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

Chapter Seventeen

Inter-Licence Transfers

Prior to the 1950’s it was uncommon for any Road Service Licence to carry more than one route, variants and short workings were usually granted on separate licences and this fact could lead to a situation where a number of licences carried routes which were essentially similar. However from the 1950’s these routes were added to the existing licences. The first recorded transfer of a route from one licence to another concerned two of the three licences covering routes acquired from Sharpe’s Motors of Hedon. The first licence BH101/71 carried the Hull to Hedon direct route numbered 49, whilst the second, BH101/72 carried route 36 from Hedon to Paull. In 1959 the latter route was renumbered 86, and in 1960 it was extended from Hedon back to Hull via Hedon Road, and transferred to BH101/71, as the two routes were identical between Hull and Hedon. A variant route 36, had been introduced in 1946, and the route ran directly between Hull and Paull via Sheriff Highway, it was on licence BH101/91. In 1959, co-incident with the above transfer the route was renumbered 84, and in 1960 it was extended to Hedon and Hull. At this point routes 84 and 86 were identical except for the direction of travel; consequently the latter was also transferred to BH101/71. The 84 and 86 were also renumbered to 249 and 149 respectively. At the same time two new routes were added to the licence, numbered 349 and 449, they ran Hull, Hedon, Preston, Hull and reverse.

In between the two transfers above, two further transfers occurred in 1959, both of which were logical as they were effectively short workings of other routes. They were service 16 transferred between BH101/60 to BH101/76, as a short working of service 17, the other being service 27 transferred from BH101/13 to BH101/15 as a short working of service 26. The next transfer occurred in 1965 when route 46 was transferred from BH101/66 to BH101/6, this was a variant of services 41, 43, 44 and 45, which were already on the latter licence.

Two further transfers were shown in the October, 1966 issue of the Corporation’s timetable. Service 13 was transferred from BH101/54 to BH101/76 and services 48, 148 and 348 were transferred from BH101/85 to BH101/6. Both of these transfers were to enable the Corporation to operate circular services on BH101/6 with routes 43 and 48, and on BH101/76 with services 13 and 17. This latter service was not implemented until the following January as the 13 was a joint service with East Yorkshire, and usually operated by them. The EYMS staff wanted pay parity with the Corporation staff for operating the circular service, the commencement being delayed until an agreement was reached between the parties involved. Five transfers were shown in the next edition of the timetable, which appeared in April 1967. BH101/29 which held the service to Wawne village had, by that time, two routes to the village. The first (85) ran via Summergangs Road, and the second (87) via Garden Village. It was unusual to have two services with such diverse routes on a single licence, as a consequence route 85 was transferred to BH101/57, which held the Sutton via Summergangs Road services; the 87 was transferred to BH101/37 (Stoneferry via Garden Village). The first transfer to a newly issued licence also occurred at this point, when the trolleybus replacement route 23 was transferred from BH101/54 to new licence BH101/124. The North Hull to Boothferry Park football route 90 was transferred from BH101/92 to licence BH101/87 as route 71A. Finally the school route 800 to David Lister High School went from BH101/116 to BH101/79 as route 98S. Licences BH101/29, /92 and /116 were surrendered at this time. In the next edition of the timetable, October, listed two further transfers, the first service: 92 on BH101/69 had a route which was identical to services 94 and 95, which were on licence BH101/94, as a consequence the former was transferred to join the other two, and the three were renumbered 46, 46A and 45 respectively. The second transfer concerned service 93, which was on licence BH101/73; this served the same termini as service 47 (BH101/19), but travelled via Drypool Bridge instead of North Bridge, it was transferred to the latter licence as service 47D.

The next edition of the timetable appeared in June of 1968, and there were a number of transfers shown as having been effected. The first concerned the route to Stoneferry, along with the short working to Leads road. These two were on licence BH101/31, but the route was identical to those on the 31, 32 and 37 groups, between the same points, the latter service were on licence BH101/37, so the two routes (30 and 30W) were transferred to the latter licence. Another circular was instituted, serving both Anlaby and Hessle Roads, along with the council estates of Boothferry estate and Rokeby Park. The Hessle Road service was the 73 group which formed the southern part, whilst the northern part was the Anlaby Road service 66. This latter service was on licence BH101/51, and a total of five services, 65, 65D, 66, 66D and 66S were transferred to BH101/56, the Hessle road licence, the 66’s being altered to 63 in the process, the 65’s being unchanged. Also on Anlaby Road were the trolleybus replacement services 69 and 69B on licence BH101/111, and they were transferred to the 67 group licence BH101/61, again this was logical as they were effectively short workings of the 67 group anyway. All the donor licences quoted above were duly surrendered. The remainder of transfers shown in this issue all concerned licence BH101/105, and the services transferred were all transferred to Licences which were issued specifically for the purpose. New licences were BH101/125; services 28 and 28W (ex 29), BH101/126; services 8, 8A and 8C and BH101/127; services 5, 7 and 7A.

The second timetable issue of 1968, which appeared in October, had three transfers which all concerned circulars. The first concerned the Orchard Park circular, of which mention has already been made. The western part (service 13) which had caused the earlier problems was now replaced by service 15, which although still being a joint route, was operated by the Corporation. The 15 was transferred from BH101/54 to BH101/76, whilst the 13 went the opposite way. The next two estates chosen for a circular bus service were the ‘new’ Bilton Grange (northern part) and the newly developed Ings Estate. The Bilton Grange service 58 was on licence BH101/101, whilst the 57 served the Ings Estate was on the Holderness Road trolleybus replacement licence BH101/112. The services on this licence, 54, 54A, 54B, 54D, 55, 55D, 57 and 57D, were transferred to the former licence and BH101/112 was surrendered. The third circular concerned the shopping areas of Beverley Road and Newland Avenue. The Beverley Road section was the trolleybus replacement 18 on licence BH101/115, this was transferred to the Newland Avenue licence BH101/114 (the 20 group), and BH101/115 was surrendered as the 18 was the only service it contained.

In March 1969, the Chanterlands Avenue trolleybus replacement service 23, which in 1967 had been transferred from BH101/54 to BH101/124, was now transferred back to its original licence, this was the only transfer to be shown in that edition, but that for September, showed the granting of another new licence purely for transferred services. The new licence BH101/129, received the 31 and 36 groups from BH101/37; also at this time BH101/105 passed the 24 group to BH101/124. The 18/20 circular was discontinued, resulting in the 18 being transferred to BH101/76. The service between the City and Cottingham Road garage, via Beverley Road, which was on BH101/81 as service 21B, was transferred to BH101/76 as 18B in March 1970. This service was the victim of severe indecision, as in September, 1981 it reverted back to BH101/81 as 21B, but in May, 1974 it returned to BH101/76 as service 17F! returning to March, 1970 the other transfer was services 7 and 7A being transferred from BH101/127 to BH101/126.These two licences were to feature in the only transfer of 1971, when service 8 (BH101/126) moved to BH101/127 as service 5S.

Four transfers were shown in 1972. In March service 8E from BH101/105 was transferred to BH101/127 as 5A; and Newland Avenue school service 85 was transferred from BH101/76 to BH101/114 as service 20S. In September BH101/127 was the recipient of services 3 and 3A from BH101/105 and services 8, 8A, 8B, 8C and 8S from BH101/126. The final transfer was service 89, Bransholme to Orchard Park schools, which was transferred from BH101/37 to BH101/129.

A year later, in September, 1973, the Cottingham road garage service was transferred as noted above, also The David Lister school service, 98S, which was on BH101/79 was now timetabled to commence from Ferry Lane, instead of Chamberlain Road, it was also transferred to BH101/15 as service 27S. On the face of it the transfer seems strange, but what was not shown in the timetable, was that the service commenced not at Ferry Lane as quoted, but at Goulton Street, off Hessle Road, the terminus for the 26 and 27 groups, and ran the first part of the route on the normal 27 route. Although losing the 98S licence BH101/79 gained service 25, which had previously been the 19W on BH101/88. Meanwhile the existing 25 on BH101/124 was transferred to BH101/125 as service 28A. Finally the Wawne service 38B on BH101/130 was transferred to BH101/131 as 39A. In 1974 further alterations to the northern area service occurred as the Noddle Hill service 35A and Wawne service 35B were transferred from BH101/57 to a new licence Bh101/132; in addition the final move of the Cottingham Road garage service occurred.

The following year, 1975 was a big year for transfers, exceeding even 1968. A total of thirty six services were transferred, the majority to licences newly granted for the purpose. Licence numbers BH101/134, /137 to /152 were issued to receive them, details are given below:-

The aim of this was to separate works and school services, which were of necessity somewhat divergent from the normal services on the licences, and also to remove the more varied services from BH101/129 and /129. Four other services were transferred in May, all of which concerned the former Hessle Road trolleybus replacement licence BH101/108, which lost both 70F variants to BH101/56, but gained 77 and 77F from BH101/61, which were, of course, the remnants of the 67/77 circular of the late 1960’s. Finally in 1975 the provisional short term licence, BH101/153, for the city tour was replaced by the substantive licence BH101/154 in October. From then until 1978 there were no further transfers.

In May, 1978, a new licence BH101/157 was granted to take service 87, Bilton Grange to Bransholme High School, fro BH101/37. In September another new licence BH101/161 was granted to take the service 39 Bransholme North to Gipsyville route from BH101/131, where it was renumbered to 79.

Major service revisions in the Bransholme area took place in June, 1980, which resulted in a rationalisation of routes and licences, a summary of which is given below:-

It is interesting to note that the 79/39W reverted to the licence it was on prior to 1978. There were also transfers to BH101/105; BH101/19 transferred 47 and 47A as routes 10B and 10X; BH101/126 transferred the 7 which became 10D, both the donor licences were surrendered. A final link with the Anlaby Road trolleybuses was severed when the 69B was transferred from Bh101/61 to BH101/56 as 63F, this being the Hull RLFC service to the Boulevard. This occurred in ay 1981. In September the final circular, composed from two routes appeared and comprised of routes 33 and 57, and the 57A was transferred from BH101/134 to become 34B on BH101/55.

Further revisions occurred in July, 1985, and three licences, BH101/87, BH101/124 and BH101/151 were surrendered, services remaining on these three licences were transferred as follows: 71X, 75, 75W from BH101/87 went to BH101/105 as did the 99 from BH101/124, whilst the other two routes on this licence, 69 and 69A went to BH101/15. Finally the 77 from BH101/151 went to BH101/61. These transfers were the last to be made before the advent of de-regulation, when all the licences were surrendered and the de-regulation network proper came into operation.

Keith Easton
01/2012

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