Kingston Upon Hull - Transport

Transport

The main road into and out of Hull is the M62 motorway/A63 road, one of the main east–west routes in northern England. It provides a link to the cities of Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, as well as the rest of the country via the UK motorway network. The motorway itself ends some distance from the city; the rest of the route is along the A63 dual carriageway. This east–west route forms a small part of the European road route E20.

Hull is close to the Humber Bridge, which provides road links to destinations south of the Humber. It was built between 1972 and 1981, and at the time was the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world. It is now fifth on the list.

Before the bridge was built, those wishing to cross the Humber had to either take a ferry or travel inland as far as Goole.

Public transport within the city is provided by two main bus operators: Stagecoach in Hull and East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS). A smaller operator, Alpha Bus and Coach, provides one of the two Park and Ride services in the city and CT Plus the other, having taken over the contract in November 2009 from EYMS. Generally, routes within the city are operated by Stagecoach and those which leave the city are operated by EYMS.

Hull Paragon Interchange, opened on 16 September 2007, is the city's transport hub, combining the main bus and rail termini in an integrated complex. It is expected to have 24,000 people passing through the complex each day. From the railway terminus, services run to certain other parts of the UK. These include through expresses to London, up to seven per day provided by First Hull Trains and one a day (the Hull Executive) by East Coast. Other long-distance rail services from Hull are provided by First Transpennine Express serving Leeds and Manchester. The nearest access to fast East Coast Main Line services northwards to Teesside, Tyneside and Scotland is via either York or Doncaster, in either case requiring a connecting journey by local train from Hull. Hull also has no through trains to the West Midlands and beyond. Northern Rail operates regular local stopping trains to Beverley, Brough and Goole, and the coastal towns of Bridlington and Scarborough, along with services to Selby, York, Doncaster and Sheffield.

P&O Ferries provide daily overnight ferry services from King George Dock in Hull to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. Services to Rotterdam are worked by ferries Pride of Rotterdam and Pride of Hull.

The nearest airport is Humberside Airport, 20 miles (32 km) away in Lincolnshire, which provides a few charter flights but also has high-frequency flights to Amsterdam with KLM and Aberdeen with Eastern Airways each day. Robin Hood Airport in South Yorkshire is 48 miles (77 km) from Hull city centre and provides a wider choice of charter flights as well as a number of low-cost flights to certain European destinations. The nearest airport with intercontinental flights is Leeds Bradford International Airport (70 miles)

Road transport in Hull suffers from delays caused both by the many bridges over the navigable River Hull, which bisects the city and which can cause disruption at busy times, and from the remaining three railway level crossings in the city. The level-crossing problem was greatly relieved during the 1960s by the closure of the Hornsea and Withernsea branch lines, by the transfer of all goods traffic to the high-level line that circles the city, and by the construction of two major road bridges on Hessle Road (1962) and Anlaby Road (1964).