THIS letter is to answer the many points made by your correspondents regarding the bus stop on Valley Bridge, which is now the terminal point for our 121 service in Scarborough.
There is no hidden agenda. The suggestion by ‘Chrisgtk’ that EYMS is taking the first step to cancelling the 121 service apart from in the summer is frankly ridiculous. He claims this is something we have always wanted to do, but nothing could be fur
ther from the truth. I would be interested to learn the basis for this unfounded allegation.
The 121 route between Hull and Scarborough is one of our most important routes, and far from reducing it we have been considering improvements because of increasing passenger numbers.
Neither is it a move to leave space at the station for the new park and ride services which will not have a stop there.
We agree Valley Bridge is by no means ideal as a terminus. We preferred the railway station and consider that with appropriate road markings the bus could safely turn around after picking up passengers there, but this plan was vetoed by the council.
It is not true that this change has been made in haste. As well as Disability Discrimination Act considerations we are now obliged under health and safety rules to carry out a risk assessment of every bus stop we use, and we raised with the council our concerns about Somerset Terrace as long ago as 2005. We have worked with the council for months to try and find an alternative.
It is not just about people with wheelchairs. Somerset Terrace is quite steep, which makes it difficult for parents with baby buggies to board and alight, and especially in wet or icy weather it can be difficult for even able-bodied people on a slippery sloping pavement.
Another factor is that there is only room for two buses at the Somerset Terrace stop, and in the summer there have sometimes been three buses at the stop. When this happens the third one has to stop away from the pavement which is even worse.
It has been suggested we allow more time for people to board, or that we extend the 121 route around the town centre. Both would require more journey time, but lower speed limits and more traffic signals being introduced at various points on the long journey from Hull already make the journey longer than before.
Buses can only just do Hull to Scarborough and back in under six hours. More time on the route would either require another bus and two or three drivers to maintain the present timetable, which would be a very expensive solution, or departures from Scarborough would have to move by five or 10 minutes each hour giving irregular departure times, which would be inconvenient and difficult to remember.
