Wednesday, March 08, 2017

BRIGG NEEDS AN EXPRESS BUS SERVICE AGAIN


Brigg could do with the re-introduction of an express bus service to link it with Scunthorpe and perhaps Grimsby.
Many of us well remember the very useful Stagecoach 909 service that operated not too many years ago.
It came from Grimsby, picked up in Brigg and took you straight to Scunthorpe along the A18, before heading off to Doncaster and then Sheffield.
We seem to recall an hourly service operated in its early days.
The current Hornsby No 4 service is very useful and many Brigg folk are extremely grateful for it. However, having to ride round via Broughton and then through Ashby to get to Scunthorpe town centre adds greatly to the journey time. Does the extra mileage and added time put some people off using it?
There's a more direct No 94 (or is it 95?) which goes via Scawby and then on to Morrisons at Ashby Ville, offering a more direct and faster trip, but fewer journeys are on offer.
When the Able UK business park gets fully up and running, bringing hundreds of new jobs to our region, the suggested express bus from Grimsby might make a small detour to take in the East Halton/Killingholme facility and link it to Brigg for the benefit of workers living in our town.
We're afraid that things being as they are, North Lincolnshire Council would need to give a subsidy to any bus company willing to operate an express service - at least in the short term - perhaps supported by the neighbouring North East Lincolnshire authority.
But maybe there's a pot of government funding available for connecting to a new business park like Able UK's to the public transport network.
The so-called local government carbon footprint would certainly be improved by public transport as an alternative to a host of individual car journeys being undertaken every day.
If the express bus service is regarded as a non-starter, could we have an early morning (8am?) direct bus from Brigg to Scunthorpe along the A18? And an early evening (5pm?) return journey from Scunthorpe without taking the roundabout route mentioned earlier?

PICTURED: A Stagecoach bus in Cary Lane, Brigg.