Sunday 28 December 2008

Stagecoach Hull January Changes Update

Update to this post: http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2008/12/stagecoach-hull-january-changes.html

Stagecoach Hull's new timetables are out for the 20/28/46/49 - or at least online anyway. The 20 will generally be on a half hourly daytime pattern. A few journeys are Saturday only leaving some hour long gaps on weekdays. Overall though the standard pattern timetable is easier to remember and there are some extra journeys, along with two services now starting at the Guildhall on weekday teatimes.

Stagecoach also say they will be looking to make further improvements to the 28 in 2009. Maybe an upgrade to frequento status?

Tuesday 23 December 2008

Hull Trains: Back our Bid

First Hull Trains, the main operator between Hull and London Kings Cross have launched a 'Back our Bid' campaign. They have 7 weekday services between Hull and London, though the paths for two of these services are only guarenteed until 2010. There is a chance these paths could be reallocated away from Hull Trains. The 'Back our Bid' campaign has been launched to petition the Office for Rail Regulation to award these two paths on long term basis to Hull Trains.

The East Coast Main Line has seen a flurry of application for new services recently but they can not all be accomodated. There are multiple applications to serve the South Bank alone, as posted earlier in the year - http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2008/06/race-to-link-south-humber-with-london.html
There are also other applications for services to West Yorkshire, Scarborough, the North East and Scotland from operators including Grand Central, Harrogate Trains (a brand of Hull Trains), proposed new start up Platinum Trains and National Express East Coast.

The Office of Rail Regulation has the task of deciding what destinations and operators should get these valuable paths, and the fear of Hull Trains is that they will loose two of their existing paths in order to provide other destinations and operators with a share of the precious East Coast Main Line paths. And it's quite easy to envisage the arguements - "Hull will still have five services a day on Hull Trains, plus one a day on National Express, we have none, or only one a day"

Many of the applications for East Coast Main Line paths propose new or improved services for places that could benefit in the same way Hull has done with Hull Trains and a frequent London service, and I would hope no one in the local area opposes rival applications because they do not want other places to benefit. However not every one can get what they want and if the local area wants seven services a day to London, it needs to show it's support. It's a shame not everyone can get what they want, and that some places will loose out, but without major investment in an upgrade of the East Coast Main Line, or a new high speed line to London, this is the harsh reality of our railways today.

Web Link to back the bid - http://www.hulltrains.co.uk/backourbid/index.php

Friday 19 December 2008

Stagecoach Hull January changes

As already mentioned Stagecoach Hull have secured a 3 year contract for services 46/49. They will have dedicated drivers and be operated by low floor buses. Tke K1 Kingswood contract has also been reawarded to Stagecoach on a 3 year contract and it too will gain a low floor bus.
http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2008/12/stagecoach-hull-win-4649-contract.html

Other changes from 5th January are a new timetable for service 28, with increased running time to improve reliability. There will be a 10 minute peak frequency, and 12 minute daytime.

Service 20 to Wawne via Kingswood and North Bransholme will gain a standard timetable from the current rather uneven one. A couple of journey's will start at the Guildhall in Hull City Centre. Currently all Beverley Road buses only serve the Interchange outbound so this will be a welcome improvement.

Full timetables awaited.

Stagecoach 51 (Grimsby-Louth) changes

Stagecoach Lincolnshire are making changes to service 51 from Monday 5th January. This service was transferred from Louth to Grimsby depot upon Louth's closure in the summer, and that may have influenced some of the changes. From examination of the new timetable there seems to be a new journey at 0555 from Grimsby to Louth. The following are withdrawn:
  • 0820 from Grimsby to Louth - this operated Saturdays and School Holidays only. A partial replacement is provided within Louth
  • 1650 from Grimsby to Louth
  • 1750 from Grimsby to Louth

The 0745 college day only service 51A from Louth will now start at North Thoresby, as shall the College Holiday 0815 service 51 from Louth and Saturday only 51 from Louth.

The 1820 from Grimsby to Louth will terminate at North Thoresby meaning there is a 3 hour 10 minute gap from 1720 till 2030 for buses from Grimsby to Louth. As can be seen, afternoon peak services from Grimsby to Louth are heavily cut back. Only the 1720 remains suitable for Louth commuters.

Unless stated all services mentioned run Monday to Saturday.

Minor changes to Connect 100

Minor changes will be made to service Connect 100 operated by Stagecoach Lincolnshire from January 5th. Those affecting North Lincolnshire are the extension of the 1710 Scunthorpe-Gainsborough to Lincoln and the termination of the 1810 Scunthorpe-Lincoln at Gainsborough.

60% passenger increase on Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes 13/14

Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes have announced a 60% passenger increase on services 13/14. Thats an extra 100,000 services a month. These services benefited from Kick Start funding a couple of years ago.

Congratulations to Stagecoach and everyone else involved.

Stagecoach Hull Nightbuses will run Friday 2nd January

A correction to the earlier post on Stagecoach Hull Christmas/New Year services. Nightbuses will operate on Friday 2nd January to the normal Friday timetable.

Original post: http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2008/12/stagecoach-hull-christmasnew-year.html

Thursday 18 December 2008

EYMS New 215/315

EYMS have released the new 215/315 timetable.
http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2008/12/major-115-changes-from-january.html

The 215 and 315 replace the short Hull to Endike Lane journeys on the 115. The 315 is the same route as the 115 but the 215 operates via Cottingham Road and Hall Road to Endike Lane, rather than via Cranbrook Avenue. The 215/315 operate as a circular. The service will operate as the 215 from Hull, and 315 from Endike Lane in the morning, and in the afternoon the reverse will apply. The aim is to provide more buses from Hull City Centre to the Cottingham Road University entrance in the morning, and back into Hull in the afternoon.

However co-ordination with the 105, the other service to Cottingham Road, is appaling. The 105 and 215 leave Hull Interchange at identical times, and leave the University in the afternoon within 1 minute of each other. For two services on 20 minute frequencies this very bad co-ordination, though there is the need to maintain 105/115 co-ordination in Cottingham, and the new 215/315 has to be co-ordinated with the 115.

Timetable - http://www.eyms.co.uk/documents/timetables/[225]EY%20115%20TT.pdf

EYMS Service 50

As already posted EYMS servuce 50 will be changed from January
http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2008/12/minor-eyms-january-changes.html

As well as the diversion away from Marfleet Village to Jalland Lodge, the service will no longer serve Hull Royal Infirmary. The terminus will be Morrisions Supermarket on Holderness Road and there will be an increase from 5 to 6 services a day into Hull

EYMS Service 1A

Full details of the route changes to EYMS service 1A from January 5th have been released. The service will now operate from St. Georges Road down to Hessle Road then up Hawthorn Avenue to Anlaby Road before picking up the existing route. Currently it goes from St. Georges Road along Anlaby Road then down Hawthorn Avenue the other way to Askew Avenue and Pickering Road which are served by the 1C.

A few comments on this service. Firstly the number, 1A - the service now bears very little difference to the 1C, which before Sepetember it was closely co-ordinated with. Maybe renumber to the 9, which has been used in the past for services to the area?

Secondly why still extend to Sibelius Road? Sometimes the 1A and 1C leave within 6 minutes of each other, then no bus for till the next 1C 54 minutes later. I have been in Hull city centre before on a bus with the 1A in front and 1C behind. Cutting out Sibelius Road would allow the service to go hourly, rather than every 80 minutes, with buses terminating around Hawthorn Avenue/Wheeler Street.

And thirdly stand allocation in Hull Interchange. It is allocated to stand 3 with the 350 but twice a day the two services conflict. The 1A arrives at 0915/1315 and departs at 0920/1320 with the 350 arriving at 0918/1318 and departing at 0925/1325. So the 350 has to pinch someone's elses stand or go back down to the roundabout at the end of the bus station and come back again. I have seen once the 350 have to do that twice. I don't know why the 1A no longer uses the now unallocated Stand 1 (maybe safety as it's a bit tight) but a standard hourly timetable, co-ordinated with the 350 could be a solution (see above).

Wednesday 10 December 2008

Stagecoach in Lincolnshire/Christmas and New Year Services

Very simple here, Stagecoach Lincolnshire will operate normal services this Christmas/New Year except there will be no services on Christmas Day/Boxing Day and New Years Day. On Christmas Eve and New Years Eve town services 31A/32A in Scunthorpe end early and the 2110 from Scunthorpe and 2155 from Barton on the 350 will not operate.

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/uploads/ScunTraffic08_Layout1.pdf

EYMS Boxing Day Services in Hull

As a follow up to this post - http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2008/12/eyms-christmasnew-year-services.html EYMS have announced a basic hourly service on Boxing Day on routes 34 (Hull-Willerby), 56 (Hull-Longhill) and 64 (Hull-Cottingham-Willerby). Services 34 and 64 will interwork.

Friday 5 December 2008

Minor EYMS January Changes

The latest EYMS newsletter reports some services will have minor changes from January 4th/5th:

The 1A between Hull City Centre and Sibelius Road in the west of the city will now serve Hessle Road Asda but not Pickering Road. The 1C, which also serves Sibelius Road but starts in North Hull at Kingswood will have minor timing changes.

Service 50 in East Hull will have a new route serving Jalland Lodge, but no longer operating to Marfleet village.

Service 64 will have a route change in Cottingham on Sundays, while the 105, which also serves Cottingham will have minor timing changes on a Sunday. Timing and route changes will also affect the 153/155/156 group of services between Hull, Brough, South Cave, Gilberdyke, Howden and Goole and the 158 Brough Town Service.

Finally the 121 between Hull and Scarborough shall swap it's existing Somerset Terrace terminus for one on Valley Bridge.

Major 115 changes from January

EYMS are making big changes to the 115 from January 4th. The service currently links Hull with Castle Hill Hospital via Princes Avenue, Newland Avenue, Cranbrook Avenue (for the the University), Endike Lane and Cottingham. The Monday to Saturday daytime frequency is every 10 minutes between Hull City Centre and Endike Lane and every 20 minutes to Castle Hill Hospital.

The 115 will be little changed for the full length journeys between Hull and Castle Hill Hospital, beyond minor timing changes. A Sunday service will be introduced, but with route changes in Cottingham.

The big changes affect the current short journeys between Hull City Centre and Endike Lane. These will be replaced with new circular services 215 and 315. They shall follow the 115 route up to Newland Avenue then operate via Cottingham Road (University main entrance) and Hall Road to Endike Lane before returning via the 115 route down Cranbrook Avenue into Hull. EYMS say this will maintain a 10 minute frequency between Hull City Centre and Endike Lane.

Until the timetable is released next week it remains to be seen if the every 10 minute frequency is from Endike Lane overall (via both Cranbrook Avenue and Hall Road), or from Endike Lane via Cranbrook Avenue only. If the latter then the extensions from Endike Lane via Hall Road back into Hull mean an extra 3 buses an hour for Endike Lane into Hull, and also down the busy Newland Avenue/Princes Avenue corridor.

As a regular user of the 115 I have a personal interest in the new timetable, and in particular am pleased about more buses down Cottingham Road - maybe I won't need to run down to Cranbrook Avenue in future when I'm in a rush to get back into Hull and don't have 20 minutes to wait for the 105?

Information from the latest EYMS newsletter.

More cutbacks on the 41

After cutting the Hull Royal Infirmary from the service in September, EYMS are now cutting their service 41 back from Asda Bilton to Bilton Grange on January 5th. The 41, which serves the Greatfield estate in East Hull, also saw a daytime frequency reduction from every 15 to every 20 minutes back in September. A Stagecoach ticket promotion earlier this year indicated Greatfield was not the best area for bus operators and this seems to be further evidence of it. The 10/11 operated by Stagecoach maintain an hourly link between Greatfield and Asda Bilton.

Also the single EYMS journey on the 42 between Greatfield and Hull will end after operation on January 3rd. It was operated for Hull City Council on what is an otherwise Stagecoach operated route.

Information from the latest EYMS newsletter.

Stagecoach Hull win 46/49 contract from EYMS

After just 4 months of EYMS operation, Stagecoach Hull take over Hull City Council supported services 46 and 49 in the east of the city on January 5th. Stagecoach operated the 49 to Victoria Dock and Jalland Lodge until the end of August when they surrendered the contract. EYMS took the service over on a reduced timetable and new service 46 was started at the same time - it too serves Victoria Dock, and also Marfleet Village. Service 46 partially replaced the 90, and parts of the 23/24.

Information from the latest EYMS newsletter

Thursday 4 December 2008

EYMS Christmas/New Year Services

EYMS service plans this Christmas and New Year:

Christmas Eve: Normal services finishing about 9pm - full route by route details on the EYMS website
Christmas Day: No services
Boxing Day: Bingo buses 1B/2B will operate. Hull City Council may fund a limited service but otherwise no services (Scarborough and District will be operating a limited service however)
Saturday 27th: Normal Service
Sunday 28th: Normal Service

Now it gets a bit more complex. On Monday 29th there is a Saturday service except.

106 - No service
135 - No service
143 - Normal Monday service
160/162 - No service
182 - The 2.30pm service from Beverley will not operate
196/199 - No service
241 - Normal Monday service
350 - Normal Monday service
701 (Hull Park and Ride) - Normal weekday service
747 - Normal service
X47 - Three evening journeys will not operate

There is also a Saturday service on Tuesday 30th except:

106 - No service
135 - Only the 9.10 and 11.40 from Driffield will operate
143 - No service
160/162 - No service
182 - The 2.30 pm from Beverley will not operate
196/198/199 - Normal Tuesday service
350 - Normal Tuesday service
701 - Normal weekday service
747 - Normal service
S1/S2/S3 - Normal Tuesday service
X47 - Three evening journeys will not operate

Saturday service again on New Years Eve with services finishing about 9pm again. However:

106 - No Service
135 - No mention on the EYMS website, but I presume will not operate
160/162 - Normal Wednesday service
182 - The 2.30pm from Beverley will not operate
196/199 - No mention on the EYMS but presume will not operate
241 - Normal Wednesday service
350 - Normal Wednesday service
701 - Normal weekday service
747 - Normal service

New Years Day: Only Bingo Buses 1B/2B will operate

Saturday service too on Friday 2nd, except:

135 - No mention on the EYMS website, but presume will no operate
143 - No service
160/162 - No service
182 - The 2.30 pm from Beverley will not operate
350 - Normal Friday timetable
701 - Normal weekday timetable
747 - Normal Service
S1/S2/S3 - Normal Friday service

http://www.eyms.co.uk/content/busservices/newsitempr.aspx?action=view&id=254

The nature of the EYMS network, with services operating on certain days of the week only makes things looks complicated, but on most routes they are not ... promise!

Stagecoach Hull Christmas/New Year Services

Stagecoach Hull services this Christmas and New Year:

Christmas Eve: Normal Service until 8pm
Christmas Day: No services
Boxing Day: Special hourly service between 10am and 6pm on routes 1, 2, 13, 14, 15, 28, 30, 32, 42, 43, 51 and 54
Saturday 27th: Normal service
Sunday 28th: Normal service
Monday 29th/Tuesday 30th: Saturday service, though no Nightbuses. I presume the 350 will operate to a normal timetable however based on EYMS's plans
New Years Eve: As 29th/30th but no services after 8pm
New Years Day: No service
Friday 2nd: As 29th/30th. Seems odd the normal Friday nightbuses won't run.

Yet again the Boxing Day services are operating, which I think Hull City Council fund. Wierd that larger cities such as Sheffield are only just re-starting to do this after many years with no services. Though after a few years with this basic network, maybe time to operate half hourly on the busier routes such as the 15 and 51. Also why not try doing the X62 since Leeds City Centre shops will be open? And maybe even a New Years Day service too? Yes the shops aren't all open, but no doubt places like Kingswood Leisure Park will be.

Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes Christmas/New Year Services

Stagecoach Grimsby/Cleethorpes Christmas and New Year Service provision:

Christmas Eve: Normal service until 6pm
Christmas Day/Boxing Day: No services
Saturday 27th: Normal Service
Sunday 28th: Normal Service
Monday 29th/Tuesday 30th: Saturday service, though the former Road Car routes 3, 25. 51, 150 and 250 will operate as normal
Wednesday 31st: As 29th/30th but with a 6pm finish
Thursday 1st: No Services
Friday 2nd: As 29th/30th

Would be nice to see a trial Boxing Day service on the core 13/14 and 9 routes...