To Hull and Back (Part One)
6 December 2022
ABOVE: Go East Yorkshire 512 (YX17 NKG) is an 8.9m-long Enviro E200MMC. It is seen on the seafront at Hornsea on its way to Withernsea. All pictures in this article were taken on Thursday 1st December 2022 unless otherwise stated
Kingston-upon-Hull’s “Paragon” Bus interchange is an intriguing place. It’s actually built down one side of the huge and impressive 1847 train shed that houses Hull Railway Station. It's a train shed, so it's not 'sealed'. So, that means that (a) it’s cold, (b) it’s full of pigeons and (c) all of the announcements in the bus station are actually for trains. Signs dotted around the place say this “this is the real Hull”. I hope not (the signs are actually adverts for Hull University).
I’ve only been to Hull once before – an afternoon visit, whilst staying in Skegness. So this whole area basically represents new territory for me.
There are 38 bus departure stands in the Interchange, with four coach bays tucked out of the way. There are departure screens dotted around. Unfortunately, there are three pages of departures, and only one screen, so each page scrolls in turn.
Each page holds for 24 seconds, meaning that, if you have a bus that is due and you arrive when page 2 is on display, you will have to wait the best part of a minute for page 1 to scroll around – by which time you may have missed your bus!
There are about 20 minutes’ worth of departures on each board so I’m not sure that the third page is necessary. I would double-up the screens so that pages 1 & 2 are both visible at the same time, and drop page 3. Or you could have page 1 on constantly, with pages 2 & 3 scrolling on the other screen.
I’ve only been to Hull once before – an afternoon visit, whilst staying in Skegness. So this whole area basically represents new territory for me.
There are 38 bus departure stands in the Interchange, with four coach bays tucked out of the way. There are departure screens dotted around. Unfortunately, there are three pages of departures, and only one screen, so each page scrolls in turn.
Each page holds for 24 seconds, meaning that, if you have a bus that is due and you arrive when page 2 is on display, you will have to wait the best part of a minute for page 1 to scroll around – by which time you may have missed your bus!
There are about 20 minutes’ worth of departures on each board so I’m not sure that the third page is necessary. I would double-up the screens so that pages 1 & 2 are both visible at the same time, and drop page 3. Or you could have page 1 on constantly, with pages 2 & 3 scrolling on the other screen.
Hull Interchange, on the morning of Saturday 3rd December 2022. The departure Board is visible on the right.
I have come to Hull for a few days to try out the Go East Yorkshire network, but I’ve not been able to secure my preferred hotel in the City Centre, so have opted for a hotel of the same chain about four miles north, in Kingswood. So my first challenge is to get to Kingswood.
There’s a comprehensive and well-stacked tourist leaflet rack in the station. Will it have a bus map? My hopes are raised by a leaflet headed “Sit back and enjoy the ride”, but this turns out to be a public transport guide to the North Yorkshire Moors, Yorkshire Coast and Howardian Hills. The “Yorkshire Coast” bit stretches from Saltburn in the north, but ventures no further south than Bridlington, some 25 miles north of Hull.
And that’s it for bus leaflets in Hull Interchange. The Visit Hull stand in the station doesn’t seem to have anything either.
There’s a very useful facility on Google Maps that allows you to click on a bus stop on the map to see what routes serve the stop. I find it handy as I can then explore the detail of the bus services on other websites. A click on the Kingswood Retail Park stop shows that the main services are Stagecoach routes 5, 6 & 7; the 5 terminates there, whilst route 6 continues to North Bransholme, and route 7 across the road to the Kingswood Leisure Park. (There is also a service 11, but that really does take the long way round!)
There is a City Bus Map on the Go East Yorkshire page. Whilst it includes all bus services, including those run by other operators, the detail of routes 5, 6 & 7 does not match what I have been finding elsewhere; route 5 does not terminate at Kingswood Retail Park, and route 7 does not even seem to go there. The map is dated September 2021, so is clearly out-of-date.
The Stagecoach website has a similar map (only showing its own services), but it shows up-to-date details for routes 5, 6 & 7.
ABOVE: Website maps from Go East Yorkshire (left), and Stagecoach (right).
Route 5 runs every 20 minutes, whilst routes 6 & 7 are half-hourly. Decent odds, then, for a reasonably quick transfer?
Not that quick. Journey times, for the four miles as the crow flies, range from 23-43 minutes, and return journeys are even slower, at 30-47 minutes. In simple terms, the buses don’t run straight from A to B, but deviate around some of the local roads. To be fair, that’s where most of the custom is, but it’s going to add quite a bit of what I might term ‘non-productive’ travel time to each day, especially in the early winter, where these journeys are going to be mainly after dark.
A not very quick scan of the departure board at the Hull Interchange confirms a route 5 departure in 19 minutes, at 1511, from stand 16. Intriguingly, neither Stagecoach nor Go East Yorkshire show interchange stand numbers on their online timetables – you need traveline or BusTimes.org for what some might consider to be fairly essential information.
Not that quick. Journey times, for the four miles as the crow flies, range from 23-43 minutes, and return journeys are even slower, at 30-47 minutes. In simple terms, the buses don’t run straight from A to B, but deviate around some of the local roads. To be fair, that’s where most of the custom is, but it’s going to add quite a bit of what I might term ‘non-productive’ travel time to each day, especially in the early winter, where these journeys are going to be mainly after dark.
A not very quick scan of the departure board at the Hull Interchange confirms a route 5 departure in 19 minutes, at 1511, from stand 16. Intriguingly, neither Stagecoach nor Go East Yorkshire show interchange stand numbers on their online timetables – you need traveline or BusTimes.org for what some might consider to be fairly essential information.
A very busy scene in Hull Interchange in the early evening peak hour of Friday 2nd December 2022, where the queue for one bus service is causing some congestion for those trying to reach other bays. The blurred image does at least perhaps help to protect the identities of those in the picture?
As I approach stand 16, it becomes apparent that the queue that I can see in the vicinity is indeed for the 5. The 1451 departure, which should have just gone, is just starting to load up. It’s an Enviro400 MMC (66-reg), and I manage to get upstairs with my larger-then-necessary suitcase.
It’s a popular departure, leaving five minutes late with a good load. It remains busy, with plenty of churn along the way. The last mile, from Downfield Avenue near the intriguingly-named Ghost Estate (where most of the homes are apparently abandoned), is non-stop down a very busy dual-carriageway, of which more anon. This section is timed to take nine minutes, but it’s actually less than half of that. But we must have lost some more time somewhere, as the overall 41-minute journey has taken exactly that and is therefore arriving five minutes late. There’s a good crowd waiting for the return journey.
Stagecoach 10748 (SN66 VXS), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, has just arrived at Kingswood Retail Park on Wednesday 30th November 2022. A slightly blurred picture in the twilight, but the best I have!
My hotel is a few hundred yards from the bus stop, but I have to cross a couple of roads within the retail park, and there are no designated crossings for pedestrians, meaning that you have to wait for a gap in the traffic and then hope for the best. The last crossing is over three lanes of constant traffic – not easy, but not the worst I will have to contend with on this visit.
The following morning, I am setting out in earnest on my travels. My first bus into Hull is route 7 at 0750 – a MAN 18.240LF ADL Enviro300. The route number does not appear on the bus stop flag but, like many bus stop flags round here, it looks tired and in need of some TLC (I know how it feels)...
Bus stop flag at Kingswood Retail Park does not mention routes 7 or 11 – both of which stop there (taken on Friday 2nd December 2022)
Only two of us board at Kingswood, but the service quickly becomes very busy, with more people boarding at every stop. Where the 5 had approached Kingswood from the west, this bus has gone eastwards into Bransholme, which clearly has aspirations to be further south and west of Hull, as we drive down Bude Road and pass Bodmin Road (which leads into Tiverton Road). Memories of an earlier trip for me!
Several people are using smart cards to pay. We join the Beverley Road – the main road into the city from the North. There are extensive bus lanes down this road, and they are really needed!
By the time we reach the outskirts of the City Centre, there are in excess of 30 people on board, and I estimate a total of 40 have used the service in total – a good run.
I discover why buses onto town take longer than those heading out, when we undertake a lengthy circuit of the City Centre (where many of the passengers leave). This adds a good five minutes and means that we approach the Interchange facing the direction we have just come from. We’re five minutes late in.
I’m now heading into Withernsea, on the coast. There are two routes provided by Go East Yorkshire – the 75 and the X7. The latter is 10 minutes quicker so I would normally eschew that in favour of the longer run, but doing so would cost me my subsequent bus, so I need to go on the X7.
Go East Yorkshire 803 (BP66 VLF) is picking up in Hull Interchange prior to forming the 0910 departure on route X7 to Withernsea, on Saturday 3rd December 2022 – exactly two days after I travelled on the same journey. It is flanked by Stagecoach ADL Enviro400 19689 (FX60 HFL, left), on local route 14 to Greatfield, and Stagecoach ADL Enviro200 22796 (FX09 DDA, right) on local service 4 to Orchard Park via Newland.
I wonder if the number X75 would be more appropriate, as it does appear to be a slightly faster variation of the 75. The bus is a Volvo B5TL MCV eVoSeti, smartly liveried, and with good legroom and good vision from the front seat upstairs. Audio next stop announcements are provided by Emma Hignett, who is also the voice of Transport for London buses.
The driver is courteous and checks that I’m OK with the fact that the day ticket I am buying, which is called a “24 hour” ticket, will actually expire at Midnight. I tell him that I’m not expecting to be out that late. “I’m not surprised in this weather”, he replies. I’m sitting down with a smile on my face from this exchange, which is surely the sign of a good ambassador for the company?
It's not that bad a day. For the first day of December, it’s relatively mild and there’s little wind. It’s a dull day and it doesn’t look like the sun is going to break out, but never mind.
The 0910 departure of the X7 starts off by giving me a second tour of the City Centre, before heading out towards the docks.
The Guildhall building on Alfred Gelder Street in Hull, taken from my X7 as it heads out of town.
Sea-based trade through the Port of Hull can be traced to at least the 13th century, according to Wikipedia. It sounds as though they came into their own during Victorian times, when there was considerable expansion.
Like so many other docks, they started to lose popularity in the 1970s, and parts were subsequently converted for other purposes, including a chemical works. Even so, the main port is estimated to handle a million passengers per year nowadays.
Port of Hull - or possibly part of the chemical works?
Soon, we’re out into the country. We pull off the main road to serve the town of Hedon, and a selection of pretty towns and villages follow. I love the name Thorngumbald!
Hedon
Go East Yorkshire 775 (YX59 FHB), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, on route 75 in Station Road, Patrington
Patrington, looking down the High Street, although my bus will take the left-hand route (Northside)
In no time at all, we reach the coastal resort of Withernsea, where two distinctive ‘towers’ are all that remains of a pier that once stretched 1196 feet into the sea.
Withernsea Pier Towers
I leave the bus here, along with everyone else, but the service itself continues for about another mile across the town, terminating near a Holiday Camp (which probably means more business in the summertime).
As I wander over to see the Pier Towers at close quarters, an X7 passes through heading back to Hull.
Volvo B5TL MCV eVoSeti 802 (BP66 VLE) rounds The Promenade in Withernsea on Go East Yorkshire’s route X7 to Hull.
My next bus, and the reason for my slight haste in getting here, is the 129 service to Hornsea. There are only four trips a day on this route (only three back from Hornsea), so missing this would have meant missing out.
But first I have to find the bus stop. The X7 drops off on Pier Road, but the 129 will leave from Memorial Avenue. I don’t know the town, so I have no idea how far apart the stops will be. All I know is that they’re not on the same road. It turns out that the stops are really quite close together, as the picture below shows:
The stops at Pier Road (left) and Memorial Avenue (right) might have different "addresses", but they're not that far apart!
The bus comes in a few minutes before it is due to leave, and the driver allows me to board before he gets off to stretch his legs. This is an 8.9m ADL Enviro200 MMC. Three more people join before departure.
We’re quickly into remote countryside, miles of farmland and not much else – if you ignore the multiple wind turbines that dominate the landscape around this region.
We take a long detour to serve a holiday park at Tunstall, Sand Le Mere. The holiday park looks like it’s open, but no-one wants the 129.
The duck pond at the entrance to Sand Le Mere Holiday Park
The first place of any size is Aldbrough. We traverse the village on what turns out to be another double run; this takes us down some very tight roads to a turning circle, after which we serve a Caravan Park. On this occasion, it is worth it as two passengers board here.
We’re close to the coast here and call in at the village of Rolston, where we pass a Wesleyan Chapel that appears at a quick passing glance (at speed) to have been converted into a farm building. We pick up another passenger further along here.
A few minutes later, we drop off our first passenger at Hornsea Freeport, but pick up a whole family in replacement.
I’m unsure where to alight in Hornsea. There is the Town Centre, but the bus continues to Cliff Road on the seafront. Shortly after the Town Centre, five people board the bus, and I wonder whether we’re in the process of turning around by some sort of loop. (No - when the bus comes back, a few minutes later, the people who had just boarded have gone.)
I decide to get off at the next stop, which turns out to be a really good place to bail out, as it’s adjacent not only to the seafront, but also to a community building called the Hornsea Hub, which houses a library, a swimming pool and, more helpfully for me, a café!
It’s clearly a popular spot, doing what it says on the tin in providing a hub for the local community and an ideal spot for a break. Which is just as well, as I’ll be heading further up the coast on an even less frequent bus service very shortly…
To be continued...