Yorkshire Coast Liner services at Easter

[STEVIEBOY1]

Good morning,

All being well I will be coming up to Pickering over the Easter Holidays.

Does anyone know if, on Good Friday, 29 March. The Yorkshire Coast Liner services will be operating with a Normal Weekday (M-F) service or as a Saturday service.?

I can not see anything in their timetable or on their website.

I was hoping to get the 1243 bus from York Railway Station to Pickering, I am connecting from a XC/EMT arrival from London via Sheffield and was hoping to get the 1500 NYMR steam train.

Many Thanks.

 

[David Goddard]

Probably (in their view) too early to put this info up online.

I just tried to look up the journey on traveline for you but that will only go up to 21 March at present.

Would be best to phone them -Malton 01653 692556, and then maybe check again a week before.

 

[34D]

Probably (in their view) too early to put this info up online.

I just tried to look up the journey on traveline for you but that will only go up to 21 March at present.

Would be best to phone them -Malton 01653 692556, and then maybe check again a week before.

http://www.wymetro.com/travelnews/bank.htm Saturday service it would appear

 

[Deerfold]

http://www.wymetro.com/travelnews/bank.htm Saturday service it would appear

Bad luck to the OP - they seem to have chosen just about the only hour that that connection doesn't go to Pickering.

Good Friday has always seemed a bit odd in Yorkshire - not sure why but it doesn't seem to be treated as a "proper" bank holiday - most buses run a Saturday or even a normal Friday service - except those coming over the county line which usually run a Sunday service (as in most of the country).

My service ends up being very odd. I've 3 half-hourly services pass my door - two run by Transdev Keighley and one by Transdev Burnley.
The two Transdev Keighley services run a normal Saturday service (as does a subsidised 3-a-day service) whilst the Burnley service drops to every 2 hours, starts 3 hours later and finished 90 minutes earlier than normal.

I realise Yorkshire Coastliner are different with a large holiday crowd so they tend to run Saturday services on Bank Holidays anyway.

 

[Oscar]

Yorkshire Coastliner have run Saturday services on Bank Holidays for many years.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Thank you for the above replies. I don't think I will find out for ceratin until I travel infact. When I contacted Coastliner and the Pickering Tourist office they both said it would be a normal Friday service, but other sites tend to agree with the comments above that it will be a Saturday service. Oh well , if I do have to wait an extra hour in York, I will just have to spend the time usefully in one of the many pubs in that area!

 

[E-Rail]

When I worked on YCL back in 2002/3 Good Friday was the busiest day of the year for the company and that was before free concessionary travel. Loadings depend on when Easter falls. This year is quite early and the resorts and attractions on the routes may not be in full swing at the end of March.

Not really looked at their current timetables but in 2002/3 (when the Volvo Olympian/Royales ruled) a typical Bank Holiday would see a Saturday service with around 8 standby drivers also on duty. 3 or 4 would run dead from Malton to Leeds for around 0830 and would usually dupe the X45 to Bridlington, the 842 to Flamingoland and the 0850 to Scarborough. A second 842 dupe would join the convoy at Tadcaster or York meaning three deckers (usually all full and standing on departure from York) were running the one scheduled trip. To add to this, a B10BLE would normally be started from Malton on this journeys time to run to Flamingoland and Pickering with the local kids and the connecting passengers from the coast.

The loadings and takings on all routes were phenomenal at holiday periods. No idea how busy they are these days but I get the impression the operation isn't as upmarket as it was in the Fearnley/Wilde Blazefield days. They also avoid Castle Howard and it's arch these days which is strange as those B10BLE trips from York were also normally fully freighted (with Japs and their cameras)!

 

[34D]

No idea how busy they are these days but I get the impression the operation isn't as upmarket as it was in the Fearnley/Wilde Blazefield days.

I'd agree with this.

 

[E-Rail]

I'd agree with this.

Been having a look around flickr and at some you tube clips to get a feel for the current set up and couldn't believe some of the vehicles that are deployed now.

A B6BLE on the commuter 743, Leyland Olympians working on 844 shorts and the rest is a shabby mix of 2004/2011 livery with no real uniform appearance. The interiors are looking care worn and the brand seems to have been seriously devalued.

In part, much of the mess is a result of their knee jerk reaction (wrongly I believe) to competition from First when Dave Alexander (ex Blazefield) introduced the ultimately short lived X64.

The current two tone blue livery looks cheap and Stenning like and is seriously outdated in 2013. The swooshes style is long overdue for updating. Its now 13 years since Stagecoach introduced this style and it shows. Personally, I think Yorkshire Coastliner should revert to it's full title and adopt a livery with more sober colours and more subtle branding.

The word 'bus' was banned at YCL and was never used in marketing. Indeed, customers would refer to "getting the Coastliner" and not catching the bus.

It is this link between branding and social standing that is lost on so many operators and companies. A middle class, white collar professional could feel comfortable commuting on Yorkshire Coastliner as it carried no distress purchase stigma. It was a choice purchase. In brand terms, it was as strong as GNER was and the two rubbed shoulders nicely at York.

 

[johnnychips]

One does miss seeing the distinctive blue double-deckers rolling along the A64. If you need to spend an hour in York, the York Tap at the station is fine.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Well I did travel over the Easter Holiday weekend from York to Pickering, it was a Saturday service on Good Friday and a Sunday Service on Easter Monday which meant having to change buses at Malton. The services were operated by double deckers and were very busy in both directions.

Out of interest how many passengers do these buses hold? and why is there a hole on the front right hand side of the upper deck, is it drainage for when they mop the floors of the vehicle,? if so I hope the driver has his window closed otherwise he'd get wet.


I thought how pleasant and helpful the drivers where and they looked smart too.

Is Coastliner fully independent or is is part of Keighly & District or Harrogate & District or one of the French firms. ? They seem to have quite a niche in the market.

 

[tbone]

Well I did travel over the Easter Holiday weekend from York to Pickering, it was a Saturday service on Good Friday and a Sunday Service on Easter Monday which meant having to change buses at Malton. The services were operated by double deckers and were very busy in both directions.

Out of interest how many passengers do these buses hold? and why is there a hole on the front right hand side of the upper deck, is it drainage for when they mop the floors of the vehicle,? if so I hope the driver has his window closed otherwise he'd get wet.


I thought how pleasant and helpful the drivers where and they looked smart too.

Is Coastliner fully independent or is is part of Keighly & District or Harrogate & District or one of the French firms. ? They seem to have quite a niche in the market.

Coastliner is part of Transdev Veolia Blazefield. The York and York unibus operations all also come under the Yorkshire coastlines licence.

 

[Deerfold]

Keighley and District, Harogate and District, Burnley and Pendle and Lancashire United are alse part of Blazefield (formerly an independent group).

Many years ago, as well as the frequent services from Leeds, the Coastliner services were run from other towns in West Yorkshire in summer.

 

[Spaceflower]

These also run to a timetable that is useless for getting from the coast inland for any kind of decent day out and prohibitively expensive/slow compared to the train imo.

 

[Deerfold]

These also run to a timetable that is useless for getting from the coast inland for any kind of decent day out and prohibitively expensive/slow compared to the train imo.

That rather depends what day you're travelling and where you're travelling from.

Starting at Scarborough on a weekday you can spend nearly 9 hours in Leeds if you want to. On a Sunday you could have just over 6 and a half hours.

Other places are less well served.

Few of the destinations Yorkshire Coastliner serves have a train service (Leeds, York, Malton, Scarborough, Bridlington and Whitby do, but many people are travelling between smaller settlements or doing journeys that are tricky by train).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Few of the destinations Yorkshire Coastliner serves have a train service (Leeds, York, Malton, Scarborough, Bridlington and Whitby do, but many people are travelling between smaller settlements or doing journeys that are tricky by train).

The journeys from West Yorkshire by rail to Whitby are only now available via Middlesbrough, as the other way that uses the NYMR from Pickering to Whitby still needs bus travel first to arrive at Pickering.

 

[starrymarkb]

They are also very busy around Halloween From the South you can knock an hour off the journey by getting the bus from York to Whitby rather then train via Middlesbrugh

 

[Spaceflower]

Alternatively, you can get the train to Scarborough and the X93/93 to Whitby.

 

[Deerfold]

The journeys from West Yorkshire by rail to Whitby are only now available via Middlesbrough, as the other way that uses the NYMR from Pickering to Whitby still needs bus travel first to arrive at Pickering.

Indeed - that was one of the trickier train journeys I was thinking of.

They are also very busy around Halloween From the South you can knock an hour off the journey by getting the bus from York to Whitby rather then train via Middlesbrugh

And also in late April.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

I was in Belfast on Sunday i was appalled how poor the Sunday service was there id say Wigan and St Helens have better sunday services ignoring the appalling late starts on most routes. Back to Belfast other than the two airport buses and coaches to dublin hardly anything seemed to run although i did note a extremely tacky liveried Vodaphone liveried Translink bus.

Mind you all hardly anything was open and the pubs wouldnt serve til half twelve for some lame reason. they even refused to serve me a none alcoholic kopparberg because it looked like alcohol pricks lets just say the landlord in weatherspoons got a fair bit of abuse on that one and rightly so.

 

[starrymarkb]

NI has very strict alcohol laws. I suspect the landlord was concerned about having to prove that the drink he'd sold was a non alcoholic to a policeman or other authority. Also JD Weatherspoon will ensure everything is above board. A less reputable establishment might sell a pint of 'non alcoholic' and then 'accidentally' use the wrong tap

It used to be the case in England that alcohol could not be sold before noon on a Sunday, and you'll find all stores over a certain size in England are legally required to close on Easter Sunday (ie last Sunday), the same might be the case in NI

 

[Deerfold]

I was in Belfast on Sunday i was appalled how poor the Sunday service was there id say Wigan and St Helens have better sunday services ignoring the appalling late starts on most routes. Back to Belfast other than the two airport buses and coaches to dublin hardly anything seemed to run although i did note a extremely tacky liveried Vodaphone liveried Translink bus.

This seems to be a bit of a non sequitor following a discussion of buses in Yorkshire.

Mind you all hardly anything was open and the pubs wouldnt serve til half twelve for some lame reason. they even refused to serve me a none alcoholic kopparberg because it looked like alcohol pricks lets just say the landlord in weatherspoons got a fair bit of abuse on that one and rightly so.

A fair bit of abuse? What a lovely person you're coming across as.