Bishopthorpe.net transport guru stands down

One of the original founders of Bishopthorpe.net, Ian Hodson, has decided to retire from editing the Local Travel section of the site.

Ian has performed this role from the very start of Bishopthorpe.net, but changing times and the way information is shared have forced him to re-think the value of this part of the site.

I’d like to thank Ian for all the time and effort he’s put into making Bishopthorpe.net a success, and hope he’ll continue to feed through snippets of information whenever he has anything to share.

Ian describes his reasoning in his own words in the message below:-


I have contributed local travel information to this site throughout its existence, but nowadays operators have made it very easy to obtain accurate, up-to-date information at source. This is therefore my last contribution.

Local bus information is available via itravelyork.info or from individual operators, e.g. firstbus.co.uk who also have various apps indicating next bus arrivals and allowing on-line ticket purchase.

Train information is available on nationrail.co.uk      Again, apps are offered for current info and for booking.

I am very grateful to Ian Keeton who operates bishopthorpe.net  and has tolerated my  ignorance of matters technical through the years. Thank you, Ian.

Good travelling!

Ian Hodson

Bus Service 11 Update

First York are now operating a half hourly frequency service during the day on Mondays to Fridays, and an hourly service in the evenings and on Saturdays. There is no Sunday service.

See the First York website for detailed timetables.

We are asked to travel only if it is essential, and face masks must be worn.
Seating capacity will be very limited in order to adhere to the social distancing rules, so be prepared for buses to be classed as full even if they appear to have empty seats. Electronic displays and First Bus apps will show the current free capacity on approaching services.

Please pay by card or by app wherever possible. Cash will be accepted if it is the only option. Bus passes will be accepted at any time of day.

Passengers are asked to be considerate to people with prams or in wheelchairs.

If you intend to continue a journey by another route, check in advance. Some services have been suspended.

Bus Service Update

First Bus is now operating a reduced service on route 11.

From Bishopthorpe, there is a journey at 06-23, then at 07-20 and thereafter every 70 minutes to 19-00. Evening journeys are at 19-56, 20-35, 21-35 and 22-35.

The Saturday timetable starts at 07-20 and operates every 70 minutes until 19-00, and thereafter as weekdays.

Sunday Service 11S
First York’s website says this is operated by EYMS, which if correct is a new development. The EYMS site doesn’t seem to mention it.

A Saturday timetable will operate on Good Friday and Easter Saturday. Sunday timetable (if it exists) should apply on Easter Sunday and Monday.

York Pullman is operating only three journeys daily (Mon. – Sat.) timed at 08-35, 12-30 and 15-55 to York and at 11-34, 14-59 and 18-34 to Colton.

The current timetable is operating to ensure key workers, including health service and emergency workers, can get to and from their places of work and those without a car can still collect medical prescriptions or do their essential shopping.

The company is aware of the importance of maintaining services, but if further changes are necessary the details will be found on the First Bus Corona Virus web page.

The revised No 11 Timetables can be viewed and downloaded via these links:

Weekdays from 30th March 2020

Saturday from 4th April 2020

Passengers are asked to pay with cards rather than cash where possible, and to observe government advice regarding hand cleansing, use of handkerchiefs, etc.

What time is the bus to York?

The most recent (January 2020) changes to the timings of the No. 11 bus make journey planning complicated.
Instead of set times each hour, there are now variations all day.

So what was the 27 minutes past the hour service from Acaster Lane now leaves at 9:30, 10:31, 11:32, 12:34, 13:32, 14:33, 15:42, 16:43, 17:20, 18:22, 19:26, 20:35, 21:35, and 22:35

And the old 57 past service leaves at 9:58, 10:59, 12:03, 13:03, 14:03, 15:03, 16:13, 17:20, 17:54, 18:55 and 19:56

The service still runs approximately half hourly, but as the departure times vary through the day you need to check for each journey.

To make life more complicated, no printed timetables are available. Times are published on 1st York’s website and app, and can be downloaded through the following link:

Service 11 Monday to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11S

If you don’t have the facility to download, the helpful City of York Council staff at its tourist information facilities (e.g. in York Station) will download a copy for you.

 

Bus Service Changes

New Timetables

First York have introduced new timetables for the 11 and 11S services effective from December 2019. The service 11 changes seem to be mostly adjustments to time allowances for the journey between The Stonebow and York Station, to take account of traffic conditions and crew changes. Timings from Stonebow are largely unchanged, but Station departure times vary by a few minutes with times at other stops to Bishopthorpe also adjusted to match. This results in the timings of services at the terminus on Acaster Lane being harder to memorise, as they’re no longer a regular ‘x minutes past and y minutes to the hour’. Evening services have been adjusted so the first bus to do the South Bank loop on the way to York is now not until 19:26.

The timetables can viewed using these links:

Service 11 Monday to Friday
Service 11 Saturday

The Sunday service has been renamed from 500 to 11S, to make it more obvious to users of the number 11 that it’s the Sunday version of that service and travels between York and Bishopthorpe.

The timetable can be viewed here:

11S Sunday

Christmas changes

As usual, the No. 11 service changes during the Christmas holiday period.

  • There will be no buses on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
  • Services will cease early evening on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
  • On other weekdays and on Saturdays during the holiday period the Saturday
    timetable will operate.
  • Park and Ride services will operate on Boxing Day.

The 21 service (Colton -York via Bishopthorpe) does not operate on Sundays or Bank
Holidays.

Bus Service Changes

From 02 Sept. service 21 will be operated by York Pullman.
Timings from Bishopthorpe will be 5 mins. later than at present, except for the 08:25.
The main change will be at the York end of the route; the 21 will no longer go via Stonebow to Foss Bank but will start/terminate on Piccadilly. This will inconvenience folk who have used this bus to reach the supermarkets, but hopefully the shorter route will make punctual running easier to achieve.

Bank Holiday Monday.
The First bus website is silent on the topic, but a journey timing search indicates that as usual on bank holidays the No. 11 will be replaced by our Sunday bus (service 500) and timetable.

Easter Bus Services

Bishopthorpe buses for Easter 2019 – Good Friday to Easter Monday:

Service 11 will operate on Easter Saturday only.

Service 500 (our normal Sunday service) will run on the other holiday days.

Park & Ride services will operate their normal timetable.

Note that Service 21 does not operate on Sundays or Sunday timetable days.

No 11 Bus changes to end March

Currently and until the end of March, The Stonebow is closed to through traffic. Consequently, bus services which normally go that way have had to be diverted. (This is not the same problem as the February Stonebow bus stop alterations.)

The Number 11 is as normal from Bishopthorpe through town as far as Ousegate. Thereafter, it goes past the magistrates’ court and the old fire station, turns left beyond Clifford’s Tower and continues past the Barbican to the Lawrence St. traffic lights where it turns right. At the next lights it turns left along James Street until it regains its normal route to Heworth and Ashley Park. It returns to town the same way.
Evening services that would normally terminate at Stonebow now do the Barbican/Fishergate loop and return to pick up the ‘normal’ route from Clifford Street/Ouse Bridge.

There are temporary stops on both sides of the road by the magistrates’ court and at each end of James Street. The second of the James St. stops is reasonably convenient for Morrisons’ supermarket.

First York ask that passengers intending to board or to leave the bus at the temporary stops should signal to the driver clearly and early.

Christmas and New Year Bus Services

Here’s a quick summary of the bus operations serving Bishopthorpe over the Christmas period…

Christmas Eve – Saturday timetable – last bus from Stonebow to Bishopthorpe 18:36. Last bus Bishopthorpe to town 19:05
Christmas Day – No Service
Boxing Day – No Service

27th, 28th, 29th December – Saturday timetable (full service)

30th December – Sunday service (Service 500)
Note that Service 21 Colton-Bishopthorpe-Tesco-York has no Sunday Service.

New Year’s Eve – Saturday timetable – last bus from Stonebow to Bishopthorpe 18:36. Last bus Bishopthorpe to town 19:05
New Year’s Day – No Service

The above information refers to services between Bishopthorpe and York operated by First Bus. See the City Council website for details of other routes, e.g. Park and Ride or to verify the above info.

 

Bus Service Changes

First York have announced timetable changes to a number of services, including the no. 11 Bishopthorpe service.

A new timetable comes into effect from Sunday 15th April 2018. The main changes are these:

11 Ashley Park – York City Centre – Bishopthorpe

  • Journeys retimed 10 minutes earlier which means travelling into York, there are more connections with the London and Leeds trains.
  • The journey from Bishopthorpe and Ashley Park used to run out of service. This will now run in service.
  • An additional evening journey has been added to remove the 90 minute gap to and from Bishopthorpe.

You can download the new timetable here.

Also note that there are some temporary changes to evening no 11 services while roadworks take place.

On Sunday to Thursday nights between the 8th and 20th April, from 2030 to 0500 there will be diversions in the city centre due to the resurfacing of Lendal Gyratory and the surrounding roads. The work is planned in 3 stages, however there is no set order for when each stage will start and finish so the diversions will continue throughout.

The changes for no. 11 are these.

  • Towards York – Normal route to Blossom Street, then Nunnery Lane, Skeldergate, Paragon Street, Foss Islands Road, Peasholme Green, Stonebow
  • Towards Bishopthorpe – Stonebow, Coppergate, Ouse Bridge, Skeldergate, Bishopgate Street, Nunnery Lane, Queen Street, U-turn at York Railway Station, then normal route
  • Not serving Rougier Street and Micklegate

You can see the full details on the First York website, through this link.

 

Easter Bus Services 2017

Buses on First York routes serving Bishopthorpe will work Sunday timetables on the Easter days (Friday to Monday), except for Saturday which will have the normal Saturday timetable.
Connexions buses via Bishopthorpe will not run on Good Friday or Easter Monday.
Other arrangements apply to Park & Ride, Coastliner and other services operated by
Transdev, Arriva, Connexions, and EYMS.
For details see the City Council website itravelyork.info

More Info on Sunday Bus Service

As already noted the Sunday 500 bus service is set to continue, but from 2nd April it will be following a new route. This still includes the Askham Bar Park and Ride, but the good news for Bishopthorpe passengers is that it includes a direct link to and from town, so no need to go as far as Askham Bar and switch over to the Park and Ride.
The new route is:

Woodthorpe – Askham Bar (Tesco and Park & Ride) – Sim Balk Lane – Maple Avenue – Acaster Lane Keble Park (circuit) – Acaster Lane – Bishopthorpe Rd. – Clifford St.

The return journey follows the same route in reverse except that from Clifford St. it goes via Rougier St. , York Station and Nunnery Lane to Bishopthorpe Rd.
Frequency is 70 minutes. Buses will normally be electric.
Maple Avenue passengers heading for York (direct) will need to join the bus on the side opposite the stops.
Main Street passengers for town should join on Acaster Lane just before the Main St. junction, or on Sim Balk Lane at or across from  the stop near the dentists.
Initially, the journey will be free, but it’s likely that normal fares will  be charged in the fairly near future.

Sunday Bus Service to Restart on 2 April 2017

The local Sunday bus link from York city centre, via Bishopthorpe Road and Bishopthorpe village to Askham Bar will restart on Sunday 2 April 2017.
The service will be free to all passengers initially but First York is considering registering the service, which could mean applying a charge for the fares in the future.
The more it is used, the greater the chance that it will continue.
Timetable attached.

Service500from020417

Bishopthorpe’s Sunday Bus Service

The Free Sunday Bus Service 500 is now set to continue at least until 26th March when it will again be reviewed. The service was introduced in November 2016 to provide connections for residents between Foxwood, Woodthorpe, Bishopthorpe, & the Askham Bar Park & Ride, and then on into York via the Park & Ride service. The route also serves Askham Bar Tesco.

Information about the service can be found by following this First York link https://www.firstgroup.com/york/plan-journey/timetables/service-500-free-trial-sunday-service

The current timetable can be downloaded here https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/node_images/Service%20500_York_A5_030217.pdf 

Although a lot of people complained about the loss of the Sunday service direct to town, it seems that to date the free bus has not been very well used. Unless this changes, it’s quite likely that we will again be without Sunday buses from April.
This might not be the most convenient way of getting to town but it’s certainly better than no service at all, so residents are encouraged to use this service wherever possible or face losing it altogether at the next review.

First York would like to hear any feedback or suggestions on service 500 by phone on 01904 883 063, by email at getintouch@firstgroup.com, or tweet @FirstYork.