Sunday 28 February 2016

CB3 Hedon Shuttle

On Tuesday (1st March), a new service starts from Burton Pidsea and Roos into Hedon, operated by Holderness Area Rural Transport (HART). The CB3 Hedon Shuttle will operate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays providing 2 journeys in each direction. It will serve the main shopping area in Hedon, as well as doctors' surgeries and the Netto Supermarket, and provide connections onto EYMS service 76 into Hull. The Inmans Estate in Hedon is also served.

The service is initially a pilot, operating until 26th October, and has been organised by the Burton Pidsea Better Transport Group. It is funded through the Tedder Hill and Burton Pidsea Wind Farm Funds, with Roos Parish Council also a partner. East Riding of Yorkshire Council have provided advice and support.

One of the reasons for launching the CB3 is to respond to a 2014 service withdrawal - however this seems very odd to me as the service withdrawal in 2014 was the weekday commuter services 174/175, that served a very different purpose, and the 174 didn't even serve Hedon! If anyone can correct me, please post a comment.

Regardless of the 'backstory' to the service, good luck to it. Links from Burton Pidsea and Roos into Hedon are only available on Saturdays at present, so the CB3 fills a gap in service provision. As well as the Saturday EYMS 173 into Hedon and Hull, Roos and Burton Pidsea are also served by Pearsons Coaches 76C to Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire Council's 243 to Beverley, and Roos by EYMS's 129 between Withernsea and Hornsea.

Hedon Blog Article
HU12 Online Article
CB3 Hedon Shuttle Leaflet

Saturday 20 February 2016

EYMS New 23 - New Details

Hull City Council have released details about EYMS's new Hull service 23, which starts on 11th April. It will operate from Paragon Interchange via Spring Bank, Chanterlands Avenue, Fairfax Avenue, Cottingham Road, Chanterlands Avenue North, Chanterlands Avenue and Spring Bank back to Paragon Interchange. The service will operate approximately hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes, departing Paragon Interchange between 0935 and 1525 on weekdays (the 1525 as far as Cottingham Road only) and between 0935 and 1725 on Saturdays. Both Fairfax Avenue and Chanterlands Avenue North are currently without a bus service.

Sunday 14 February 2016

Lincolnshire Bus Cuts

On Friday (19th February), Lincolnshire County Council will announce a decision on subsidies for 'traditional' fixed bus services - the demand responsive Call Connect service is not impacted. It currently fully or partially supports 148 routes at an annual cost of £2.8 million, but wishes to save £2.2 million from it's public transport budget. Helpfully the council has detailed exactly what it funds at the moment, and the full list can be found on this page. Below are the cross-boundary services into North and North East Lincolnshire that receive financial support from Lincolnshire County Council, and which could be at threat from withdrawal or reductions.


North Lincolnshire


Stagecoach 103: Lincoln-Scunthorpe - Monday to Saturday 0645, 1100 and 1300 from Scunthorpe, and 1030, 1430 and 1755 from Lincoln, plus diversions via RAF Scampton
Dents 161: Market Rasen-Brigg-Lakeside - All journeys (1 Thursday journey in each direction)
Stagecoach 367: Gainsborough-Kirton - All journeys (Schools service)
Dents 9811: Brigg-Lincoln - All journeys (1 Friday journey in each direction)
Barnards N93S: Kirton-Scotter - All journeys (Schools service)


North East Lincolnshire


Stagecoach 25: Ludford-Binbrook-Grimsby - All journeys (1 weekday peak journey in each direction between Binbrook and Grimsby, one Tuesday, Friday and Saturday daytime journey in each direction)
Amvale 50: Saltfleet-Grimsby - 0735 from Saltfleet and 1725 from Grimsby on Saturdays and School Holidays, 1030 from Saltfleet and 1400 from Grimsby on Schooldays
Stagecoach 51: Louth-Grimsby - 1815 Monday to Saturday journey from Grimsby to Louth only
Stagecoach 53: Lincoln-Grimsby - 'Various journeys to boost frequency'
Stagecoach 104: Tollbar-Holton Le Clay - Afternoon Schools journey

Friday 12 February 2016

EYMS New 23

A rather intriguing registration with VOSA today:


PB0000328/488 - EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES LTD, 252 ANLABY ROAD, HULL, HU3 2RS
  • Registration Accepted
  • Starting Point: Hull Interchange
  • Finish Point: Fairfax Avenue
  • Via:
  • Service Number: 23
  • Service Type: Normal Stopping
  • Effective Date: 11-APR-2016
  • Other Details: New Service

Sunday 7 February 2016

CallConnect comes to North Lincolnshire

The network of demand responsive CallConnect services set up by Lincolnshire County Council comes to North Lincolnshire from Monday 15th February (CallConnect currently does offer the ability to travel into Brigg, but is not designed for use by North Lincolnshire residents). The first service will cover the 'Brigg, Caistor and Ridge' areas - these are the areas of Lincolnshire around Caistor currently covered by the 53C CallConnect, plus large parts of southern North Lincolnshire, stretching from Kirmington in the east to Messingham in the west, including Barnetby, Bonby, Broughton and Kirton in Lindsey. The service can be used for local journeys within the area covered, including local journeys within Brigg, and to Brigg Garden Centre, to connect with traditional bus services at Caistor (53), Humberside Airport (Humber Flyer), Brigg and Messingham (100), or to connect with rail services at Barnetby. CallConnect operates between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, and from 8am to 6pm on Saturdays.


Later this year CallConnect will extend to cover all other rural parts of North Lincolnshire, with three further new services. One is described as covering 'Ferry Ward' - the area around Barrow, Ulceby and South Killingholme - but will also cover Barton (would be very silly if it didn't) plus Brigg, Wrawby, Barnetby, Humberside Airport and Kirmington. Another is described as covering 'Burton Upon Stather and Winterton', but as well covering the area north of Scunthorpe extends east to Barton. The third covers the Isle of Axholme, while the North Lincolnshire village of East Butterwick will be served by the existing Gainsborough CallConnect service. There is a map available on this page.


The new services are operated in co-operation with Lincolnshire County Council saving North Lincolnshire Council the need to set up a demand responsive operation themselves, and allowing for service boundaries to reflect geography rather than administrative boundaries.


Taken in isolation, CallConnect is a welcome addition to the public transport provision in North Lincolnshire. It offers far more flexibility than traditional bus services, both in terms of where you can travel between, and at what times. There will now at least be some bus connections to rail services at Barnetby. However it does come with two 'barriers' compared to a traditional bus service; firstly users must register to use CallConnect, and then they need to book journeys in advance. This maybe acceptable for those without their own transport, who would otherwise need to book a taxi, ask a friend/family member or use options such as the voluntary car scheme - however it seems unlikely to me to be attractive for those with access to a car.


Unfortunately CallConnect is not being introduced in 'isolation', it is being launched as part of 'Connecting Rural Communities' that will also see fewer traditional bus services, and then there is the impact of North Lincolnshire Council concessionary fare reimbursement rates being cut to consider. This will surely impact on hopes that the more popular traditional tendered bus services will be taken on commercially. If CallConnect leads to the cutting of lightly used traditional tendered bus services then that might be hard to complain about, but if CallConnect is used to make cuts to fairly well used traditional tendered bus services more 'acceptable' then it would be a very retrograde step. CallConnect would provide a 'safety net' against isolation, but to me, not much else. It seems unlikely to grow the market and provide an attractive alternative to the car. I'm looking at the North Lincolnshire bus network rather nervously at the moment, hopefully that nervousness turns out to be unwarranted.