Lincolnshire InterConnect

Lincolnshire InterConnect is a rural bus network in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England.

"InterConnect" redirects here. For the discontinued Microsoft personal information manager, see Microsoft InterConnect.

Stagecoach InterConnect double-decker bus on St Catherine's, Lincoln, England

A number of InterConnect-branded interurban bus routes with fixed timetables are complemented by demand-responsive, flexible CallConnect minibuses, on which journeys must be booked in advance. Many of the InterConnect services are provided by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire; CallConnect services are run by a variety of operators including TransportConnect Ltd who are a wholly owned company of Lincolnshire County Council.

InterConnect was first established in 1999, when the existing RoadCar "Connect 6" Lincoln–Skegness bus (introduced in 1998 as part of Route 6's rebrand) was rebranded and its service frequency increased.[1] CallConnect was established in 2001. The network and its services are subsidised by Lincolnshire County Council. Some services were scaled back in 2011–2012, following cuts to local government funding,[2] and reductions in the Bus Service Operators Grant fuel duty subsidy.[3][4]

List of InterConnect routes

Current routes

Route name	Map colour[5]	Destinations	Route variants	Operator	Date introduced	Timetable link	Does it run on Sundays and Bank Holidays?
InterConnect 1	Orange	Lincoln–Grantham	—	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	November 2002		Yes, 6 times each way between Lincoln and Grantham and hourly between Lincoln and Waddington.
InterConnect IC5	Mid Blue	Lincoln–Woodhall Spa–Boston[6]	—	Brylaine Travel	July 2002		No
InterConnect 37	Pale Pink	Spalding–Peterborough	—	Stagecoach in Peterborough	May 2010		Yes, 4 times each way.
InterConnect 51	Red	Louth–Grimsby	51a; 51b; 51c[7]	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	April 2006		No
InterConnect 53[8]	Green	Lincoln–Market Rasen / Market Rasen–Grimsby[9][10]	53a;[11] 53b[12]	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	February 2004		No
InterConnect 56 [13]	Yellow	Lincoln–Horncastle / Horncastle–Skegness[9]	56a[14]	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	February 1999		Yes, 5 times each way for the InterConnect 56, and hourly for the 56a.
InterConnect 57/IC7	Hot Pink	Skegness–Boston	X57[15]	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire / Brylaine Travel	March 2005		No
InterConnect 59[16]	Purple	Skegness–Mablethorpe / Mablethorpe–Louth[9]	59a; 59b[17]	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	March 2005		Yes, 6 times each way between Skegness and Mablethorpe during the Summer season only.
InterConnect 100	Light Blue	Lincoln–Gainsborough / Gainsborough–Scunthorpe[9]	—	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	April 2006		No
InterConnect 505	Blue-green	Spalding–King's Lynn	—	Stagecoach in Norfolk	February 2002		Yes, every 60 minutes.

The various models of double-decker bus used by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire for its InterConnect services are painted in a special purple-and-gold livery which is different from the standard Stagecoach colour scheme.[18] Some buses have route-specific numbered branding, in particular the flagship InterConnect 6 service,[19] and a "Coastal Connect" brand used on the routes serving towns and villages on the Lincolnshire coast.[20] Buses from the other InterConnect operators tend to carry that operator's standard paint scheme. All the InterConnect branded bus routes have hourly services throughout the day Monday to Saturday (with the exception of Interconnect 505; that runs up to every 20 minutes) with some services running on Sundays and Bank Holidays too (but on a reduced timetable).

Former routes

Route name	Destinations	Operator	Date introduced	Date removed
InterConnect 5	Boston–Spalding	Brylaine Travel	July 2001	?
InterConnect 18 (Rail Link)	Lincoln–Sleaford–Spalding–Peterborough	East Midlands Trains	April 2011	?
InterConnect X3	Lincoln–Newark	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	June 2010	April 2011[21]
InterConnect 3 [22]	Lincoln–Cleethorpes	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	February 2004	?
InterConnect 6x [23]	Lincoln–Skegness (the quick way)	Stagecoach in Lincolnshire	July 2012	2014 [24]

CallConnect services

There are two kinds of CallConnect services – entirely demand-responsive 'dial-a-ride' services which serve an area with no fixed route or timetable, and semi-flexible services which run to a timetable but which deviate off the route to serve smaller villages. Journeys on CallConnect must be booked in advance over the telephone, by text message or online. CallConnect buses are designed to meet the fixed InterConnect services at designated 'interchange' points in the larger towns and villages.[25]

Through ticketing is available between some InterConnect routes and CallConnect services, and vice versa.[26] Through ticketing is also available between CallConnect buses in the Sleaford & Metheringham area, and East Midlands Trains rail services from Sleaford and Metheringham railway stations on the Peterborough to Lincoln Line.[27]

In 2011, Lincolnshire County Council reported a 23.5% increase in usage of CallConnect compared to the previous year.[28]

CallConnect areas

CallConnect services operate in 14 named areas across Lincolnshire (and extending into neighbouring counties) – only the city of Lincoln and its nearby villages, and the unitary authority of North East Lincolnshire are not covered by CallConnect. The areas covered are:[5]

Route number	Area covered	Operator	Date introduced	Timetable link
7B	Boston	TransportConnect	April 2011
15B	Bourne	Kier	July 2008
53C	Brigg, Caistor and Ridge	PC Coaches	February 2016
100G	Gainsborough	Kier	April 2006
1G/1K	Grantham, Newark & Kesteven	TransportConnect	November 2002 (1G) July 2008 (1K)
5C/6H	Horncastle, Coningsby & Woodhall Spa	Kier	April 2001 (6H) July 2002 (5C)
505H/505L	Holbeach & Long Sutton	TransportConnect	February 2002
51E/51N/51S	Louth	Kier / TC Minicoaches	March 2004 (51N) February 2005 (51S) July 2008 (51E)
9M	Mablethorpe & Alford	Kier	March 2005
3C/3M	Market Rasen & Caistor	TC Minicoaches	February 2004
18M/18S	Metheringham & Sleaford	Kier	April 2008
4P/4R/4S	Peterborough, Rutland, Stamford & the Welland Vales[29]	TransportConnect	September 2009 (4S) April 2010 (4P) July 2010 (4R)
9S	Skegness	Kier	April 2011
16S	Spalding	Kier	March 2009
6S/7W	Spilsby & Wainfleet	TC Minicoaches	April 2001 (6S) February 2005 (7W)

Semi-flexible CallConnect services

Route number	Destinations	Operator	Date introduced	Timetable link
3L/3X	Louth–Binbrook–Market Rasen	TC Minicoaches	May 2011
6C	Horncastle–Louth	Kier	April 2001
51M	Louth–Manby	Kier	?
65/65A	Sleaford–Woodhall Spa–Horncastle	Kier / Sleafordian Coaches	?
635	Sleaford-Cranwell	Kier	April 2013
H1	Horncastle town service	Kier	?

External links

See also: Stagecoach in Lincolnshire

• Lincolnshire InterConnect website
• CallConnect online journey booking form
• InterConnect Network Guide
• Lincsbus: public transport information for Lincolnshire
• InterConnect Flexible Bus Services : Department for Transport leaflet (2003)
• Making connections in Lincs : Bus and Coach Magazine (2006)
• CJ Conversions LTD - builders of the Call Connect vehicles

References

1. Jones, S. (2012) Stagecoach East Midlands: show, seasonality and soon Scanias in Skegness. Bus and Coach Magazine, (1162); pp.16–20
2. Lincolnshire County Council (2011) Service changes from 4th April 2011. Available from: http://www.lincsinterconnect.com/timetables/ServiceChangesApril2011.pdf%5B%5D [Accessed 30 January 2012]
3. Grimsby Telegraph (2012) Number of bus services face axe over fuel duty cut, 17 February. Available from: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) [Accessed 20 February 2012]
4. Market Rasen Mail (2012) BREAKING NEWS: Six buses a day for Market Rasen says Stagecoach boss, 29 February. Available from: http://www.marketrasenmail.co.uk/news/local/brigg/breaking_news_six_buses_a_day_for_market_rasen_says_stagecoach_boss_1_3570882 [Accessed 1 March 2012]
5. Lincolnshire InterConnect, InterConnect Network Map. Available from: http://www.lincsinterconnect.com/maps.phtml Archived 7 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 5 February 2013]
6. This service formerly continued to Spalding.
7. Serve colleges and schools in Grimsby and Louth.
8. This service was originally numbered InterConnect 3 and the route formerly continued to Cleethorpes.
9. This route is divided into two, in order "to comply with Department for Transport guidance". Connections are guaranteed at the route dividing point, and the journey often continues on the same vehicle.
10. From 2010–2011, the InterConnect 3 service was extended to Newark-on-Trent as the 'executive' service X3, in order to meet East Coast Main Line trains at Newark North Gate railway station. This extended service was cancelled in March 2011, with the operator citing a lack of passenger demand. Archived 2 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
11. Serves Linwood.
12. Does not serve any stops between Market Rasen and Grimsby.
13. This service is the flagship Interconnect route
14. Runs between Skegness and Burgh-le-Marsh.
15. Continues from Skegness to Chapel St Leonards and back and also has Boston College as the start and end of route.
16. This route originally only ran between Skegness and Mablethorpe, but in 2009, the route was extended to Louth on Monday to Saturday.
17. Serve colleges and schools in Louth.
18. Cooper, K. (2010) Stagecoach in Lincolnshire - Inter Connect Scania 15511 in Lincoln 13/10/10 [image]. Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/46341292@N05/5141122878/ [Accessed 23 February 2012]
19. ACBest [pseudonym] (2012) Skeggy Scanias. A life of Lincolnshire travel, 24 June. Available from: http://lincstravel.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/skeggy-scanias/ [Accessed 5 February 2013]
20. Pulling, H. (2011) Stagecoach 16940 (Stagecoach Lincolnshire) FX06AOB [image]. Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hhhumber/6548915503/ [Accessed 22 February 2012]
21. ACBest [pseudonym] (2011) The X3– Doomed to failure, or not given enough time? A life of Lincolnshire travel, 7 April. Available from: http://lincstravel.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/feature-the-x3-doomed-to-failure-or-not-given-enough-time/ [Accessed 13 May 2013]
22. This route still runs as Interconnect 53, but with it only running between Lincoln and Grimsby.
23. Lincoln to Skegness "the quick way": first ran in the 2012 school summer holidays; added to the main timetable in March 2013. 20% faster than the basic number 6 service; does not serve Raithby, Spilsby, Partney or Burgh-le-Marsh.
24. For unknown reasons, the 6x was withdrawn in 2014. One possible explanation could be because of passenger confusion; ie accidentally taking the 6x bus not knowing that it doesn't go to Spilsby, etc.
25. Lincolnshire InterConnect, Interchanges. Available from: http://www.lincsinterconnect.com/information/interchanges.phtml Archived 7 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 5 February 2013]
26. Lincolnshire InterConnect, Through ticketing. Available from: http://www.lincsinterconnect.com/information/through-ticketing.phtml Archived 7 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 5 February 2013]
27. Lincolnshire InterConnect, Rail Poster. Available from: http://www.lincsinterconnect.com/timetables/RailPoster.jpg Archived 30 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 5 February 2013]
28. Louth Target (2012) Lincolnshire's CallConnect bus usage increases by 23.5 per cent, 21 January. Available from: http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/Lincolnshire-s-CallConnect-bus-usage-increases-23/story-14986912-detail/story.html%5B%5D [Accessed 20 February 2012]
29. Welland CallConnect, a cross-county-boundary service, supported by local authorities in Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Rutland as well as Lincolnshire.