Stagecoach East Midlands and East Yorkshire both reveal investment in multi-million pound fleets. John Gelson reports
The city of Hull is changing. As UK City of Culture 2017 it attracted attention and investment, and despite larger stores leaving its city centre, there’s a feeling that 12 months in the limelight have kick-started a revival.
Hull was an early deregulation battleground. While Kingston-upon-Hull City Transport (KHCT) and East Yorkshire competed head-on, independents joined the fray, including City Traveller, Connor and Graham, Metro Citybus and North Bank Travel. None survive.
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KHCT’s losses escalated and in 1993, owner Hull City Council sold to Stockton-on-Tees based Cleveland Transit. The following year, Transit was sold to Stagecoach, its trademark stripes appearing in 1996.
Fast forward to 2013, when Stagecoach’s Hull services transferred from the Cleveland Transit licence to Lincolnshire Road Car, trading as Stagecoach East Midlands from Yorkshire’s East Riding to The Wash.
King George Square in front of the iconic ‘Three Ships Mural’ on UK Clean Air Day was chosen to unveil the first two Enviro 400 MMCs in a £5.7 million fleet renewal, including 21 single deckers and 10 double deckers. They’ll join 15 Enviro 400 MMCs from a further £4 million investment in 2017. Not to be outdone, East Yorkshire chose the same day to unveil its £6 million fleet investment, including 8 single decks for Scarborough and 19 double decks for Hull.
Managing Director of East Yorkshire’s parent Go North East, Martijn Gilbert, said: “If we are serious about improving air quality, we have to embrace public transport and tackle rising congestion.”
Stagecoach East Midlands’ Managing Director Matt Cranwell points to Hull’s Quality Bus Partnership with the City Council and East Yorkshire as evidence that public and private sectors are working together.
“Bus lanes and infrastructure improvements have helped us run more services to time,” said Matt. “Both companies are committing to the future of Hull and encouraging more people to travel by public transport.”
Matt points to frequency improvements on the cross-river Humber Flyer and Fast Cat services, and Stagecoach winning Bridlington’s Park & Ride contract, alongside its existing Hull Park & Ride, as growth beyond the city.
Within Hull since 2015, services have been branded as “Simplibus”.
Commercial Manager North John Donnelly sees a growing shift from cash and online sales to mobile app and on-bus contactless card payment, using Vix Technology fare collection. John said: “A lot of young people, the next generation of bus passenger, embrace mobile tickets and bus tracking via the Stagecoach app – over time, that will become the way people travel.”
Future options could include a second Park & Ride in North Hull, but for now, the focus remains on investment and innovation.
John highlights routes 3 and 4, with a peak vehicle requirement of 27. “We introduced these cross-city services in 2015 with Simplibus,” he said. “A lot of people in Hull said we wouldn’t achieve it because of issues with bridges into the centre, and as houses in the Preston Road area have been demolished – yet we’re seeing healthy growth in customer numbers.”
