Alpamare, Scarborough: Coastliner tells residents to ‘use other companies’ after cuts to service

Despite a plea from Scarborough residents for the Coastliner 843 bus service to reinstate a stop at the Alpamare water park, the company has said that a low number of travellers has forced it to cut the stop from the service.

Instead, people should use buses run by other operators such as Arriva or East Yorkshire, a Coastliner spokesperson said.

Locals have criticised the company for “taking advantage of the Alpamare water park being closed to terminate the bus route in Peasholm Park and not come up the hill to Burniston Road”.

The cuts to the service are understood to have taken place this week and the company’s timetable no longer shows Burniston Road as a stop.

The Alpamare water park closed last year as the developer, Benchmark, went into administration still owing the council £7.8m.

However, North Yorkshire Council has said that it hopes to “have the facility open in time for the main summer tourism season this year”.

The authority has been asked for an update on the progress of plans to reopen the leisure centre.

Locals said that they needed the stop despite Alpamare’s closure as it provided “an all year round, direct service into town, to the shops, to connect with buses to the hospital, and the railway station”.

They noted that guests staying at Premier Inn’s North Bay hotel could also be impacted.

A Coastliner spokesman said: “Our Scarborough route was originally extended to serve Alpamare when the attraction opened: however, since its closure, customer numbers travelling from there have fallen to the point where very few people are travelling from there.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), he added: “In addition, with congestion and roadworks on the A64 and in York causing increasing delays, we have returned our Scarborough terminus to Peasholm Park roundabout to give extra running time across the whole route, helping us to run more reliably for the majority of our customers.

“Alternative bus services into Scarborough are currently available from stops at or near the former Alpamare site, including Arriva’s X94 which calls there and follows the same route as our buses to and from town, and East Yorkshire route 11 which serves Cross Lane.”

Speaking to the LDRS, one resident said: “Scarborough has many elderly residents.

“Many of those living in the Burniston Road area who use the 843 service, would not be able to navigate the distance and incline down to the Peasholm Park bus stop.

“More significantly having shopped in town, carrying food shopping by hand or in a trolley back up the steep incline would be too much for most of them.”