New Cheshire East bus review

[knutstransport]

RE: New Cheshire East bus review

(09/07/2020 11:37)iMarkeh Wrote:  We can look back at how the 27s used to run 10 years ago and revert the bus network and all go back in time to when buses ran just because they can or we can try and adapt to new passengers and try to secure the long term services making the service as viable as possible to try and keep the subsidy low. Beggermans Lane was kept on for a wheelchair users wasn't it?

On the occasions when I've used the bus no-one with an obvious disability has got on or off at Beggarmans Lane. The stop used to be used a lot more when there was a more frequent service and people from that area used the 27 to go shopping in Knutsford town centre but now it seems the few people who have no other option than the bus for shopping go all the way to Macclesfield as it means they can make a return journey by bus, without having to go back almost as soon as they've arrived.

In the current circumstances unfortunately a lot of the demand for the Macclesfield-Knutsford bus in the coming months is going to be for people going to postponed hospital appointments and job centre appointments (Macclesfield job centre has effectively become a 'local' job centre for almost all of the former borough of Macclesfield.) It's not going to be practical for everyone to have appointment times which fit nicely around an inconsistent bus timetable - so the best thing would be a more regular, consistent service e.g. an approx xx:30 arrival in Macc every hour and an approx xx:45 departure every hour (including at peak times.)

Quote:The difficulty now is that the 88 wouldn't work without the extensions because the increased running time over GHAs 88 timetable.

Not sure of the relevance of the GHA 88 timetable. When D&G first took over the 88 they ran half-hourly Altrincham-Wilmslow-Knutsford with a 65 minute journey time, a 20 minute layover in Knutsford and a 5 minute layover in Altrincham. Someone at Cheshire East decided the 88 having a layover at Knutsford and the Howards 27 having an even longer layover in Macclesfield wasn't cost effective and the layover times needed to be reduced to bring down the subsides.

[James Frisby]

RE: New Cheshire East bus review
I drove the 27 numerous times when at GHA on the afternoon journeys, 2pm onwards from what I can remember, then I went onto the evening 38's. On the 27's I very rarely picked up via Beggarmans, although that duty only had one trip deviating that way. Regarding Astra Zeneca, the first time I drove it, my passengers were amazed that I was even bothering to go that way. It turns out no one had boarded or alighted there on the PM journey for so long that regular drivers simply didn't bother going round it.

[knutstransport]

RE: New Cheshire East bus review

(09/07/2020 23:32)James Frisby Wrote:  I drove the 27 numerous times when at GHA on the afternoon journeys, 2pm onwards from what I can remember, then I went onto the evening 38's. On the 27's I very rarely picked up via Beggarmans, although that duty only had one trip deviating that way. Regarding Astra Zeneca, the first time I drove it, my passengers were amazed that I was even bothering to go that way. It turns out no one had boarded or alighted there on the PM journey for so long that regular drivers simply didn't bother going round it.

I remember the first time I used the Macclesfield-Knutsford bus which was in the days Bakers ran it and had the Cheshire Rider Wright Cadets. Travelling on a late Macclesfield-Knutsford bus it went via AstraZeneca and there must have been around 50 people waiting for a bus there but not one of those was waiting for a bus towards Knutsford - so they obviously all wanted to travel towards Macc or Wilmslow. The service still had a decent loading on arrival at Knutsford despite being a 38 seater bus and not picking anyone up at AstraZeneca. I also seem to recall the Macclesfield-Knutsford route specific dayrider remained at £3.50 for a number of years and jumped up to £4.80 at the time High Peak decided to run a 2 hourly service on a commercial basis, which made the service less attractive for two different reasons. GHA did increase it to £5 but then the £5 ticket was a GHA/Vale Travel day ticket so it was valid for onward travel if required.

[iMarkeh]

RE: New Cheshire East bus review

(09/07/2020 12:15)knutstransport Wrote:  Not sure of the relevance of the GHA 88 timetable. When D&G first took over the 88 they ran half-hourly Altrincham-Wilmslow-Knutsford with a 65 minute journey time, a 20 minute layover in Knutsford and a 5 minute layover in Altrincham. Someone at Cheshire East decided the 88 having a layover at Knutsford and the Howards 27 having an even longer layover in Macclesfield wasn't cost effective and the layover times needed to be reduced to bring down the subsides.

GHA and Arrivas 88 only used 4 buses with journey time around 55 min. D&G have added on 6 minutes between Altrincham and Wilmslow Station and a further 4 minutes between Wilmslow Station and Mobberley. There's also an additional 9 minutes between Mobberley and Knutsford but some of that is understandable with the diversion.

I think the end to end 88 has too many issues as services are trying to accomodate too many markets and what has happened is they tried to serve so many that they ended up serving none. I say this on the basis that there are college, school and staff buses which now take people to the places which the previous routes did or could have done but because the timings are so off, the schools/colleges/workplaces are now funding buses to run so they can get people where they need to be without huge gaps in the timetables.

We can keep going around in circles as the Knutsford buses situation has been mentioned multiple times. I just hope this new bus review, which the thread was originally started for, makes some changes for the better.

[knutstransport]

RE: New Cheshire East bus review
Despite getting funding through the Better Deal for Buses which hasn't been used for its original purpose: https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/public_t...nding.aspx

The council are now saying bus subsides could be at risk: https://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/news...hire-east/

[33109]

RE: New Cheshire East bus review

(11/09/2020 09:45)knutstransport Wrote:  Despite getting funding through the Better Deal for Buses which hasn't been used for its original purpose: https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/public_t...nding.aspx

The council are now saying bus subsides could be at risk: https://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/news...hire-east/

Sounds like we could all be royally stuffed then!!!

If they cut subsidiaries then how many operators would continue with services on a commercial basis?