Bus, Trolleybus and Tram Routes of Kingston upon Hull Corporation
Predecessors and Successors. 1899 to 1986

Chapter Three

Dansom Lane

Road Service Licence No’s: BH101/8, /25, /26, /34, /35, /38, /39, /40, BH101/55, /82, /138, /152,

Services along Dansom Lane commenced in March 1923, when the Corporation purchased the business of the Kingston-upon-Hull Passenger and Goods Company. The company traded as ‘Blue Bus Company’ and the route ran from the city to Garden Village via Drypool Bridge, Dansom Lane and James Reckitt Avenue. In October of the same year a night service commenced from Queen Victoria Square along the same route terminating at the junction of James Reckitt Avenue and Gillshill Road. It is uncertain if this was the same terminus as the daytime route or not. The following month a Sunday morning service commenced to run between the same termini as the night service. In 1926 the daytime service had its outer terminus altered from its original location to the end of James Reckitt Avenue, where it met Ings Road. Under the provisions of the 1930 Road Traffic Act all three services were given the route number 39, but were granted on three separate Road Service Licences namely BH101/8 (the daytime service), BH101/25 (?); (The night service), and BH101/26; (The Sunday morning service).

In May 1930, the Corporation purchased two services to Sutton village from East Yorkshire Motor Services Ltd, and this brought Corporation buses into Sutton for the first time. One of the services was routed via Holderness Road and Ings Road, and is covered in the Holderness Road chapter, but the second travelled to Ings Road via Dansom Lane and James Reckitt Avenue. This service was subsequently numbered 36 and granted on BH101/34, whilst BH101/35 covered an extension of the route through Sutton, along Saltshouse Road to the Sutton Branch Hospital which was situated along the latter road. This was also numbered 36 and it commenced operations in November 1931. Both of these were altered to commence from the new bus stands in Ferensway during 1933.

To coordination agreement with East Yorkshire in October 1934, saw the ending of the original 39 daytime service and also the two 36’s all three licences being surrendered. The former was replaced by service 40 and worked between the same termini and was granted on licence BH101/55, this being to all intents a transfer between licences. There was a new 39, which now terminated at Gillshill Road and was a short working of the 40.

Also new were services 39A and 40A. The terminal points were the same as their parent routes, but they were evening services which travelled via Drypool Bridge and Clarence Street rather than by North Bridge and Witham. Upon opening of the Coach Station in 1935 all four services were transferred to that point.

During 1938 an extension of the 39/40 routes commenced, when licence BH101/82 was granted for a service from the Coach Station to Tweendykes Road in Sutton. The service was numbered 33. In the midst of these changes the night and Sunday morning services continued unchanged despite the alterations in the daytime services.

Prior to the declaration of the Second World War, in September 1939, there were seven bus services which travelled via Dansom Lane and Garden Village namely:

Shortly after war was declared the night and Sunday morning services, in common with all other such services in the city, were discontinued, but the two peak hour variants 39A and 40A continued until 1941 when they too were also discontinued and all four licences were subsequently surrendered. It was about this time that the 39 also ceased operating leaving only the 33 and 40 running. It remained thus until 1954, when the 39 was re-introduced again to Gillshill Road, this time it was only as an untimed peak hour ‘extra journey’ on BH101/55. Again the situation was unchanged for a number of years, and then the timetable dated October 1966 showed that the 33 had been transferred from licence BH101/82 to BH101/55, and that the 39 on the latter licence had now become timed journeys, so that BH101/55 now held 33, 39 and 40.

April 1967 saw the 40 extended from Ings Road to Wembley Park Avenue and six months later, in October, the 39 was renumbered 40B and a new ‘extra journey’ to the original 40 terminus at Ings Road under the route number 40A. In June 1969 a new service numbered 33A commenced to the junction of Saltshouse Road with Holderness Road. In September the 40 was further extended to Tweendykes Road/Ings Road, whilst new services were 33B an ‘extra journey’ to the Sutton Annexe on Saltshouse Road and two school services from Dansom Lane to St. Richard’s Junior High School (service 84) and the Alderman Cogan Junior High School (service 84A). In September 1970, the 33B was discontinued. The original 39, now 40B, was reduced to ‘extra journey’ status.

A new licence BH101/138 was granted in May 1975 for a service from the city centre to Sutton Park (Littondale/Grandale) via Dansom Lane, Chapman Street and Cleveland Street. It had originated on BH101/129, as route number 31 in 1972, but all the other services on that licence ran directly via Cleveland Street. On BH101/138 it was numbered 1. In September of the same year the 84 and 84A were transferred from BH101/55 to BH101/152, which had been granted for that purpose, the routes were unchanged.

The service 33A was amended in July 1976, in that it operated to the Saltshouse Junior High School, whilst a new service to the same school was numbered 33S and it commenced from the Punch Bowl Hotel on James Reckitt Avenue. At this point both the 40A and 40B variants were discontinued. BH101/55 now consisted of four services only, 33, 33A, 33S and 40. The 33S was renumbered 33A in June 1979 as both the former 33S and 33A worked to the same terminus; the short working however displayed “Dansom Lane” on its destination blind. In September the Sutton Park service 1 on BH101/138 was discontinued.

Although not directly involved in the Bransholme revisions of June 1980, the 33 series of numbers were required for Bransholme services and accordingly the 33, 33A and 40 were renumbered 40, 40A and 40B respectively. The situation was reversed the following January, when the 40 was extended to terminate at the Bransholme District Centre and reverted to 33 and the 40B, the original 40, became 33B. The 40A which commenced from the Coach Station was discontinued, but the short working was renumbered 88, but now commenced from Chapman Street.

The first “Hull Style” circular to serve Bransholme commenced in September 1981, and like the other circulars in the city it was an amalgamation of two separate routes, this being the 33 and 57 groups, the latter being on licence BH101/134. The Ings estate service was discontinued, but the 57A to Gleneagles Park, on the spring Cottage estate was transferred to licence BH101/55 as service 34B. Other new services which commenced as a result were the 33A to Holderness Road Garage via Bransholme and Spring Cottage; 34A to Ings Road/Savoy Road via Spring Cottage and Bransholme; 34C to Bransholme Centre via Spring Cottage. The 33 was numbered 33C, and it was these latter two which formed the circular service.

The services continued unaltered from that point up to July 1986, when the pre-deregulation services were introduced. On licence BH101/55 services 33A, 33B, 33C, 34A, 34B and 88 were all discontinued, the 34C continued to operate but not as a circular under route number 11. On the other licence BH101/152 the 84 was discontinued and the 84A was renumbered 84 and now served both schools. Both the 11 and 84 continued until October when deregulation occurred and both licences were surrendered.

Keith Easton
12/2011

Click here to view the seperate Index for Chapter Three

Click here to view Chapter Four

Comments regarding the above are more than welcome please get in touch via the 'Contact Page' or by email at

If you have a bus related article that you would like to appear on this site please get in touch via the 'Contact Page' or by email at

Quick links to  -  Articles  -  Comments  -  Contact  -  Home