Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
That's no small surprise tbh, winsford do major repairs etc for macc as macc only have a basic workshop. Once they've been repaired sometimes a macc bus will cover winsford duties for a bit.

4162 is still on loan to macc & a regular on the 130s, looks like it needs a bit of TLC as the front destination display seems to have gone a bit wonky, looks like it's slipped on one side.

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
130 timetable being revised at end of January. It'll now be an hourly Macclesfield-Manchester without the extras between Wilmslow and Macc. There will also no longer be any services via Macclesfield College.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
Anybody know how often do depots wash their buses? I know it's been real crappy, muddy weather lately but the geminis in particular are nearly black.

Doesn't look good for passengers.

[motormayhem1]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(05/12/2017 19:06)33109 Wrote:  Anybody know how often do depots wash their buses? I know it's been real crappy, muddy weather lately but the geminis in particular are nearly black.

Doesn't look good for passengers.

Some depots do it every night , some do it every other night and some do it once or twice a week.
All the bus washes use recycled water out of a big grid in the floor of the bus wash hence some are left very streaky the following day.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
This ain't streaky this is thick brown caked on dirt. You literally as a passenger can't see nothing out the windows because there coated in mud.

Once or twice a week in this kind of weather isn't good enough it needs doing daily. Really presents a bad image to the public.

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
New 130 timetable has been published: http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/pdf/publi....01.18.pdf

While the standard timetable is every hour, there's some 1hr20 minute gaps between services at times Mon-Fri.

[dca529x]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(12/12/2017 14:23)knutstransport Wrote:  New 130 timetable has been published: http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/pdf/publi....01.18.pdf

While the standard timetable is every hour, there's some 1hr20 minute gaps between services at times Mon-Fri.

Hmm, some interesting bits with this.
Increased layover/recovery at Macc - about time
Running time broadly the same - still only 8 mins in Manchester - not enough, but prob down to GMPTE restrictions.

The unattractive peak frequency widening continues, as they seem unwilling to put in extra resource.

The last bus out of Macc on Saturday still ridiculously early, which goes through to Manchester, but doesn't have a return working. Dead all the way back to Macc?. Wasteful.
Could of squeezed two Wilmslow shorts out of that, with a later Macc departure.

The frequenc cut doesn't exactly encourage use, especially with the CEC cuts on their way.

Overall disappointing. The managed decline continues.

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(12/12/2017 16:04)dca529x Wrote:  The frequency cut doesn't exactly encourage use, especially with the CEC cuts on their way.

Overall disappointing. The managed decline continues.

At the Manchester end there's tickets available which allow you to travel on Stagecoach in to Manchester and Arriva back. However, at the Macclesfield end there's no tickets available which let you travel on Arriva in one direction and Howards in the opposite direction and even if there were the 27 won't plug gaps left by Arriva between Macclesfield and Broken Cross/AstraZeneca, the 27 will run just ahead of or just behind a 130 service.

At least the Arriva times consider afternoon visiting hours at Macclesfield Hospital, something Cheshire East council overlooked with their proposed route 'E' who think anyone from Chelford/Knutsford visiting relatives in hospital can wait around for 2 hours at the end of visiting hours, just to prevent them having to award a separate school bus contract.

[Brickmill]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(12/12/2017 16:04)dca529x Wrote:  Hmm, some interesting bits with this.
Increased layover/recovery at Macc - about time
Running time broadly the same - still only 8 mins in Manchester - not enough, but prob down to GMPTE restrictions.

The unattractive peak frequency widening continues, as they seem unwilling to put in extra resource.

The last bus out of Macc on Saturday still ridiculously early, which goes through to Manchester, but doesn't have a return working. Dead all the way back to Macc?. Wasteful.
Could of squeezed two Wilmslow shorts out of that, with a later Macc departure.

The frequenc cut doesn't exactly encourage use, especially with the CEC cuts on their way.

Overall disappointing. The managed decline continues.

Being pedantic; GMPTE ceased to exist some time ago; the equivalent (for now) is Transport for Greater Manchester. Also, the City Council control movements within Parker Street (Piccadilly Gardens) as it is on-street, not TFGM property. 8 minutes is quite generous, as normally it would be five and if the City Council wanted to be awkward (not for the first time), they could limit it to two minutes.
The theory being (and this is the Traffic Commissioner's policy rather than LAs) that Operators should schedule the journey itself as accurately as possible, so they shouldn't depend on "exces" stand time at termini.

[dca529x]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(12/12/2017 20:33)Brickmill Wrote:  Being pedantic; GMPTE ceased to exist some time ago; the equivalent (for now) is Transport for Greater Manchester. Also, the City Council control movements within Parker Street (Piccadilly Gardens) as it is on-street, not TFGM property. 8 minutes is quite generous, as normally it would be five and if the City Council wanted to be awkward (not for the first time), they could limit it to two minutes.
The theory being (and this is the Traffic Commissioner's policy rather than LAs) that Operators should schedule the journey itself as accurately as possible, so they shouldn't depend on "exces" stand time at termini.

The GM reference was tongue in cheek. The ego needs puncturing occasionally as the desperation to be like London (odd) is amusing. As for council/LA input, obviously such restrictions work against reliability measures and demonstrate a singular disinterest or ignorance in the reality of bus operation. As for TC 'policy' that would be rater nice if they bothered to enforce it. When it comes to running time, that should indeed reflect the time of day, this just doesn't, with Mon - Fri off peak and all day Saturday constant at 110 mins. So, with that little lot, its no wonder the route is in such a downward spiral