Posts Tagged ‘Cheshire East Council’
130, Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, Cheshire East Council, England, Macclesfield, Manchester, Road Works, Timetables, Traffic, Wilmslow
In Buses, Observations, Timetables on February 2, 2010 at 11:43 am
Yesterday, I was in Macclesfield bus station awaiting a 130 and one did come in from Manchester but that wasn’t to be my bus. In fact, it was to be a double-decker that arrived at the bus stance only minutes from going back out again. It’s destination blinds said Manchester and the route number was still 38 but that soon enough was changed to 130 and we were on our way once the bus driver sorted himself out. As we departed, that earlier bus moved into our stance and must have been the next departure. Now, I suppose that what we were watching were the machinations of rest breaks, dealing with delays to services and such like, the bread and butter of operating bus services that work along congested roads like the 130 does.
The Nether Alderley road improvements are adding to that and bus services are getting disrupted. This morning, it looks as if the 09:15 from Macclesfield never ran and that those waiting for it had to content themselves with the 09:45 instead. Yesterday morning saw a tailback along the A537 from Monk’s Heath traffic lights most of the way back to Henbury. It seems that reversing lorries may be doing hell as they start to draw in foundations for the road widening works near the Monk’s Heath junction itself. All in all, it looks as if this will be part and parcel of travelling that way over the next few months and that the bus tracker will be needed more than ever. Let’s hope that it actually gives us real times too and not just the timetable.
10, 130, 27, Bollington, Buses, Cheshire, Cheshire East Council, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Wilmslow
In Buses, News, Observations on January 27, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Since the Wright-bodied VDL’s and DAF’s that underpin the 27 Macclesfield-Knutsford service were brought into use, they have sported a Cheshire County Council specified navy and orange livery. This morning, I spotted one of them wearing a new silver, yellow and green livery, of the same kind that was brought into use by Cheshire East Council. Repainting of buses mightn’t sound a priority activity but I suppose that paintwork gets shabby over time and there’s never any harm in changing colours while you are freshening up things.
Increasing capacity is of higher priority than painting things and that brings me to the sight of double decker buses on the Macclesfield-Bollington route. When I first moved to Cheshire, the route benefitted from the introduction of new Plaxton Mini-Pointer bodied short wheelbase Dennis Darts. At the time, they stood out in a fleet full of Mercedes minibuses and old arthritic Leylands, Lynxes and Olympians. Since then, the world has turned and Dennis Darts are the dominant type with double deckers and other longer single deckers being in the minority. With that in mind, it is interesting to see the 10 getting larger capacity vehicles of an age older than those brought into service back in 2000. It’s always good to see more people using buses but it would be better if they got to travel on newer vehicles as well. That increase of passenger numbers must have helped the 130 too and an increase in usage is apparent to eyes that remember how many used to be on those Leyland midibuses that were operating on the service ten years ago.
Macclesfield, Manchester, Knutsford, Cheshire, England, Buses, 130, Timetables, 27, Cheshire East Council, Real-time Web, Bus Tracker
In Buses, Journeys, News, Observations, Suggestions on January 21, 2010 at 12:17 pm
When Cheshire East Council launched online bus tracking for routes 27 and 130, it looked like a step in the right direction and that still is the case. However, there caveats regarding the supplied information that need attention. To my mind, it seems that not enough of the buses operating those route have trackers installed or turned on. What we cannot expect is that every bus connecting Macclesfield with Knutsford or Manchester is tracked because that may mean a restricted pool of buses for initiative such as what Cheshire East Council have in operation. Breakdowns and maintenance can mean that the usual buses are unavailable so untracked vehicles have to be tolerated. Nevertheless, I am getting the impression that not enough are being tracked and that makes the tracker little better than a rolling bus timetable. Another thing that I have spotted is that it doesn’t take account of cancelled services and there were plenty of those during the recent run of arctic weather. In a nutshell, things need improving before the tracker is truly dependable and my only hope is that the general extent of usage will convince the council to do just that and maybe even expand the service to other bus routes.
130, 27, A34, A537, Alderley Edge, Cheshire, Cheshire East Council, Nether Alderley, Road Works, Satellite Tracking, Wilmslow
In Buses, Coaches, News on November 7, 2009 at 8:25 am
It now appears that I might have been too hopeful when I mused that traffic conditions might improve next month because anyone braving the A34 around Monk’s Heath faces almost certain disruption from next Monday week (2009-11-16). Included among these is the widening and resurfacing of Bollington Lane along with the installation of new sets of traffic lights at either end. After that, there’s the adding of an extra lane at the Monk’s Heath traffic lights so that traffic from the Alderley Edge direction are not held up by anyone seeking to turn right at what at times is a very busy junction.
The scale of these changes makes it sound that they will be ongoing for a while so you only can hope that any inconvenience is kept to a minimum. In a way, this is counterbalanced by the coming to an end of the work at the Harden roundabout on the Wilmslow side of Alderley Edge as part of the construction of its bypass. Even so, there has to be an impact of bus service timings with all of this going on and at a time when the hours of daylight are limited too. It’s just as well that Cheshire East Council has their bus tracker in place for the very buses that will be impacted by all of this. Is that why it was set up in the first place?
Update 2009-11-09: Signs are already in place telling of 11 months of work ahead and that makes sense given what’s in scope. It might be an idea to use an alternative route at busy times if that’s possible, methinks.
Update 2009-11-14: The start date is now to be two weeks later than originally planned (2009-11-30). November seems set to be more or less unsullied by any of the associated disturbance that these will cause.
Update 2009-11-15: A quick look at the Cheshire East Council website suggests that the start date is tomorrow week (2009-11-23) but we’ll have to wait and see on that. Apparently, the real reason for the length of time needed is the impact that there will be on things like phone lines and water pipes. Let’s hope that the very thing that delayed the tram workings in Edinburgh doesn’t strike here too. However, there is some good news in the form of keeping work away from peak times as much as possible and the taking down of signals only needed while work is in progress at the end of the working day.
130, 27, Arriva, Bowers, Cheshire, Cheshire East Council, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Timetables, Traffic
In Buses, News, Timetables on August 25, 2009 at 6:26 pm
With the ever pervasiveness of GPS, bus tracking was bound to come to mind sooner or later. It’s been in Wales for a while already and Cheshire East Council now have rolled it out on an experimental basis. So far, it just seems to have the 27 Macclesfield-Knutsford and the 130 Macclesfield-Manchester included. For me, that’s not useless because I use both of these on a regular basis anyway and it would be invaluable to be able to see what’s happening out there on the roads after the schools reopen and in the darker and colder evenings. After all, it is so easy for buses to get delayed.
Unlike Wales, where I have seen the information displayed at bus stops, it’s all online for now. Still, that can mean that you stay inside until you that a bus is due in a few minutes and make the requisite dash to the bus stop in plenty of time. Any time not spent out in the cold and the wet in blind faith and/or frustration can only be a good thing. This is precisely the sort of thing that is needed if a coating of snow or a storm causes havoc.
All in all, it’s a good news story and public transport needs more of them. Let’s hope that it stays with us and even gets expanded to full coverage. A good story could get even better.
130, 38, Arriva, Bank Holiday Travel, Changes, Cheshire, Cheshire East Council, Congleton, Crewe, D&G, GHA, Macclesfield, Manchester, Sandbach, Sunday Travel, Vale of Llangollen, Vale Travel
In Buses, News, Timetables on August 22, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Until now, service 38 linking Macclesfield, Congleton, Sandbach and Crewe has been an entirely Arriva enterprise and remained steadfastly so in the face of other changes that were taking place. However, that is set to change with D&G Bus taking over the Sunday and Bank Holiday services from the second Sunday in September. Thankfully, the timetable is staying the same though it is noted perhaps worryingly that the service is classed as commercial and run without council support; I have been under the impression that it was otherwise on these days though information on the Cheshire East Council website may be incorrect on this point. In a related development, I have noticed that Vale Travel (otherwise known as Vale of Llangollen, a GHA subsidiary) has a registration for the 38 too. What this means is as yet unknown to me but I do know that Arriva are changing their timetable for the service at the end of the month. It is tempting to think that they may be operating the evening service but that’s mere supposition right now. Whatever happens, I hope that this pivotal bus service does not suffer what has happened to the 130 Macclesfield-Manchester operation on weekday evenings with route shortening and frequency reduction making an invaluable service less attractive than it really should be. We are starting to live in more challenging time so let’s hope that we do not lose what is valuable along the way.
