provide a shopping link to Brigg say 2 or 3 days a week, and a similar link to Barton 1 or 2 days a week? It's been over 18 months since I regularly used this service, but based on usage at the time, such a proposal would be better suited to demand.

The schools element is one of the most concerning here since it could force some students to have to change schools. However Barton, Barrow, Goxhill and South Ferriby are out of catchment for the Brigg schools and North Lincolnshire Council have no obligation to provide transport. Hopefully if the council withdrew the schools service, another operator would consider providing a commercial service.

I've posted some ideas of how costs could be cut without totally cancelling services, but it will be for North Lincolnshire Council to take some big and hard decisions in the coming weeks.

Review 2009: The Year's Other Big News

I've already looked back at the year for bus services in Barton and Immingham, Hull's Park and Ride Services and the Humber Flyer, plus Veolia leaving Hull and the summer Scunthorpe to Doncaster rail blockade. To finish up here is a look back at some of 2009's other big transport news in the region.

Stagecoach's X62 (Hull to Leeds) saw two timetable changes during 2009. It started the year with a timetable mainly designed for shoppers, but in July went to a largely two hourly pattern throughout the day. Then in October the three-hour long gaps were filled, and extra Saturday services added. The service is now also regularly low floor operated after the transfer of three Volvo B7TL double decker's from Lincoln.

The Spring saw Stagecoach launch Megabus Plus, a coach service from Hull and Scunthorpe to East Midlands Parkway for train connections to London St Pancras. Meanwhile in March, HM The Queen officially opened Paragon Interchange.

In April Stagecoach cut Saturday frequencies in Hull, cut the City Circle frequency in half and ended it's all-night Friday and Saturday night services, but did double frequency on East Hull routes 52 and 53. Over in Grimsby, the 16 went Lo-Zone and routes 2 and 12 were brought back as part of wider service changes and in some parts, cuts.

July service changes by Stagecoach Hull in Greatfield and Bilton Grange were designed to simplify the network and combat falling usage. But at October's Hull Bus Forum those that 'lost out' made their anger very clear.

July also brought good news after the government decided to reject the Humber Bridge Board's application to raise tolls. As welcome as it was, the decision seems like a one-off, and doesn't solve any long term issues - so something to watch in the next few years.

Even more developments in July saw Market Weighton have it's bus service to York doubled to operate half hourly.

November saw Stagecoach reintroduce part of the 909 service between Brigg, Scunthorpe and Doncaster. Running hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes it was great news for many, but for Wrawby, Scawby and Sturton not so after the 365 service to these villages was axed. Also notable in the package of service changes was the relaunch of the 353 from Scunthorpe to Lincoln as the 103, with a much improved two hourly frequency with extra short journeys to give Kirton an hourly Scunthorpe link.

The year also saw Lords Coaches take on local service work; the subsidised Saturday journeys on the 173-175 group of services between Hull and Withernsea.

On the rails, some Class 170 turbostars started being used by TransPennine Express to Cleethorpes in September, while in December the Hull to Scarborough route saw improved Sunday and evening peak services.

A very busy year indeed!

Review 2009: A Great year for Barton (not so for Immingham)

At the start of the year, Barton had hourly services to Hull and Scunthorpe, and a roughly 2 Hourly service to Grimsby (plus others to Brigg, Goxhill and East Halton). The only time a low floor bus was guaranteed to visit the town was three days a week when the town service runs (though EYMS usually sent a Gemini on some 350 journeys).

By the end of 2009 Barton's bus service has been transformed. The 350 to Hull and Scunthorpe has doubled in frequency to half hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes, while the service to Grimsby is now hourly as the 45B. The 350 is fully low floor operated, and the 45B often is too.

Back in March, Stagecoach and EYMS relaunched the 350 as the Humber Fastcat with a very distinctive orange livery. Stagecoach invested in six new MAN/Enviro 300 buses for the relaunch, and their Hull depot took on two diagrams for the first time. The route was also altered, diverting down Frodingham Road in Scunthorpe and also using the Hull City Centre Loop outbound. This latter diversion has been very much appreciated by me!

A welcome new weekly ticket was also launched, though the normal fares are rather high in my opinion, and EYMS increased their Barton to Hull return fares by over 20% at the time of the relaunch.

The relaunch seems to have been a success, at least short term; passenger figures are up 30% and it was shortlisted for a UK Bus Award. Hopefully stronger passenger growth will occur in 2010, considering the increase in number of services is far more than 30%, but it's a good start. Finally, while I don't want to be too downbeat, I hope the problems affecting the Humber Flyer don't spread to the Humber Fastcat.

The second major improvement to the bus services in Barton occurred in September when the Grimsby service 250 was replaced by the 45B. A far better timetable with earlier and later journeys plus an increased hourly frequency. For South Killingholme the increase was even better, gaining a new half hourly frequency. Meanwhile Habrough gained an hourly bus service six days a week, the first time it has had a 6 day a week daytime service for a number of years.

But unlike the Humber Fastcat, this change had losers as well as winners. Immingham, Stallingborough and Healing went from 3-4 buses an hour to just 2 as the 45 was reduced from every 20 minutes to half hourly and the 250 withdrawn. The link to Victoria Street Tesco was also axed, and the historic service to Immingham Docks withdrawn and replaced by services to the MIC Plant instead. Just to add to the bad news the 'new' 45 is no longer officially low floor, though in recent weeks my observations of the 45B at least indicate most service are now low floor operated.

Winners and losers - that happens a lot with service changes. As a Bartonian I've been lucky but for Immingham the cut seems savage. Hopefully in the future Stagecoach may reconsider the level of service they provide the town.

Review 2009: Scunthorpe-Doncaster Rail Blockade

Arguably the biggest rail story in the region in the past year was the summer blockade of the railway line between Scunthorpe and Doncaster (well Thorne Junction to be exact). This led to bus replacements being required while essential engineering work was carried out. However the timing and replacement services did raise some questions.

Firstly the timing, between June and September - the peak time for tourists going to Cleethorpes. This did attract some criticism in Cleethorpes, though bluntly the freight traffic on the South Humber Main Line is more important, and from a freight perspective summer was the best time for the blockade.

From my perspective the replacement services raised the biggest questions. Firstly the line between Cleethorpes and Scunthorpe was open, yet no rail service was provided. Secondly no use was made of Brigg Line to provide an alternative through service between North East Lincolnshire and Cleethorpes. The replacement services seemed to have cost and convenience for the rail industry as the priority ahead off what was best for the customer.

The work is done now, and the blockade is in the past. But hopefully more consideration will be given to trying to provide at least limited alternative rail services where possible in future blockades, where ever they are in the country. The Network Rail 7-day railway initiative is a good start with regards to weekend work, and hopefully some of the ideas from that can be applied to longer blockades.

As a final side note, North East Lincolnshire was totally cut off from the national rail network this past Christmas weekend as Network Rail replaced a bridge at Barnetby, which did cut the village in half and adversely affect some local businesses. Again though there is probably never a perfect time to do the work, and Christmas is probably the least worst time - from a railway perspective certainly.

Review 2009: EYMS takeover Veolia's Hull operation

March 2009 saw the withdrawal of Veolia from the region as their Hull operation was transferred to EYMS. This was part of a wider withdrawal from smaller operations by Veolia that has also seen their Lincoln depot closed and their York operation sold to Transdev (who are now in merger talks with Veolia, so Veolia may get York back!).

Veolia inherited the Hull operation when they took over Dunn Line, who had in turn bought Alpha Bus and Coach earlier in the decade. The main service was the operation of the Walton Street Park and Ride, but Hull City Council stopped funding the scheme in the Spring, which would have left the Hull operation with very little work. Other than that Veolia had various tendered services across Hull and East Yorkshire, some operating only a few days a week, others only a few journeys a day. Only the Hessle Town Service could be described as a regular Monday to Saturday operation, and even that only ran in the morning and early afternoon.

EYMS integrated the former Veolia work into their network, along with the former Veolia Hull fleet, which has led to some 'oddballs' within EYMS's fleet such as a MAN 14:220 HOCL/East Lancs Mylennium single decker. In a separate move, they also took on the Walton Street Park and Ride commercially.

Veolia's departure from Hull meant that apart from EYMS and Stagecoach only local independent operators remain in Hull, and until Lords Coaches took over Saturday services 173-5 in September, only EYMS and Stagecoach operated any local bus services in Hull. However in 2010 CT Plus (Hackney Community Transport) will set up a new Hull operation, which while not part of a large group like Veolia, are not an independent either.

Review 2009: Humber Flyer

Yet again the Hull to North East Lincolnshire bus service made the news in 2009. At the start of the year it operated from Hull to New Waltham via Humberside Airport, Laceby, Grimsby and Cleethorpes as service X1.

In April the service was relaunched as the Humber Flyer. It no longer operated beyond Cleethropes, and had a new route via Hainton Avenue and Weelsby Road in Grimsby before extending to Pleasure Island in Cleethorpes. Also the route in Hull was changed to operate down Boothferry and Anlaby Roads in Hull rather than the Clive Sullivan Way. The service was also 'technically' split into two at Humberside Airport, but in reality remained the previous through service.

Overall the relaunch was a positive move, with a new brand, and newly refreshed Volvo B10B/Wright buses transferred onto the route. There was a even a new mini website launched to promote the route.

However in November the troubles of the past resurfaced again and the threat of withdrawal has resurfaced. Buses over the Humber Bridge receive subsidies to partially cover the cost of bridge tolls, but the subsidies for the Humber Flyer are in doubt after the 4 contributors - Hull City Council, Humberside Airport and North and North East Lincolnshire Council's have not provided funding for 2009/10. Without this subsidy, Stagecoach claim the service is not viable due to it's high mileage and the fact that even with subsidy, the bridge tolls remain high. The comments on the original blog on this topic add extra information to the original post.

Some hope has been provided after North East Lincolnshire councillors passed a motion for their council to commit to it's share of the subsidy for the next three years. This is an encouraging step to save this very important, and politically sensitive, local link.

Review 2009: Hull Park and Ride

During 2009, Hull's two park and ride schemes have been one of the biggest news transport stories in the region.

At the start of the year it was Hull's original Walton Street scheme. The Walton Street site is unusual for a park and ride scheme as it is rather close to the city centre. In January Hull City Council announced plans to close the scheme as part of cost cutting measures. The service was operated by Veolia. In April, shortly after EYMS took over Veolia's Hull operation they stepped in to take over the service commercially for a trial period. As of December EYMS continue operation of the service; I would expect the trial peiod to be over by now so hopefully it is performing well for them and it's longer term future is secure.

Later in the year the newer Priory Park scheme, with purpose built facilities, made the news. Since it opened in 2003 it had been operated by EYMS under contract to Hull City Council. However in September it emerged that following a tender process the contract has been awarded to CT Plus, part of London based Hackney Community Transport. They are a new operator to East Yorkshire, though do have operations in West Yorkshire.

This decision caused a lot of local outrage. In times of recession especially, some could not understand why the contract was awarded to an 'outside' operation as opposed to a local company. The decision came under review and scruitiny but it appears that the decision stands and a VOSA entry indicates an early February operator changeover.

So EYMS started the year with the Priory Park scheme and ended the year with the Walton Street scheme. Hopefully with the Walton Street scheme being operated commercially for a while now, and the new Priory Park scheme contract seemingly having been finalised, Hull's Park and Ride schemes will enjoy a less newsworthy year.

EYMS gain Goole Town Service?

Posts on the South Yorkshire Transport Forum indicate that EYMS will takeover operation of the tendered Goole Town Service from First South Yorkshire from Monday 15th February. Some welcome news for EYMS, but doesn't help First's problems in South Yorkshire.

EYMS Changes: Why they are hapenning

So far I have mostly posted about the impact and details of EYMS's February changes. But why are they happening? EYMS's press release explain's their reasons.

Firstly the issue of the national free concessionary travel scheme. A fantastic idea in principle, but there have been considerable funding issues. The idea is for bus companies to be 'no better no worse' off than in the days of half-price concessionary travel. Bus companies used to get the half price adult fare the concession paid, plus a contribution from local councils (reimbursement). Now bus companies get an increased contribution from local councils, but this is often less than the total of the previous half price fare plus smaller council contribution. So bus operators loose out.

Some would argue that increased passenger levels make up for this. But the increase in passenger levels needed for bus companies to be 'revenue neutral' is often very, unrealistically, high. Furthermore, as EYMS have faced, in some cases there is no spare capacity for increased concessionary travel, and with the reimbursement rate being low, it is not worthwhile investing in extra capacity. This can lead to unhappy full fare paying passengers, not wanting to stand, switching to other forms of transport such as the car or train.

EYMS quote an example from North Yorkshire where another operator receives £1.48 for a concessionary traveller compared to the full adult fare of £5.50. They also note that even full buses can be unprofitable when most passengers are concessions. Not hard to imagine with such low levels of reimbursement.

So the concessionary travel scheme has these underlying problems that have been around for a while. For EYMS, the 'straw that has broken the camel's back' seems to have been the decision of Hull City Council to reduce their reimbursement by £160,000 a year. This comes after a £350,000 annual decrease in reimbursement from councils in North Yorkshire. It should be noted that council's are allocated money by Central Government to pay for concessionary travel, and thus it is the government underfunding the scheme nationally that causes councils to make cuts.

Secondly EYMS have been hit by the loss of the profitable Priory Park Park and Ride contract in Hull. Profits from this and other services have been 'cross-subsidising' other loss making services.

So overall a tricky time for EYMS. With the large budget deficit in the UK, increased funding for concessionary travel at a national level seems very unlikely so no easy solutions any time soon. But this may ignite the row over the award of the Priory Park contract to CT Plus. EYMS's explanation would imply that had they kept the contract the service cuts may be less severe.