Trentside Traveller

To find out about wider Stagecoach East Midlands September changes, and indeed to keep up to date with the latest developments in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, please check out the Trentside Traveller Blog.

Off interest to this area maybe a discussion about services between Brigg and Lincoln.

Service 909 to Doncaster no more

As expected, Stagecoach are revising their 909/910 (Brigg-Scunthorpe-Crowle-Garthorpe) services from 6th September, with the Scunthorpe-Doncaster part of service 909 withdrawn. This was introduced as an hourly service last November before being cut back to 3 return daytime journeys in April. An attempt to restore bus links that clearly didn't work, though at least Stagecoach gave it ago. There continues to be two Scunthorpe-Doncaster train services an hour - which is probably a large part of the reason for Stagecoach's failure.

Other changes include the withdrawal of the Saturday Scawby diversion to service 909 - New timetable. Service 101 (Scunthorpe-Gainsborough) also sees a minor change.

The withdrawal of the remaining 909 Doncaster, plus the loss of tenders to Hornsby, is going to affect Scunthorpe depot's workload. The 94/95 tender required one bus all day, while the loss of the service 16 tender, plus the 909 cutbacks, will reduce utilisation of the fleet in between school/college services. This isn't too significant, but neither is it great news for a depot that seems largely starved of investment. The Scunthorpe town service network has seen gradual cutbacks over the past few years, and 4 new MAN/Enviro 300's for the Humber Fastcat 350 aside, the depot has not seen any vehicles delivered since Road Car days. With large scale fleet renewal going to be needed in the next few years to meet Disability Discrimination Act deadlines can Scunthorpe depot justify the investment, even if cascaded vehicles are used? While I'm certainly not trying to concern or worry anyone, a look at fleet types and ages at Scunthorpe compared to other Stagecoach East Midlands depots and it's easy to see how the depot's fleet is not as modern as elsehwere.

(As a side note are Scunthorpe depot's Spryte's and Solo's DDA compliant?)

Stagecoach enter Beverley-Hull market

Probably just positioning and schools journeys, but some very limited competition for EYMS anyway

VOSA - Bus Registration Search Results: "PB0001987/291 - CLEVELAND TRANSIT LTD T/A STAGECOACH NORTHEAST, ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, NORTH BRIDGE STREET, SUNDERLAND, SR5 1AQ
Registration Accepted by SN
Starting Point: Beverley Bus Station
Finish Point: Hull - Wilberforce College
Via:
Service Number: 123
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 06-SEP-2010
Other Details: Monday to Saturday up to three journeys per day. Extended to Wilberforce College on School Days only."

EYMS Extra Saturday buses to York

EYMS are adding extra journeys on two routes into York on Saturdays from 5th September

Service 196
0900 Bubwith to York
1305 Bubwith to York
1130 York to Bubwith
1600 York to Bubwith

Service 747
0730 Pocklington to York
1710 York to Pocklington

From the same date there are also minor changes to services 33/34/44, 62, 152 and 154 in the Hull area.

Stagecoach to Beverley and Hedon!

The VOSA website reveals that Stagecoach Hull are to operate a service between Hedon and Beverley - their only public (as opposed to schools) service to either Hedon or Beverley, and their only public service not to at least operate partially within the Hull City boundary.

VOSA - Bus Registration Search Results: "PB0001987/290 - CLEVELAND TRANSIT LTD T/A STAGECOACH NORTHEAST, ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, NORTH BRIDGE STREET, SUNDERLAND, SR5 1AQ
Registration Accepted by SN
Starting Point: Hedon
Finish Point: Beverley
Via:
Service Number: 242
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 06-SEP-2010
Other Details: Monday to Saturday - Two journeys per day."

The 242 is currently an East Yorkshire Council tendered service operated once each way between Hedon and Beverley Monday to Saturday daytimes.

109 Deja vu?

Not exactly the same as the old 109, but similar...

VOSA - Bus Registration Search Results: "PB0000328/366 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS
Registration Accepted by SN
Starting Point: Cottingham Railway Station
Finish Point: Cottingham Railway Station
Via: Cottingham, Castle Hill, Bricknell Avenue
Service Number: 109C
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 06-SEP-2010
Other Details: Monday to Saturday Hourly between 09:25 and 17:15"

The old 109 operated between August 2009 and February 2010, linking the Bricknell Estate, Cottingham Centre, St Margaret's Avenue and Castle Hill Hospital hourly in the mornings and early afternoons. Changes to service 110 operated by Stagecoach replaced the 109 in February.

More details when available, plus what if any implication this has for the 110.

260 Villager service, and an idea

A rather interesting article has appeared over the future of the 260 Villager service. Running on weekdays it primarily links Goxhill, New Holland and Barrow to Barton, and on Thursdays it also links East Halton to Barton and the Victoria House area of Barton to the Tesco supermarket. A Barton schools service is also interworked with the 260.

The article is essentially a loose it or use plea. The councillor in charge of buses says "the overriding message to everybody is if you don't want to loose it, then use it". However a council spokesperson says the service is not under threat. Might be rather confusing to the casual reader.

Currently the service is funded by the Rural Bus Grant so as long as that remains there is no risk. However the council expect the government may withdraw it as part of spending cuts, which would mean if the service was to continue, the council would have to fund it directly. Services that cost more than £3 per passenger would be at risk and apparently the 260 is "close to the top of the list of routes at risk". So clearly the service is at risk, just not before the government spending review.

The article also reveals that North Lincolnshire Council wish to end direct council operation next January and seek a private operator to run the service.

However in all of this, it would be very unlikely the 260 would ever get withdrawn without replacement. While Goxhill and New Holland do have the train, the train station isn't easily located for everyone in those villages, and beyond the 260 they have few other bus services. Barrow, while not having the train, does at least have the 250 bus service. East Halton also has the 150 to Immingham and Grimsby 5 days a week, though the last time the East Halton-Barton was withdrawn it was quickly reinstated, indicating local demand for it.

So even if the 260 was withdrawn I would suggest at least a once daily weekday Goxhill-Barton 'shoppers' service would be needed, operating via New Holland and Barrow. This may also need to serve East Halton once a week. Additionally the current schools service operated the 260 vehicle would still need to be provided. The scope for cutting costs would be limited. Mileage could be reduced, but not so much the need for a vehicle and driver.

One possible idea would be to integrate the 260 with the 254 Barton Town Service, currently operating 3 days a week. The Barton Town Service currently has 4 main routes; Meadow Drive/Eastfield Road, Bowmandale/Tofts Road, Westfield Road and Far Ings Road/Dam Road (close to Victoria House). Meadow Drive could be served as a diversion to the 260, while the latter two routes could perhaps be reduced to twice a week operation. This could lead to a pattern like this:

Barton St Peters School Service
Barton-Goxhill direct service, omitting New Holland
Goxhill-Barton via New Holland, Barrow and Meadow Drive
Barton Town Service to Bowmandale 3xWeek, Westfield Road 2xWeek
Barton-Goxhill via Meadow Drive, Barrow and New Holland
etc

In reality it wouldn't be that simple, especially if East Halton was to be served. However I'm sure it would be possible to work something out, saving a 3 day a week contract in the process. One issue maybe that the Barton Town Service runs on opposite days to the Brigg Town Service, allowing the same vehicle to be used on both. However any cost increase on the Brigg Town Service would hopefully be covered by the savings from the 254/260.

Just an idea, and all such ideas may need to be considered in order to safeguard as much of the subsidised bus network in the months ahead.

Hornsby Travel have won tendered services 16, 94 and 95

The Traveline East Midlands website confirms that Hornsby Travel will take over North Lincolnshire Council tendered services 16, 94 and 95 from 31st August, as had been expected. Current operator Stagecoach has also today cancelled their registrations for these services with VOSA.

While the Traveline East Midlands timetables aren't the most descriptive, it appears the 16 (a Scunthorpe Town Service) has a revised timetable and route, no longer operating as a circular and not serving Priory Lane or Glanville Avenue (areas also served by Hornsby service 22). Priory Lane and Glanville Avenue were introduced onto the route after being left unserved following RoadCar service changes a few years ago. Hornsby later added their own replacement service 22, a route Stagecoach also served for a time.

The 'new' 16 appears to operate from Parklands Caravan site via John Leggott and North Lindsey Colleges plus Brumby Wood Lane into Scunthorpe Town Centre, with departures from Parklands at 0940 and 1215, and from Scunthorpe Bus Station at 1200. The service continues to operate Tuesday and Thursday only.

The 94 has some minor changes. The Traveline East Midlands website shows that on weekdays some journeys will run slightly earlier or later, while the schools service will no longer serve Lime Sidings. Similar retimings will affect the 95 which will no longer serve Ashby High Street. There is also a new 1605 Redbourne-Brigg service on route 94 and a new 1805 Brigg-Lakeside service on route 95. However the school holidays 1521 Brigg-Lime Sidings service on route 94 appears withdrawn.

On Saturdays the route followed by service 95 will now match the weekday service, serving Scawby and Sturton but not Ashby High Street. As a result there are some slight timing changes to both services 94 and 95.

Service 450 Changes

Service 450 between Barton and Brigg, currently operated by Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes, is to be altered from 31st August according to the VOSA website. No other details currently available. The service is operated under contract to North Lincolnshire Council and was last revised in April after Stagecoach handed back their previous contract for the service, before winning a replacement emergency tender.

Grimsby-Immingham Corridor Changes

It appears that September's change to Stagecoach's 45 group of services (Grimsby-Immingham corridor) this year is rather minor. The 0820 45M and 0840 45 from Immingham County Hotel shall be merged into a single 0830 45M according to the traveline east midlands website starting 6th September. The 45M starts 10 minutes earlier at the Millenium Inorganic Chemicals site 10 minutes earlier.

Humber Flyer September Changes

From 6th September, the Stagecoach Humber Flyer service between Cleethorpes, Grimsby, Humberside Airport, Barton and Hull will be revised, as noted last month. From the Traveline East Midlands website it appears the service shall now terminate at Sea Road in Cleethorpes, not Pleasure Island. Times will also be revised between Cleethorpes and Humberside Airport.

Also services from Cleethorpes shall run slightly earlier and services from Humberside Airport shall run slightly later. This shall mean that services will have increased waiting time at Humberside Airport. Services from Cleethorpes shall wait for 6 minutes rather than the current 1 minute, while services from Hull shall wait for 8 rather than 1 minute. I presume this is to aid punctuality?

North Yorkshire Bus Cuts

North Yorkshire County Council have released a list of proposed cuts to tendered services from April 2011 for consultation. The axe is proposed mainly over evening and Sunday tendered services, with the cuts, totalling £600,000, being blamed on the "economic climate".

Some of the changes affect cross boundary services in East Yorkshire. The Monday to Saturday evening service on Arriva operated route 400 from Selby to Goole via Snaith and Goole Hospital is proposed to be withdrawn. The would lead to the 1910 and 2110 from Selby and the 2000 and 2200 return from Goole ending. The Selby-Goole service is already due to see early evening cutbacks from 31st August.

Also under threat is the daily evening service on EYMS operated route 121 between Scarborough and Hunmanby. While this section of route is wholly within North Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire Council fund extensions to Bridlington Monday to Saturdays.

There are four probable outcomes here:
1. The cuts happen
2. The proposals are withdrawn, or the size of the cuts are reduced
3. East Riding of Yorkshire Council provide replacement funding and either the cuts do not take place, or are less severe
4. Some or all of the affected services are taken on commercially

However it must be rembered here the economic situation. While it is possible public pressure may see a slight reduction in the size of the cuts, more likely is that any 'saved' services will mean cuts to other services elsewhere. And while East Riding of Yorkshire Council could step in with replacement funding, they too are facing the same "economic climate". As are bus operators. These services are tendered in the first place for a reason.

EYMS's Scarborough and District operation also faces major cuts to the tendered services it operates in the evenings and on Sundays, while North Yorkshire County Council's contribution to the MoorsBus network is also under threat. This includes a service from Hull.

Comments on the proposed cuts can be sent by 31st October by letter or email. Contact details are on the first page of the detailed consultation document showing exactly what services are under threat across North Yorkshire. The level of detail and consultation is to be comended.

As a final thought, how long before tendered services budgets get cut at the four Humber region authoritie?. Marginal and loss making commercial services have been cut in the past two years across the region, and marginal or loss making tendered services have been surrendered. This has put increased pressure on council budgets. Now it is likely to be councils wielding the axe. And all against a background of uncertainty to the future of the bus service operators grant (BSOG).

Stagecoach tender losses to Hornsby?

Hornsby Travel have today registered with VOSA services 16 and 94/95 from 31st August, both North Lincolnshire Council tendered services currently operated by Stagecoach. Stagecoach have not yet cancelled their registrations.

Service 16 operates Tuesday and Thursdays only to provide a link from the Parklands Caravan Site and Woodlands Crematorium to Scunthorpe Bus Station. Services 94 and 95 link Gainsthorpe (Mon-Fri) and Glentham (Saturday) to Brigg and Scunthorpe. They were extensively revised last Autumn as outlined here and if they have been lost by Stagecoach would mean a reduction in one of Scunthorpe depot's peak vehicle requirement. The Saturday service also receives some financial support from Lincolnshire County Council.

Hornsby have also registered to amend services 9 (Scunthorpe Hospital Shuttle) and 25 (Scunthorpe-Keadby-Amcotts) from 31st August

September Service Changes

September is set to see many services in the region have alterations according to the VOSA website, mostly Stagecoach services. See the list below:

EYMS

Services 61/2
Services 151/2
Service 154
Willerby Road Services 33/34/44

Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes

45 Group of Services
Humber Flyer

Stagecoach Hull

Services 1/2/N2
Service 10
Services 13/14 (and variants)
Service 15 (and variants)
Service 28
Service 30 (and variants)
Service 32 (and variants)
Services 41/2
Service 43 (and variants)
Service 51 (and variants)
Service 54

Stagecoach Lincolnshire - Scunthorpe depot

Services 101/601
Services 909/910 - it would appear that the remaining journeys on service 909 to Doncaster may be cancelled

Please note more than one service is sometimes on a single VOSA registration, so not all the services above may alter. Furthermore some changes maybe very minor.

Arriva 400/401 Changes

North Yorkshire Council report that Arriva will make changes to their 400/1 Selby-Goole services from 31st August.

Monday to Friday
The 1545 schools service from Snaith School will now divert via Drax
The 1720 service 401 Selby-Goole will terminate at West Cowick
The 1810 service 401 Goole-Selby will be withdrawn

Saturday
The 1705 service 400 Selby-Goole will terminate at West Cowick
The 1800 service 400 Goole-Selby will be withdrawn

Service 133 extra journey

Summer seasonal service 133, operated by Hutchinson's between Driffield and Malton, and new for 2010, gains an extra Saturday service from Malton at 1330 from July 17th according to North Yorkshire Council.

The full timetable is available here - Sunday and Bank Holiday journeys run between Driffield and Wharram Percy only.

Sunday Stagecoach Humber Flyer

The timetable for this year's Hull-Cleethorpes Summer Sunday service has been released. It will departs Hull at 0930 from 11th July to 5th September and return from Pleasure Island at 1715. This year the service shall divert into Barton, as the Monday to Saturday service now does, however Keelby, Laceby and Grimsby Town Centre are omitted from the Sunday service.

Stagecoach Hull Services 70/677/678 and Bus Map

The new (May) version of the Stagecoach Hull Bus Map has a couple of interesting things in it. Firstly the 350 and Humber Flyer are now shown on the map, recognising their role as local services within Hull.

But secondly and more notably the 677 and 678 Cranswick Foods workers buses are now shown and a timetable included within the bus map to start from 5th July. I take it then from this date they become available to the public?

The 677 and 678 link the Interchange with Cranswick Foods factories in Sutton Fields (678 only) and Preston, as well as serving the BP site on Hedon Road. They operate via Beverley Road, Clough Road, Sutton Road, Ings Road and Holderness Road to Preston before returning via Hedon Road. Some journeys however divert via the P&O Ferry Terminals at Hull Docks; here they will operate as existing service 70 back to Hull Interchange.

The 677 and 678 operate Monday to Friday only, in the early mornings and at peak times, roughly half hourly. The 70 has two departures from Hull Docks in the morning (0815 and 0900), and two departures from Hull Interchange in the afternoon peak (1700 and 1730). The current weekend service on the 70 is unaffected (0900 from the Docks, 1715 from the Interchange).

How successful has the Humber Fastcat relaunch really been?

As a user of the service who very much appreciates the increased frequency, it feels a bit wrong to be writing this, but it is a question that needs asking. How successful has the March 2009 Humber Fastcat relaunch been?

A snippet of information in 2009-10 Stagecoach East Midlands Annual Report made me think about this - the service is carrying 40,000 passengers a month, up 23% from last year. This increase has actually reduced from 30% as off last Autumn.

While the 'headline' increase of the 350 was from hourly to half hourly, in reality it was a less than 100% increase. Scunthorpe-Winterton was already two buses an hour for most of the daytime and Sundays only gained one extra return journey. Early mornings and evenings haven't seen a 100% increase either. However the increase in mileage is still well above 50% - at a guess around 70-80%. Yet the passenger increase is just 23%. So after a year mileage has increased probably around three times more than the increase in passenger numbers. This does raise questions over how successful the relaunch has been.

Expecting passenger numbers to rise in line with mileage is probably unrealistic. Especially when the section into Hull at least is very 'one-sided', with not many North Bank residents travelling south over the river from my observations. So some empty services at certain times of day are to be expected. Similarly the recession may have had an impact on those travelling for leisure purposes who may have decided to stay at home instead of going out. Also from my observations fare-paying commuter traffic has increased with the increased frequency and new route in Hull City Centre. However even allowing for this, a big gap between the mileage and passenger increases has to be disappointing.

Based on this it would be expected that Stagecoach and EYMS would look to change the timetable. If not a reduction back to hourly, changes to early morning, evening and Sunday services that would not affect the core frequency. Yet beyond a very minor college day change in September the timetable remains unaltered. And then in April Barton got a third bus to Hull with the diversion of the Humber Flyer into Barton.

So are the passenger increases not telling the whole story? Or are Stagecoach and EYMS hoping things will pick up and reluctant to reduce a flagship service?

To a end on a positive note, what could be done to boost passenger numbers? The weekly ticket prices are reasonable, and the fares did not get increased in the May EYMS fare changes. The Barton-Hull return fare is £6.30; dropping that to say £6 is unlikely to see many extra passengers while a bigger drop may not cover the operators costs. And the service is even being advertised on Viking FM.

Maybe a short term promotion to encourage new users to try the service - for example two adults travelling together get one ticket half price. Or a family ticket that could boost weekend and school holiday travel. Possibly a flexi-rider version of the Megarider Fastcat (Stagecoach's weekly ticket). An add-on to the weekly tickets for local travel in Hull or Scunthorpe would be another option, though with EYMS and Stagecoach's competing networks in Hull I doubt this would be practical.

Executive Connect 3 Grimsby re-route complaints

The diversion of the newly relaunched service 3 away from Hainton Avenue and Weelsby Road to Bargate has caused some disquiet from those residents affected. A diversion of the 51 from Louth via the two roads is being considered, though potential unreliability issues need to be addressed. The idea of using Phone n'Ride instead was not well received.

Hainton Avenue also has the Humber Flyer for journeys into Grimsby. This service is hourly - and I don't think Hainton Avenue has had a sustained period of more frequent service for quite some time. The change however did leave a relatively short part of Weelsby Road without a service.

New service 23/C

With the new ExecutiveConnect 3 timetable starting today, the last departure from Lincoln to Grimsby was moved forward from 1740 to 1710. However that is not the last bus from Lincoln to Grimsby - not that many people will know. Without any announcement that I can find a new service 23/C has been introduced following the same route as service 3. The new 23 will depart from Lincoln to Market Rasen at 1740 Monday to Saturday before continuing as a 23C to Grimsby. Postings on the Stagecoach East Midlands Yahoo Group report a change of bus will be required at Market Rasen.

Apart from the lack of publicity, the choice of service number is also odd. There is also a separate service 23 operated by PC Coaches under contract to Lincolnshire County Council. It also links Caistor and Market Rasen to Lincoln. While it follows a very different route, surely the new 23 could confuse passengers?

Interconnect 3 Changes

From Monday 7th June Stagecoach's InterConnect 3 between Grimsby and Lincoln shall be relaunched with a revised timetable. There are extra early morning services from Lincoln, and a later evening bus from Grimsby, but a reduced morning service from Grimsby and an earlier last departure from Lincoln. This is in connection with the service being wholly operated by Lincoln depot. The route shall also nover operate via Bargate as opposed to Hainton Avenue within Grimsby. Many services shall work through from Lincoln to Newark as new service X3 'Executive Connect'.

The changes shall also mean a better timetable between Laceby and Grimsby, with a 23 minute as opposed to a 5 minute gap between the 3 and the Humber Flyer.

Sunday Hull-Cleethorpes service returns

Nothing too exciting, but it looks like the Summer Sunday and Bank Holiday link from Hull to Cleethorpes will return this year. As it is operated by Stagecoach Hull, as opposed to Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes who operate the Monday to Saturday service, a separate registration with VOSA has to be made. Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes operate under the Grimsby Cleethorpes Transport license and Stagecoach Hull use the Cleveland Transit license. The Humber Flyer is split into two sections to enable operation under domestic (as opposed to EU) driving hour rules.

PB0001987/286 - CLEVELAND TRANSIT LTD T/A STAGECOACH NORTHEAST, ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, NORTH BRIDGE STREET, SUNDERLAND, SR5 1AQ

Registration Accepted

• Starting Point: Hull Interchange
• Finish Point: Humberside Airport
• Via:
• Service Number: HF2
• Service Type: Normal Stopping
• Effective Date: 11-JUL-2010
• Other Details: Sundays & Bank Holidays - One journey each way

PB0001987/287 - CLEVELAND TRANSIT LTD T/A STAGECOACH NORTHEAST, ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, NORTH BRIDGE STREET, SUNDERLAND, SR5 1AQ

Registration Accepted

• Starting Point: Humberside Aiport
• Finish Point: Cleethorpes Pleasure Island
• Via:
• Service Number: HF1
• Service Type: Normal Stopping
• Effective Date: 11-JUL-2010
• Other Details: Sundays & Bank Holidays - One journey each way

Hull Circular Changes

The troubled Hull Circular (service 10) operated by Stagecoach saw changes on Tuesday, reducing mileage and providing quicker journeys between key areas.

The service continues to serve Chanterlands Avenue, the Bricknell Estate and Orchard Park, however after serving Greenwood Avenue it now operates directly to Sutton Park, omitting Kingswood. After continuing to serve Bransholme's North Point Shopping Centre, the 10 now operates via Church Street in Sutton Village to Salthouse Road, rather than Leads Road, Cavendish Road, Ings Road and Bellfield Avenue. The final change is the omission of the Longhill Estate and Asda Bilton from the route, though Bilton Grange, Greatfield and Preston Road continue to be served.

These changes remove links from Chanterlands Avenue, the Bricknell Estate, Longhill, Bilton Grange and Greatfield to Kingswood, and the link betwen Greatfield, Bilton Grange and Asda Bilton. However I can only guess these were little used. Also noteworthy is the service finishes earlier in the afternoon, and starts later on a Saturday morning. Lets hope though these changes secure the long term viability of the service, and can maybe be reversed in the future.

One significant improvement is better co-ordination with the 110 between the Bricknell Estate and Hull City Centre. Since the 110 was changed in February, departures from Hull Interchange were at 35 and 55 minutes past the hour, and at 55 and 00 past the hour from the Bricknell Estate. The new service 10 timetable means departures from Hull Interchange at 25 and 55 minutes past the hour, and at 00 and 25 minutes past the hour from the Bricknell Estate.

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