What’s this?

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On my hillwalking blog, I have shared, on an occasional basis, some experiences and observations of British and Irish public transport. However, following a posting regarding being crammed into a Transpennine Express train while travelling to and from Edinburgh, I have decided that such content has no place amongst the hill walking stuff so it is finding its way here. As it happens, it’s all too easy to write about the unpleasant stuff but I plan to share the good side too, especially given that I get a satisfactory service most of the time anyway.

Change isn’t always available

For as long as I have known them, Lothian Buses has been an exact fare only operation with the machines to match. More recently, Dublin Bus has gone the same way. However, the usual norm is that most bus operators give change and even Scottish Citylink fit into this group; for the record, I am aware that they encourage you to book ahead on the web and prefer you to use e-Tickets and m-Tickets in place of the old fashioned method. Arriva also gives change on its buses but there have been occasions when the float isn’t up to the job and I met up with one of those yesterday morning on the 130. A vague memory of the same happening to me on a Sunday morning 38 to Crewe also resides in my mind and I have also seen a letter complaining about a similar situation with the same company in Buses magazine. While I accept that change is less plentiful on quieter services and you need to ensure that you aren’t tendering something ridiculous; Arriva perhaps reasonably does not accept £20 notes (in principle, it might be possible for weekly tickets and the like but I have never been brave enough to find out if this is the case) and I am sure that a £50 denomination is completely out of the question too. Returning to my experience, the driver looked forlornly at my tenner and we had to work it out another way. Thinking about it now, I am left wondering if there is an attempt of control operating costs by reducing the available float in these financially constrained times but there can always be a run on the amount of change available too, even with busier services and the 130 could be seen as one of them.

Isle of Man Public Transport Information

It seems that there are ample public transport options for exploring the Isle of Man by public transport. The website iombusandrail.info should tell you much of what you need to know. Recently, I made a short of visit to the island with the aim of paving the way for others and turned up a pile of useful information for such endeavours, naturally including public tranpsort palnning stuff as well. It may have rained on the day but I am not so easily put off.

Is Lake District bus travel too expensive?

On visits to the Lake District, I have been struck by the cost of bus travel a few times and the £3.55 that I paid for a one-way ticket from Windermere to the Kirkstone Inn was another reminder of thoughts that have crept into my mind before. That was a distance of around 10 km or 6 miles and cost at least £1 more than its equivalent. Day Rider tickets are not so cheap with one for £9.75 covering the whole area and another covering the Central Lakes for £6.60. If the powers that be want to get people out of their cars and onto public transport, then these costs would have to tumble somehow. For a family, I can foresee it all adding up to such a level that the family car remains the cheaper and easier option. Ironically, the same economic pressures that are bearing down on families are also likely affect public transport so it’s difficult to see how this is going to change, particularly with public spending cuts on the agenda.

Roadworksville

That’s how Macclesfield feels right now and it’s been that way for quite a while now, so much so that you get to wondering when we are going to be left in peace again. There are occasional signs of respite with the Churchill Way traffic light upgrade now out of the way and Broken Cross gas works complete. That still leaves a good number of roads blighted by temporary lights and the junction, Chestergate, Chester Road, Prestbury Road and King Edward Street is every bit a victim of invasive excavations with a chicane in place of two-way traffic. That’s a bit tight but buses can still get about it as they ply their routes as usual. You can only hope for an early end to Macclesfield’s “Big Dig” and be thankful for a certain reduction in traffic caused by the downturn but it would be nice if all of this wasn’t happening at once.