BRIGG NEEDS INTEGRATED TRANSPORT

The current situation facing Brigg travellers makes us ask: Whatever happened to the concept of an intergrated transport system?
You'd think that getting from an important market town like ours to spend a meaningful amount of time in Lincoln, our county's capital city, would be straightforward.
But it isn't, Monday to Friday. And it's just got more difficult.
The previous 9am bus departure from Brigg to Barnetby Top has been put back to 9.35am.
Having been dropped off by the Service 450 Stagecoach you have to walk down the hill to the railway station to catch a train to Lincoln which leaves at 9.39am.
Those of us of more senior years cannot 'do a Roger Bannister' and achieve the four-minute dash now required.
There's a type of train running on the national network known as a Sprinter, which seems appropriate in this context!
The new CallConnect bus service has heavy demand for its services around 9am  and so cannot provide a regular solution to our Wednesday woes.
You could once get the Service 68 Wolds Villager to Barnetby early in the morning to connect with trains to Lincoln, Scunthorpe and Grimsby. But that was in the past. The first Villager departure of the day from Brigg is currently 9.55am.
Travellers can get a direct bus from Brigg to Lincoln but it only runs on Fridays, leaving Cary Lane at 9.20am and getting to the centre of the city at 10.50am, having visited many villages inbetween. It begins the  return trip less than two hours later - at 1.45pm.

Here's what you need to do to spend more than a couple of hours in Lincoln:

• Taxi from Brigg to Barnetby
• Train to Lincoln
• Do what you have  to do in the city
• Train back to Barnetby
• CallConnect bus to Brigg (if available).

Using public transport is said to be good for the so-called carbon footprint, helping the environment. 
But surely someone needs to ensure a decent service is available so this can happen.

You can get to Lincoln from Brigg by using the Saturday-only service from our station, but the train from Sheffield better not be running late if travellers are to make their connection at the next stop along the line...

Our thanks to Paul Johnson, of the Friends of the Line, for the following times:

0926 Brigg
0934 Barnetby
0939 Barnetby 
1014 Lincoln Central

1452 Lincoln Central
1527 Barnetby
1548 Barnetby
1553 Brigg

"Incredibly the 1832 Cleethorpes to Sheffield via Brigg leaves Barnetby at 1902 with an East Midlands Trains service from Lincoln waiting at Wrawby Junction for it to pass," Paul comments.

Getting from Brigg to Lincoln by public transport is not as easy as many might think.

Barnetby railway station has trains to Lincoln

Paul Johnson beside a Barnetby-bound train on Brigg railway station.