Posts Tagged ‘Cheshire’
Cheshire, England, Macclesfield, National Rail, Northern Rail, Northwich, Stockport, Trains, Virgin
In Journeys, Observations, Trains on March 9, 2010 at 8:12 pm
After having the idea in my head for a while, I finally went out for a cycle that mostly followed quieter lanes as my itinerary took in Gawsworth, Astbury and Goostrey on the way to Northwich. Many of the roads that I followed were new to me as was the town of Northwich itself. The plan was not to overdo it so I had designs on using trains to get home again. However, a missed train allowed an opportunity to check out the countryside on the north side of the town too. Well, the service is two hourly on Sundays.
When another train did come to the down at heel halt that is Northwich’s train station (the local user’s group have posters up regarding giving the thing a spot of TLC), I was glad to find that there were bicycle spaces available, especially with Northern trumpetting about there only being two per train. Eventually, there were three on the train without any protest from the conductor. Even so, there was no trouble with retrieving my mode of transport in Stockport so the next train serving Macclesfield saw me on board.
That was a Virgin so arrangements were more formal than the “help yourself” regime of Northern or CrossCountry. First, you need to get Virgin staff to unlock the compartment where bikes are kept on the train. On the night, a spot of (illegal) smoking was the cause of setting off a row between passengers so the process of loading involved a little wait. Once that little formality is out of the way, you need to find a member of the train crew to ensure that you get the bicycle off again (there are signs to that effect in case you are unaware or have forgotten), a pressing need when you are getting off at the next stop like I was. Saying that, the procedure worked without a hitch and I wasn’t dumped in Stoke or left bereft of anything. Incidentally, storage space didn’t seem to be a problem either.
10, 11, 4, Arriva, Bollington, Buses, Cheshire, England, Kerridge, Macclesfield, Road Works, Timetables, Traffic, Upton Priory
In Happenings, News, Observations on March 5, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Macclesfield’s streets have been getting dug up again and it’s a reminder of what was going on around this time last year when traffic light renewal was under way. About that time, there seemed to be some gas works ongoing too and it is gas mains renewals that are causing the disruption at the moment. The powers that be seem to have focussed their attention around the roundabout at the intersection of Churchill Way and Cumberland Street/Hibel Road. So far, that doesn’t seem to having much effect on the buses that I use though services to Kerridge (the bus used for that service now displays its destination and the vehicle has gained a cherished registration mark too; what was wrong with the standard issue 54 one?), Bollington and Upton Priory surely can’t have escaped the build up of traffic caused by temporary traffic lights. Of course, it would be best if this sort of thing went away for a while but that might be why signs have appeared about a few weeks work lasting for eighty years afterwards. Only time can tell if that promise comes to pass with the rigid plastic pipes that they seem to be using.
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.
10, 130, 27, Arriva, Bowers, Buses, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, National Rail, Northern Rail, Road Conditions, Weather, Wilmslow
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Observations, Site news, Timetables, Trains on January 17, 2010 at 8:34 pm
The first full working week of 2010 was a hectic affair after the previous weekend’s snowfall and that during the early hours of Tuesday morning. Many a website was being hammered in the search for travel information during the disruption and this one was no exception with it getting as many hits in a week as it normally does in a month. The past week has seen things calming down though there have been problems in places. One of these has been the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton and the 58 was being diverted even as lately as today because of snow drifts and troublesome road conditions. However, the Cat and Fiddle webcam shows a clearance from the way that things were not so long ago. Hopefully, the run of normal Atlantic weather will continue to normalise things even it means getting wet from time to time (or was that nearly all of the time?). The sad part might be having to find another talking point but anything’s better than seeing people getting hurt on ice.
10, 11, 130, 21, 27, 4, Bollington, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Kerridge, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester
In Buses, News, Observations, Timetables on January 15, 2010 at 11:56 am
Heavy rain might have been visiting Macclesfield this morning but bus travellers between Macclesfield and Buxton still are being diverted around by Whaley Bridge. Of course, what is rain at lower levels can become sleet and snow up higher on those hills. With that there was last night, you wouldn’t have imagined that heavy rain lay ahead but such is the British weather that big changes like that often happen quickly. What does take a while is the melting of any ice that has formed and the rain only makes it more slippery in the interim period. The result is that I have tended to walk on the carriageway where the footway looks very suspect. Speaking of roads, buses are able to travel and the usual complement of buses serving routes 4, 10, 11, 21, 27 and 130 were out and about. So, while the snow hasn’t departed us yet, milder (and wetter) weather lies ahead. Quite where all the water locked up in snow and ice is going to go is anyone’s guess but rivers and streams could get very full and the next complaint that we get to hear could be about flooding. Well, there’s always something but we have little choice but to get through it.
Arriva, Éire, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Ireland, Macclesfield, Road Conditions, Trains, Weather
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Observations, Timetables, Trains on January 12, 2010 at 10:22 am
Since Sunday, there has been a very noticeable thaw. That’s not to say the snowy blanket is in marked retreat but that any that is lying on Macclesfield pavements is reducing and roads are staying clear or are clearing. The lack of severe frosts over the last few nights only can have helped. Bowers is providing an ever more complete service over its routes (amyone travelling between Macclesfield and Buxton needed to go around by Whaley Bridge when I last looked) and Arriva’s services around Macclesfield seem to be running OK from what I can see. The same statement applies to train services too.
More snow is forecast but this will be of the Atlantic variety so there is a chance that it will not stall what is a slow thaw; there may be disruption like what affected Ireland in recent days (bus services around Cork and Kerry were affected) but that may be part and parcel of things generally warming up. With all the snow that is lying, it is best not have a fast rise in temperature or we will have transport disruption due to flooding. So, it might be better to have a slow clearance than a fast one, especially in hill country where places are heavily plastered with the white stuff. I, for one, will be taking things as they come and it is looking as if places may be slippery on the way to our more usual maritime mix of weather.
130, 58, 61, A537, A6, Arriva, Bakewell, Bowers, Buses, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Journeys, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Road Conditions, Trains, Transpeak, Trent Barton
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Timetables, Trains on January 10, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Yesterday saw me travel over to Derbyshire to see how things were over there. The hills between Macclesfield and Buxton were thickly plastered with snow but the A537 was clear on the way over though drifting snow was starting to cover it and cut down on visibility at the same time. It must have disimproved after that because the return journey on Bowers service 58 went around by Whaley Bridge on the return journey that evening. It was the 17:05 that I was using and doubts surfaces were surfacing regarding the running of the service and an enquiry of the helpful driver of the inbound service 61 from Glossop set things to rights after she rang the depot for information. That’s not to say that there weren’t confused passengers on board when the bus started to go a different to what was expected. Even so, we all got back to Macclesfield intact and that’s what’s important.
After spending some time enjoying the sunny snowscapes around Buxton, I popped over to Bakewell on the Transpeak service (the return wasn’t cheap at £5.80, it has to be said). Whiteness remained pervasive and the bus stuck to the A6 apart from serving Ashford-in-the-Water. Having come all the way from Manchester, it was running 10 minutes but that can happen on any day.
In general, there was a good supply of buses running in both Buxton and Bakewell but the story doesn’t look so good today. The only Bowers service running is the 61 between Glossop and Buxton so road conditions mustn’t have stayed as they were after more snowfall. Even trains running between Manchester and Buxton have been affected and drifting snow has been the given cause. A combination of more snow and it drifting about cannot be easy conditions within which to be working.
Around Macclesfield, there seem to be signs of a thaw and the 130 was out when I braved the conditions when I tried out my bike (most places were fine but I learned to keep away from steeper cambers and to keep a good tyre footprint on the road; any sliding was arrested by placing a foot on the ground so there was no bump of any kind). As I write this the sky is full of cloud and there has been the occasional flake of snow but tonight and tomorrow may tell tales yet. The cold spell is far from over so it’s a case of taking things day by day.
10, 130, 27, 4, 58, Bollington, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester
In Buses, Happenings, News, Observations, Site news, Timetables, Trains on January 8, 2010 at 11:15 am
Yesterday proved to be a very busy day on this part of the web with the site statistics showing it was the busiest day that it ever had. In contrast, it is a much quieter place this morning with visitor numbers being more usual. It would seem that the same could be said for buses around Macclesfield. There was a very late 130 but that can happen on any day with Knutsford, Bollington and Macclesfield town services being out and about. Only for the snow that was on the ground in places and the need to clear and grit some areas, it could have been any other day. Of course, another dump of snow could change things and the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton remains shut, resulting in a diverted service 58 (it’s not the only alteration to Bowers services in Derbyshire). A weekend foray into the hills remains tempting but transport considerations come into play as does the need for items like snowshoes. We’ll see what comes next.
Update @15:40: Service 58 between Buxton and Macclesfield now seems to be running as usual so the A537 must have been cleared to facilitate this.
10, 11, 130, 27, 4, A537, Arriva, Bollington, Bostocks, Bowers, Buses, Buxton, Cheshire, Delays, Derbyshire, England, Kettleshulme, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Rainow, Road Conditions, Weather
In Buses, Happenings, News, Timetables on January 7, 2010 at 10:55 am
From what I have seen this morning, buses are running around Macclesfield though there are delays. For one thing, I had a longer than expected wait for my bus to work but the 130 (Manchester) is running as are the 4 (Upton Priory), 10 (Bollington), 11 (Kerridge) and 27 (Knutsford). All of them were sighted around Churchill Way while I was waiting. As I write this, fog is cutting down on visibility and the air is cold enough to freeze the ears off you but you can move about with a spot of due care and attention. Saying that, it seems that the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton is impassable with the 58 being redirected to connect with the 60 at Whaley Bridge, even though the road around by Kettleshulme and Rainow has its own problems according to the information that I have.
Update 1: You’ll find updates on Bowers bus services and the same for other Centrebus operations on Twitter and Facebook. Seeing the effectiveness of this, it might be an idea for Arriva to do the same with the current sluggishness of their bus company website. Being a multi-regional operator means that they are under siege from all directions when we the sort of weather than we are having.
Update 2: On the way home, things seem to be going like the sort of weekday with no snow about. Yes, there were delays with the 130 but the 27 ran near enough to time so travelling was no ordeal.
10, 130, 27, Arriva, Bollington, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Road Conditions, Road Safety, Weather
In Buses, Happenings, News, Observations, Timetables on January 6, 2010 at 10:08 am
The southbound voyage of yesterday’s band of snow seems to have paralysed Arriva’s website but the 130 is running again this morning as is the 27 (not all Bowers services are running as usual, though; check their website for details). A number 10 was spotted running around Macclesfield too so signs are hopeful regarding bus services. So long as more snow doesn’t arrive, there should be some buses running near enough to normal around Cheshire. There are talks of the cold weather staying with us for weeks yet so it looks as if we’ll need to adapt to the conditions rather than waiting for them to adapt to us. The Nordic combination of wearing boots to work and shoes around the office is set to stay in place for much of January by the looks of things.
Update: The 130 was running well when I got to going home this evening and I even thought I spied a 27 going around too. The chaos may have gone south…
130, Arriva, Cheshire, England, Macclesfield, Road Conditions, Weather
In Buses, Happenings, News, Observations, Timetables on January 5, 2010 at 5:32 pm
It now seems that Arriva’s services are getting badly hit by the weather with the usual 130 service being abandoned with only the possibility of a skeleton service between Macclesfield and Handforth in its place. The article on their website says Macclesfield states Macclesfield Hospital as the destination but I spotted a bus looking as if it was from the Macclesfield depot sporting the service number 130 around Monk’s Heath; by then I had bailed out and organised a lift home from a work colleague (who happens to have experience of Montreal winters as I later found). Otherwise, the snowfall seems to be causing havoc in Cheshire so we’ll have to wait and see what runs in the morning. It looks as if the Arriva website will need inspection before travel decisions can be made, especially with more snow being expected.
Hint: Head over to the Bus Companies page on here for more information on any disruption. I’ll try to keep up with what I find but the scale of the problem is too big for someone like myself to cover on our own. Of course, if you can add anything in the comments, then that would be very welcome.
10, 130, 27, 4, Arriva, Bollington, Bowers, Cheshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Road Conditions, Road Safety, Weather
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Timetables on January 5, 2010 at 10:23 am
East Cheshire got a deep blanketting of snow overnight and that’s on top of what was there already. Bowers seem to be unable to travel again so there is no 27 or any other of their Cheshire bus services. Macclesfield town services seem to be running with my spotting the 4 and the 10 going about and the 130 is running on some sort of timetable. Cheshire East Council is pulling out its gritting lorries and snow ploughs so there is some chance of road clearance after the amount of snow that I have never seen falling in Macclesfield before. The cold white spell continues and we’ll just have to deal with it for as long as it is around. It might be a good idea to use more appropriate than the shoes that most use on a daily basis; speaking for myself, I have pulled out hillwalking boots for going to and from work with shoes being carried rather than worn.
A Word of Warning: The Real Time Bus Tracker is not so hot when it comes to missing out cancelled bus services. The 27 isn’t running between Macclesfield and Knutsford but bus services are still being shown on there. Well, I suppose that there’s alway room for improvement with everything. Saying that, it would be better if folk weren’t being mislead…
130, 27, 58, Arriva, Bollington, Bowers, Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Weather
In Buses, Happenings, News, Timetables on January 4, 2010 at 11:35 am
This morning, the first 130 from Macclesfield to Manchester of which I know was the 09:45; anyone waiting for anything due after 08:00 (and maybe before that again) was in for a very cold wait even if the real-time bus tracker suggested otherwise. It’s at times like these that you get to question a company’s choice of bus depot location; the 130 is run from Manchester. Last night was so cold that ice could be seen on the inside of that bus! Bollington buses (Arriva service 10) had ice on the outside but noting ice on the inside and it thawing on top of you is something else.
No Bowers service is running and that includes service 27 between Macclesfield and Knutsford (the bus tracker might suggest otherwise, though) along with cross-boundary services like the 58 between Macclesfield and Buxton. Having been on one of those on a very snowy day before Christmas (the A537 looked forbidding in the snow and the fog), it looks as if it must be atrocious over in Chaple-en-le-Frith. A full thaw is more than a week away so it’s hard to see things moving much before then but I am open to pleasant surprises.
All in all, these are the effects of an arctic Christmas and New Year so it’s a case of getting out sensible footwear and taking it easy. Others may want to ignore nature and remove the white stuff while it still is grippy but my outdoors sensitivities don’t play to that gallery and anything that you can grip is better than a smooth icy surface. It’s only when there’s a freeze-thaw cycle in operation or a serious danger of elderly broken bones that you’ll find me taking evasive action like breaking ice or heading for the grit container with a shovel. Some say that modern buses are not so tolerant of cold weather but they run well much of the time in adverse conditions. It’s only extremes that cause the sort of disruption that I experienced this morning and more snow is due this evening.
Update: The 27 and the 300 (Knutsford town service) were supposed to be running in the afternoon but I cannout vouch for that myself.
Caledonian Sleeper, Cheshire, Crewe, Fort William, Lochaber, Scotland, Scotrail, Trains
In Journeys, Observations, Trains on December 9, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Last weekend saw me take the Caledonian Sleeper from Crewe to Fort William. After a none too restful return from Aviemore in August, I booked a berth to make sure of a better night’s rest (being able to turn off the lights helps). It wasn’t the first time that I travelled by Sleeper to Fort William and a January 2006 escapade saw me arriving in Fort William feeling reasonably refreshed so I knew that my plans had some form, to use an expression from horse racing. Since that 2006 journey, memories have faded a little and I had forgotten how little floor space there is to be found even in a first class berth and the corridor wasn’t very wide either. Yes, I did travel first class on both occasions with the second outing costing less than the first with my getting an advance purchase fare the second time around. That’s never to say that it was cheap at £136 so it has to be a once in while extravagance and the standard single ticket is around £184, which is even more forestalling. Even the standard class fare isn’t cheap either and having two in a berth sounds restrictive.
The reason for the title of this piece is that there was more audible noise than I’d expected though it was nothing like the brake roar of a Mark II carriage like the one(s) on which I was travelling when going to and from Aviemore. The carriage in which I was travelling was immediately behind the locomotive on the way to Edinburgh so that may have been part of the reason for this along with the general turning of wheels that is unavoidable. Even so, I did manage to drop off to sleep even if it was to be interrupted from time to time. In keeping with the general lack of space, the bed wasn’t the widest but I discovered a duvet that either remained unfound or was absent on my 2006 trip. That was a bonus on the cold night and put a stop to any recourse to coverage with an outer jacket.
It was beyond Bridge of Orchy that I arose and opened the window blind to be greeted by the sight of snow-topped summits with the sun struggling from its slumber. That awakening was later than in 2006 when I looked out at Tyndrum Upper station and the tops were devoid of the white stuff too so that was one previsualisation put out of its misery. Breakfast duly arrived within a few minutes of the agreed time (included in the fare for first class and costing extra for standard class), the pull down tray shelf allowed me to down the alloted portions while gawping at what lay outside my window. In fact, I was left wondering when the glorious sights were to ease off to allow for ablutions (you get a covered sink in the berth) and collection of belongings but there was to be time for those necessities too.
All in all, it was a good journey and I went out into the frosty Fort William air not feeling the worst for wear after the night’s travelling. If I ever get to doing it again, I’d bring earplugs to make getting to sleep easier but you cannot do anything about awakenings caused by jolts as the train changes tracks at a junction. Even so, you do arrive feeling far better than you would after travelling overnight on a coach. On the surface, there are issues with value for money but a look at daytime fares helps to put that in perspective. Travelling mid-week helps too and there are bargain berths if you book ahead, especially if you are starting from London. Even with the cost issue and the fact that there are no Saturday night services, it probably is the best way to travel overnight to Scotland. While you could always fly and avoid overnight travel altogether, you’d miss out on those early sights of the hills and lochs and that has to be better than worrying about environmental consequences and luggage considerations. That the airborne option is not always cheaper either makes it less sensible to miss out on those visual delights.
130, 27, A34, A537, Alderley Edge, Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Road Works, Traffic, Wilmslow
In Buses, Happenings, Incidents, Observations, Timetables on November 26, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Two nights ago, the A34 was reduced to gridlock after a digger was left in the northbound lane by Bollington Lane. To be fair, it was guarded by temporary traffic lights but that in itself was the cause of havoc. Not only did they back up traffic by themselves but they must have caused trouble with the permanent lights at Monk’s Heath as well as those around where the Alderley Edge bypass is to join the A34. That roundabout should be complete by December 17th though the bypass exit from it will not be operational until 2011. However, both sets of temporary lights stopped everyone in their tracks those few evenings ago with their reduction of passage to one way progress. Thankfully, Birse Civils learned their lessons and the Bollington Lane lights were gone within 24 hours though it might have been better for them to have realised the potential effects beforehand. My guess is that they will not be seen again until after the completion of the roundabout though I do wonder if they have gone to the A537 instead because the 27 (Knutsford-Macclesfield) was heavily delayed tonight. As if all this weren’t there apparently have been another set of temporary lights in Alderley Edge and their acting up has caused its own troubles. All in all, motorists might need to consider avoiding the A34 at rush hour for the next year if these experiences are any sign of what lies ahead. Buses don’t have that luxury so public transport users will have to make do and put the bus tracker to good use.
Altrincham, Cheshire, Chester, CrossCountry, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Northwich, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent, Timetables, Virgin
In Observations, Timetables, Trains on November 16, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Until yesterday, I was under the impression that the Sunday service on the Mid Cheshire railway line between Stockport and Chester consisted only of three trains running each way. There is some vague memory of a timetable of that shape lodge in the back my brain but it’s two-hourly these days and proved to be good enough to lure me as far as Chester yesterday. There may have been a delay to my outbound journey of the order of 35 minutes because of a delay to the train from Southport but I was far from incensed. The extra time was used to potter around Stockport’s nicer parts (around Stockport Village where its markets are held) and the sun stayed out to shorten the journey around by Knutsford and Northwich. Chester was under cloudy skies when I arrived but the clouds had dissipated by the time that I came to leave the pleasant spot.
A subsequent shamble around the web has revealed active community involvement in the line with there being websites for the associated community rail partnership and local users group. It makes you wonder if any service improvements are a result of the added involvement and the enhanced Sunday service then would make sense. My web wandering also took by the website of the community rail partnership for the Manchester-Crewe line and there would seem to have been improvements there too.
This vein of thought is beginning to make me wonder if a community rail partnership for the Manchester-Macclesfield-Stoke line is in order with Northern only running three services each way of a Sunday and none of these going northbound earlier than the first Virgin service starting from London. Unlike others, we might have been spoilt with what we have and I am getting to wonder if we are paying for any complacency and if we could be made to pay even more. There is the East Cheshire Lines Rail User Group but could it be more active? Where I am going with this is that is a question that only we can answer and it might be time for all of us to give it a bit of added oomph, particularly after the reduction in CrossCountry services and the disruption that we suffered for far too long during the West Coast Mainline upgrade.
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.
A34, Alderley Edge, B5087, Buses, Cheshire, Highways Agency, M6, Road Works, Traffic, Wilmslow
In Buses, Happenings, Observations on November 6, 2009 at 12:23 pm
It’s an oft discussed topic but you do get to wondering how things might be if we didn’t bother with winter time and stuck with its summer counterpart all of the year around. I am led to believe that summer time continued into the winter months during WW2 with double summer time coming into force when BST usually would hold sway. By all accounts, everyone got along and it looks as if it would have been the least of the troubles that anyone faced.
However, I have noticed that November evening traffic is blighted with disruption from time to time and wonder if not putting back the clocks would help. There was an occasion when an overturned lorry between Alderley Edge and Wilmslow severely disrupted my journey home from work, delaying it by next to 90 minutes. We may have satellite tracking of buses (Cheshire East Timeline) these times so you can stay indoors until the bus is near but it is too easy to let disbelief take over when buses don’t seem to be moving at all and go outside to make sure of getting home; the onset of darkness concentrates the mind. That’s how it appeared on Tuesday night and the tracker hadn’t packed in as suspected but traffic had backed up to an horrendous level because of road works due to the construction of the Alderley Edge bypass and some work on the B5087 within that village itself.
That bypass should help avoid instances like those described above but you can get closures on the M6 too so I wonder how it would cope with the motorway traffic. It goes without saying that the village of Alderley Edge cannot take the onslaught with its pedestrian lights, junctions and school and such a situation had me keeping an eye on the Highways Agency website for a while (the BBC’s Travel News website is a useful port of call too). Cheshire East Council’s bus tracker easily dispatches that habit to history and things do seem to calm down in December. Nevertheless, it is striking how traffic chaos still occurs from time to time during an economic recession.
Éire, Bicycles, Cheshire, Dublin, England, Heuston, Leeds, Macclesfield, Northern Spirit, Rail Engineering, Rail Replacement, Railways, Skipton, Taxi, Trains, Virgin, Wilmslow, Yorkshire
In Observations, Trains on November 5, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Yesterday, I set down my observations and thoughts regarding carriage of bikes on buses. Perhaps naturally, my thinking has taken me into the area of carrying bikes on trains. On paper, that’s an easier proposition because most trains have some space set aside for bicycle storage. You may need to pay extra for carriage with a long distance express operator (Virgin Trains, for example) but it is included in the walk-on ticket price for most operators. The exceptions to this usual level of provision are some commuter services in the south-east of England where you have to sneak on folding bikes as luggage, a draconian state of affairs in my opinion.
Mind you, carrying any bike on a busy train is not the easiest thing to be doing. That’s what I faced when I needed to convey one from Skipton to Macclesfield in 2000. Thankfully, an obliging Northern Spirit train conductor allowed me carry it on even when there were bikes already on board and the DMU, like many, had only two spaces. Then, there was getting around Leeds station. There are lifts there now but this was before the major refurbishment that gave us what we see today and you needed a helpful station attendant to take you around use goods lifts and shop workers neglected to close the doors after them and the lift at platform level with us on the bridge! That made an already involved exploit a little more anxious than was needed. Saying that, I still caught my train to Manchester and another to Wilmslow due to rail engineering works. The Manchester changeover must have passed off with no trouble because I have no memory of it but getting from Wilmslow to Macclesfield involved a man with a very large taxi, a Ford Granada/Scorpio estate. If that wasn’t there, things would have been far more tricky.
That whole episode captures quite a few of the challenges that you have to overcome to get anywhere on the railways with a bike in tow. If there are engineering works, then you could be facing the obstacle that is the non-carriage of bicycles on buses or coaches. Even if there aren’t, there’s getting around train stations and Leeds is now both brighter and easier to get around than it use to be. Nevertheless, ticket barriers have been added and they are a new obstacle to be overcome that isn’t exclusive to Leeds since their use is spreading in the U.K. and beyond with Dublin’s Heuston Station now having them in Éire; thankfully, a certain amount of presence of mind has given us wide gates for those carrying wide articles with us. Finding space on a train is an ever enduring issue and may be one that is never resolved completely. In fact, modern trains have been getting less good at conveying luggage anyway, so much so that Virgin try to encourage you not to bring along too much; it is best not to attempt moving house by train then unless your worldly goods are none too numerous, not a situation in which I find myself anymore.
All in all, you can take a bike around with you on next parts of Britain’s railway network though there’s a spot of extra effort needed. It isn’t simply a matter of grabbing your bike and jumping on a train for a day out in the country. After a busy week of work, that may be sufficient to make you go for a walk instead and that’s partly how I got into hillwalking; the fear of punctures and mechanical failure hasn’t helped either. For a longer trip away or moving home to take up a new job like I was doing in the story above, the effort is worth it and does work. It just needs planning and patience rather than spontaneity. Saying that, the temptations of car use of bicycle hire are ever present too.
Bosley, Buses, Cheshire, Connect 19, Cycling, England, Macclesfield, Monk's Heath, Prestbury, Road Safety, Upton Priory, Wilmslow
In Buses, Observations, Suggestions on October 22, 2009 at 12:23 pm
One of the things that amazes me about Cheshire is where you can find footways and traffic lights. Sometimes, these are as far from dense urban areas as you can hope to get. The traffic lights at Bosley Crossroads are typical of the type as perhaps are those at Monk’s Heath. That’s never to say that they are not needed but it is telling how dense traffic can get on Cheshire’s roads at times that even rural locations are afflicted by the malady.
On the other hand, it can amaze one where there aren’t any traffic lights either. For example, having one at the junction of Green Lane and Alderley Road (A538) in Wilmslow would surely help the 130 on its way to Macclesfield during the rush hour. The possibility that really comes to mind is the staggered junction between Priory Lane, Macclesfield Road (B5087) and Prestbury Road near between Upton Priory and Prestbury. I was reminded of this twice when come home from work on my bicycle because with busy filter lanes, someone could take a chance when they shouldn’t and anyone on a pedal cycle cut come off badly as a result. The Connect 19 passes the way too so visibility mightn’t always be what it should be. Of course, you should never pull out of a minor road onto a major one when you cannot see what’s happening but we all can make mistakes, can’t we? It’s not a particularly nice part of the road system of a dark evening or morning so I often wonder if anyone does come a cropper around there.
Cheshire, Edinburgh, England, Gwynedd, Harlech, Lockerbie, Macclesfield, Machynlleth, Manchester, National Rail, Timetables, Trains, Wales, Wilmslow, Wolverhampton
In Observations, Timetables, Trains on October 14, 2009 at 11:45 am
With a fine weekend in prospect, the mind turns to getting out and enjoying what’s on offer. In that vein, I tried looking up train times for a return journey between Macclesfield and Harlech, all on the same day with one change in Wolverhampton and maybe another in Machynlleth, only for the National Rail Enquiries website to tell me that it was impossible. The workaround was to look for a single outbound journey and a single return journey, not ideal but I got the information that I needed. While this was a case of curiosity more than anything else, I might be nonplussed if I was after a bargain fare in preference to the standard Off-Peak Return; knowing that such a search would prove fruitless anyway would have meant sticking with a walk on fare so I wasn’t bothered.
While it has come a way since its original incarnation, the episode illustrates that creases still need to be knocked of the National Rail Enquiries journey planning algorithm. When the website first came on the scene, I was left wondering why they couldn’t have used the excellent engine that Network Rail had inherited from Railtrack; it was one of the few things that they got right. It was all the more puzzling when the new planning engine was nowhere near as good as its predecessor. Glitches like not being told about journey options via Wilmslow when engineering work disrupted the normal Sunday services between Macclesfield and Manchester was but one of the inconsistencies.
Of course, any system is only ever as good as the data supplied to it. A striking example of that was the carrot of having an early Sunday morning rail replacement coach to Wilmslow for a day out in Wales. The advised coach service turned out to be a work of fiction so my travel arrangements had to change as did any plans that I had. A good day was enjoyed but not in the way in which I had envisaged it. The same sort of thing may explain the lack of available fares sometimes when there is engineering work ongoing and that between Lockerbie and Edinburgh earlier this year comes to mind.
While I can deal with this and find my way around the rail network anyway or even turn to other journey planning services, what must it all seem to someone who isn’t so savvy? I can see it looking very offputting and that’s a pity because public transport needs all the support that it can get in these leaner times. Taking this further, public transport needs to sell itself better and easier journey planning is part of this. Websites that don’t deliver may not cause someone to pick up a phone or visit their nearest staffed train station but set them to choose to drive or even fly instead, hardly the type of thing that should be happening. The National Rail Enquiries website may have won awards and offer the option to sort out accommodation along with your train ticket but what use is all of this if the journey finding algorithm or the information supplied to it aren’t up to scratch? After all, that’s why people go to the website so both of those need to take precedence over any other fancy features that some might care to add.
130, 42, Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, Congleton, Crewe, D&G, Holmes Chapel, Macclesfield, Manchester, Timetables
In Buses, Observations, Timetables on October 9, 2009 at 12:13 pm
A thought struck me while looking at the service frequency for D&G’s service 42 between Congleton and Crewe via Holmes Chapel. It is hourly Monday for the full route and two hourly on Saturdays for the same (it runs only between Leighton Hospital and Crewe on the intermediate hours); there is no Sunday service. Arriva’s 130 exhibits the same type of behaviour with an hourly daytime frequency on Saturdays and Sundays while it is half hourly during the other days of the week. Intuitively, you would have thought that, away from the rush hours, less folk would be using buses on a main work day in comparison to Saturday when the shops are open for the same hours and there are more folk off work to visit them. However, it doesn’t seem to go like that. Confounding factors might include folk spending their free time at home and not travelling about or people using services that are closed at weekends. Both of those could explain why the streets of Macclesfield are next to empty of an evening; if there is nowhere to go then nobody comes. Another thing to remember is that there is an inclination to spend a whole day going somewhere for some activity rather than dividing it up into short chunks. All of these must affect patronage and might explain why the service level of a Sunday simply drops over a cliff. All in all, the behaviour of hoards can be very odd and I suppose that it has its effects on bus timetables too.
Arriva, BakerBus, Buses, Cheshire, Congleton, Crewe, D&G, GHA, Nantwich, Sandbach, Timetables
In Buses, News, Timetables on October 5, 2009 at 8:22 pm
A quick look at Cheshire East Council’s list of bus service changes for October will confirm that something of an upheaval will be going on in southeast Cheshire’s bus network at the end of the month. Places like Crewe, Sandbach, Nantwich and Congleton are seeing the bulk of the action with interurban changes showing the most of the transformation. Of course, your only hope is that no reduction in service quality will result and that’s how it looks to me with BakerBus and GHA increasing their footprints with no mention of Arriva at all and plenty of references to D&G. It would seem that Cheshire’s formerly main operator is but a minor player now. There is no sign of anything planned for November or December but my hope is the Cheshire East’s newly refreshed website would be where we would find out about any changes. After all, trying to find out anything from a traffic commissioner website is dead loss, even if it is they who process all of the supporting paperwork.
130, 27, Arriva, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Edinburgh, England, Knutsford, Lothian Buses, Macclesfield, Manchester, Scotland, Timetables, Traffic
In Buses, Observations, Suggestions, Timetables on September 16, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I was up in Edinburgh for the last weekend of August and noticed that a goodly number of bus stops were supplied with display boards showing when the real number of minutes until the arrival of the next bus(es). The arrangement of the information seems to be by service number rather than time with there being two slots per service. There is some sense to this if you are after a particular service but, if you are of a more flexible mindset, it may seem a little strange at first. Another peculiarity is that the very useful offering only applies to Lothian Buses and not other operators in the city like First or Munros. In fact, Lothian’s services can be so regular that you wonder why satellite tracking is used for them at when it would make far more sense for longer distance services entering and leaving the city while plying their way to destinations like the Borders or Fife. The counterpoint to that is that it saves you having to inspect bus timetables attached to bus shelters and people standing or sitting right in front of them.
The relevance of all this to Cheshire is pertaining to its current piloting of bus tracking services 27 and 130. It is needed especially badly for the 130 with its propensity for getting delayed along its route, particularly at busy times. As if to remind me of the point, the one taking me to work this morning was the most of twenty minutes late. However, my impression is that you need to start up a computer to get the information, as useful as even that it. However, the last thing that you really need to being on going out the door in the morning is going through of starting a computer up to see when the next bus is due and then shutting it down afterwards. That sort of thing can cause you to leave it on all of the time, hardly an environmentally friendly practice. An obvious alternative to this is delivery via mobile phone (text messaging would be handy for those without web enabled handsets) or displaying the time until the next arrivals at well used bus stops like what is in place in Edinburgh. In reality, I can see this type of installation having to await the outcome of the current pilot but I still feel that it’s where things should be headed.
130, Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Manchester, Road Works, Traffic
In Buses, Happenings, Incidents on August 26, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Roadworks seem to have invaded Chester Road after something of a respite. It doesn’t help that the gas network is continuing to be the subject of attention around Macclesfield. The same blighters seem to have targetted the A6 between High lane and Disley too as I found when I was out on my bike last Saturday.
The trouble with roadworks is that they often reduce a road from carrying bidirectional traffic to being a one way street, not that I saw much evidence of temporary traffic lights on Chester Road this evening. Such a situation means that any roads have to be in negotiating mode rather than expecting everyone else to give way for you as did a certain chap driving what looked like a Transit pickup while I was on the bus home. The result was that the bus driver stopped the vehicle and switched the engine off to have a cigarette until the other party got the message. After all, the Transit wasn’t on his own side of the road so the bus driver’s actions perhaps were understandable. After all, he did have the bigger vehicle and cars right behind him so reversing wasn’t going to be as easy as it was for the other guy. Naturally, an exchange of views took place and the van driver was told that he would be there until the police came if he didn’t budge out of the way. It looked like we might be there for some time so I disembarked for a longer but far from unreasonable walk home and left them to it. As it happened, I was soon to hear the sound of a vehicle reversing warning system as the van driver had taken the hint and the bus passed me while making its way. A little more patience and my walk would have been shorter but who was to know? The same could be said for the other drivers who were in the business of turning tale to go another way.
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.
Aviemore, Birmingham, Caledonian Sleeper, Cheshire, Crewe, CrossCountry, Edinburgh, Ireland, Irish Rail, Rolling Stock, Scotland, Scotrail, Trains
In Observations, Trains on August 18, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Last week saw me travel to Aviemore for a few day’s stay by way of the Caledonian Sleeper and I perhaps foolishly stuck with seated accommodation in the spirit of thrift. Scotrail seem to use Mk 2 carriages for that role and the roar when the brakes are applies cannot be missed. Might I suggest earplugs for a more peaceful night’s rest? The same din was to be heard from Mk 1 Craven carriages used by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) until not so long ago but I reckon that they have been banished by newer coaching stock. In the days before the introduction of the Voyagers, the same metallic sound pervaded a cold December nighttime journey from Birmingham to Edinburgh after a job interview. In this day and age, it just makes me wonder why no one ever thought to change the bogies on the Mk 2 coaches to quieter ones like what are common on their Mk 3 and Mk 4 successors. However, that may have had something to do with the money available for such work when they were more commonly used. Replacing them with Mk 3 rolling stock is probably more sensible now that there has been an influx of new trains over the last decade and that the SuperExpress is in the offing. That leaves me to wonder when Scotrail might get to releasing the Mk 2’s from overnight duties. With the economic environment right now, that well may be a matter of money, a scarcer commodity in these troubled times.
Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, Gwynedd, Machynlleth, Minfford, Powys, Ticketing, Wales
In Buses, Ticketing on August 4, 2009 at 8:45 am
My weekend Welsh wander afforded me the opportunity to try out something. Though Arriva’s bus operations in Wales and in the north west of England have been separated for better working with the Welsh Assembly Government, the £15 weekly ticket still applies across both areas. The result was that I gave it a go in order to get between Machynlleth and Minfford for my walking around Cadair Idris and it was accepted without a bother even though it was bought in Cheshire (rather than causing trouble on a bus, I would have paid if it wasn’t and maybe gone and popped a question of Arriva’s customer services afterwards). As far as I am aware, the same does not apply to day tickets so an all areas ticket is needed, costing more than the £4 tariff of the north west day ticket. With the weekly ticket, the added value for money is appreciated.
130, Arriva, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Manchester, Road Works, Timetables, Traffic, Wilmslow
In Buses, Timetables on July 27, 2009 at 6:55 pm
and buses start running on time. This is nothing that I especially notice with the 130 running between Macclesfield and Manchester but quieter traffic during the school holidays has been something that I have known since I lived in Edinburgh. Then, I put it down to the school run stopping up for a while but I have come to realise that there is more to it than that. Parents time their annual leave to coincide with the holidays and that makes more apparent again. Then, there’s the current economic downturn and I really noticed how much quieter the traffic was in the first few weeks of the year. It must have allowed Bowers to re-time their buses more tightly but there remain days when the 130 can be hit and miss to say the least.
Only those almost incessant roadworks seek to spoil the bus timing idyll and this could be a very tempting time to set them in motion. Some, however, will not fit the available time with a three-month disruption hitting Chester Road between Broken Cross roundabout and the fire station. Then, there’s Buxton Road and Fence Avenue too. A recent look on Cheshire’s roadworks map reveals that Macclesfield is besieged by the blighters but Wilmslow doesn’t escape either so the 130 gets diverted while going around there.
Even with all of the activity, it’s best to enjoy the quietness before the school year recommences in September. Then, those pesky road works can only have their effects amplified and I only wonder how many complaints will get made.
Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, Crewe, Fares, Macclesfield, Sandbach, Wheelock
In Buses, Ticketing on July 26, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Yesterday, I got out for a walk that took me from Kidsgrove to Wheelock near Sandbach. To get home, I caught the 38 and the single fare was £3.60. Arriva operate the Macclesfield-Crewe service both commercially and with council support, depending on the day of the week and the time of day. Gratifyingly, it was being well used when I was travelling yesterday evening with a healthy mixture of fare-paying and pass-wielding patrons. It was well driven too, not an experience that I can always about my experiences of using this service, particularly for occasions when travelling on the last one of a Sunday; Crewe bus drivers apparently have a reputation for being a bit mad in the driving, justified, so I may have had one. To return to the issue of the cost of travel, I don’t begrudge the fare that I was charged but the price of an Arriva day ticket is £4 and that makes me wonder if there are single fares of more than the price of a day ticket. Perhaps, asking for a day ticket when travelling from Crewe to Macclesfield or vice versa might be an idea even when embarking on a one way trip. It’s a thought that I’ll keep in mind.
130, 38, Arriva, Cheshire, Dublin Bus, England, Ireland, Lothian Buses, Macclesfield, Scotland, Scottish Citylink
In Buses, Happenings on July 14, 2009 at 10:42 am
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.
Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Road Works
In Buses, Happenings, News on May 15, 2009 at 3:02 pm
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.
Buses, Cheshire, Information, Timetables, Trains
In Buses, News, Timetables, Trains on April 20, 2009 at 12:55 pm
The Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester councils seem to have taken up the baton for public transport information from the now defunct Cheshire County Council. The welcome practice of having a list of bus tables has lived on in the websites for the new councils. Hopefully, progress from here will continue in the right direction. In addition, both new authorities are to work with Warrington Borough Council so my hope is that best practices can continue to be shared and promoted while keeping a certain pan-county approach too.
130, Arriva, Arriva Trains Wales, Cheshire, Crewe, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Sunday Travel, Timetables, Trains, Virgin, Wilmslow
In Suggestions, Timetables, Trains on April 16, 2009 at 3:08 pm
The powers that be must reckon that Macclesfield is full of lazybones with the first northbound train departing on Sunday mornings after 10:00. Thankfully, the first 130 of the day does leave at 09:05 but that takes an age to reach Manchester. However, there is another option: using the 130 to reach Wilmslow’s train station. That approach gets you to Manchester by 10:12 and opens up a few more travel options. Booking a taxi starts to bring earlier options from Wilmslow into the fray and there are more again if you decide to go as far as Manchester Airport. Returning to Wilmslow, it seems that Arriva Trains Wales’ apparent stabling of trains in Crewe means a good supply of Sunday morning services since their southbound timetable was expanded at this time. Add to that the fact that Northern, CrossCountry and Virgin all use the station and a good deal of choice is on offer.
It might be the size of the shopping precinct in the centre of the town but I have always been a little surprised by the level of train service that a place the size of Wilmslow enjoys. To an extent, that has always been pertinent when it comes to getting away to somewhere of a Sunday but becomes even more pointed after last December’s timetable changes left Macclesfield with three trains an hour connecting us with Manchester. Is it because Wilmslow feels a little like an extension of Greater Manchester and Macclesfield has pastoral countryside between it and Stockport? I don’t know the answer to that one but I’d much rather it if Northern Rail offered a better Sunday service to Macclesfield than they do. Hopeless is near enough the description that I’d ascribe to it and the timings of Virgin and CrossCountry trains make Sunday service next to hourly when spreading them apart would make so much more sense. As things stand, they look enough of a dog’s breakfast that using buses to get to and from the likes of Crewe and Wilmslow remains a useful addition to the travel arsenal.
Arriva, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield
In Buses, News on April 8, 2009 at 9:36 am
I may be late coming upon this given my use of a bicycle for the daily commute in recent times but bus services in Macclesfield that usually run along Churchill Way are back on there as before. We can now return to former ways now that the disruptive traffic light works have been completed. Let’s hope that things like that don’t get visited upon us for a while again. It would be good if some attention could be turned to the general state of the roads and footways in the town in place of big projects like this.
19, 19X, 392, 393, Altrincham, Arriva, BakerBus, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Connect 88, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Prestbury, Wilmslow
In Buses, News, Timetables on March 5, 2009 at 2:58 pm
For a number of years, the 19/19X Macclesfield-Whirley-Prestbury service has been something of an ugly duckling with elderly and not so elderly Mercedes midi-buses fulfilling passenger carrying duties. However, that may change with the awarding of the hourly Monday-Saturday service to Bowers. Apparently, Bowers may be getting the council-owned Macclesfield Rider branded short wheelbase Dennis Darts displaced by the changeover of the 392/3 Macclesfield-Stockport service from Arriva to Bakerbus and these would be used for the Prestbury service. In the intervening period, they have been used on the Connect 88 Knutsford-Wilmslow-Altrincham service along with the larger Optares that are its mainstay. They may be a number of years old now but their low floors would be a boon for those whose mobility isn’t what it might be. Of course, the state of repair of the buses will having a bearing on how people perceive the service. However, it has to look as if it has lost of its unloved appearance and that can only be a good thing.
Arriva, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Road Works
In Buses, News on February 27, 2009 at 8:38 pm
It seems that the major part of the Churchill Way traffic lights renewal is out of the way with the new ones at the Chestergate and King Edward Street junctions operational. I have yet to confirm the same for the bus stops that were put out of action by the venture but I can vouch for the 27 Macclesfield-Knutsford plying its usual route. I have yet to confirm the same for the 130 but I did see local evening service 6 going down Hibel Road rather than going by Churchill Way. There are still some roadworks and temporary traffic lights still feature further along the road, nearer the post office on Castle Street., but the extent isn’t what it was. I hope that major road works depart the town of Macc for while to allow us respite but I cannot say that I am convinced of that.
Update 2009-03-02: I can confirm that their attention is now centred on the junction between Churchill Way and Castle Street. For me, the jury is still out regarding a return to normal routes for Arriva services using the said road.
130, 27, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Road Works
In Buses, News on February 17, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Macclesfield has been beset by another set of road work. This time, the centre of attention would appear to be Fallibroome Road (single line traffic under temporary traffic light control) and the roundabout at the junction between it, Victoria Road and Priory Lane. My bus to and from work goes by here so let’s hope that the traffic doesn’t back up too badly. There are excavations ongoing and new pipes in evidence so my guess is that the water company has struck again.
Arriva, Cheshire, Diversions, Macclesfield, Manchester, Road Works
In Buses, News on January 15, 2009 at 3:00 pm
It would appear the 130 Macclesfield-Manchester service has been diverted from its usual route via Churchill Way in Macclesfield and now seems to go around by Bond Street and Catherine Street instead. That could come as a shock if you decide to await the thing on Churchill Way or King Edward Street so I thought that I’d better put the word out. As to whether the bus stops to pick up or set down passengers at any point along the diversion, that is something that I cannot say.
Arriva, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Road Works, Traffic
In Buses, Incidents, News on January 14, 2009 at 4:38 pm
For much of the past year, Cheshire County Council has had contractors replacing and adding traffic lights in different parts of Macclesfield. They have now descended on the heart of the town and it hasn’t been until then that the project was having much impact on me. Contraflows/single line traffic is now in operation on Churchill Way, taking out a lot of the road capacity and slowing things down further again thanks to the timings on the temporary lights that have been set in place. It might be best for cars, vans, trucks and buses to give the area a wide berth and use alternative routes such as the A523 Silk/London Road instead.
I accept that there might be a need for these works and we might even get better pedestrian crossing facilities after them, not at all a bad thing. However, they have had an effect on the operation of most bus services operating in the town. In addition, the bus stop next to the junction of Churchill Way and King Edward Street was taken out of use. It’s not a major inconvenience but it would have been nice to have had it signed as such before I started out on my way to work this morning. Thankfully, a workman let me in on the state of affairs and I found another one around the corner where I could wait in the cold for a bus that was 30 minutes late. My suspicion is that the road traffic conditions had no small part to play in this.
This is all due to continue until the end of March so our forbearance will be needed for a while yet. I don’t know if it was a general observation but I was getting the sense that traffic volumes were reduced anyway and, with what is taking place, it might be just as well. At least, it’s not going on as long as the works for returning trams to the streets of Edinburgh but it is a taste of what Edinburghers are facing.
Update: Someone must have given the council hell over this or they have been deluged with enquiries as a result (I can’t say that I’d be surprised if either or both did happen) because an FAQ has appeared on the end of the web page describing the works.
288, Altrincham, Buses, Changes, Cheshire, Connect 88, Knutsford, Timetables, Vale of Llangollen, Wilmslow
In Buses, News, Timetables on January 7, 2009 at 10:35 am
In a move that could be confusing, the 288 service operated by Arriva and serving Knutsford, Wilmslow and Altrincham is set to be called Connect 88. It’s one thing to change operator and bring in new buses but changing the route name is another. A name change is a minor irritation but it can confound and I have seen search results for the 288 in the stats for this site. So, here’s a link to the timetable that applies from next Monday and further information on Cheshire County Council’s website: Connect 88. All should become clearer once you go over there.
BakerBus, Cheshire, East Didsbury, Macclesfield, Wilmslow
In Buses, Timetables on January 4, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Annoyingly, Arriva has omitted from their latest 130 Macclesfield-Manchester timetable the timings of the Monday to Saturday evening service between Macclesfield and East Didsbury. I suppose that their excuse would be that they don’t operate it themselves since BakerBus are doing the honours on behalf of Cheshire Country Council. So, to set things to rights, here are some timetables cobbled together from Traveline (the timings are the same for Saturdays regardless of the Monday to Friday trappings of what you find below):
Macclesfield to East Didsbury
East Didsbury to Macclesfield
Arriva, Bowers, Cheshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester
In Buses, News, Timetables on December 16, 2008 at 8:56 am
Cheshire County Council has a very useful part of their website where you can get advance notice of any forthcoming changes. Frequent checks there should avert the sort of surprise that a notice on the 130 saying that service changes were due at the start of 2009. They kick in from January 4th in fact and involve an hourly service on Saturdays with no changes on Sundays and minor changes on other days of the week. We”ll need to see how things pan out but any reductions in frequency have to be a disappointment and I hope that further ones don’t follow. While on the subject of changes,the 27 Macclesfield-Knutsford is facing as yet unspecified minor changes (I hope!) a week later. There used to be a time when these sorts of announcements tend to gravitate around September and October but January seems to be the point this time around.
Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, England, Macclesfield
In Buses, Incidents on December 15, 2008 at 11:12 am
I suppose that it can happen: this morning’s bus ride to work involved the driver talking a wrong turn at one point to end up one of Macclesfield’s numerous dead ends (all thanks to road reorganisations over the years). To his credit, the driver realised his mistake only to have to face doing a turn in a not so wide road with cars parked at either side and vehicles waiting for him to complete his manoeuvre on the carriageway itself. That he had a long wheelbase Dennis Dart compounded the problem but he managed the feat, corrected course with a sharp turn at the junction that he had misjudged and we were on our way again. His mistake had occurred at a fork in the road (the junction where Chester Road, Prestbury Road, Chestergate and King Edward Street in Macclesfield itself) and I suspect that it’s one that the driver concerned won’t be making again; that turn in the road should not escape from memory so easily…
Birmingham, Cheshire, CrossCountry, England, London, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Stoke-on-Trent, Timetables, Trains, Virgin, West Coast
In News, Timetables, Trains on December 14, 2008 at 6:57 pm
The massive reorganisation that is the new train timetable changeover hasn’t too kind to Macclesfield. It might not sound so bad to hear that we have been left with three an hour in each direction but it’s the timings that disappoint me, even if the frequency is a cut from that which we have been enjoying for a while now. What is the matter is that Virgin and CrossCountry don’t seem to have worked together to get their times in the hour better separated.
The main pattern for weekday service from Manchester is 27, 35 and 48 minutes past the hour. The CrossCountry in the 27 departure and the 35 is the Virgin one while the 48 is Northern Rail’s local stopping service that now goes all the way to Stoke-on-Trent, not necessarily a bad thing since it opens some new destinations for Macclesfield folk.
Sundays see the same sort of thinking about which I have already complained on my hillwalking blog, especially with the timings of the local stopping service; the TSO timetable had more services listed but these have since turned out to be a work of fiction. Until March 29th, Virgin and CrossCountry do well when keeping their Sunday services to different parts of the hour but this is forgotten on the date in question and both services end up so close together as make it laughable to suggest that Macclesfield is getting any more than an hourly service
This is the sort of thing that makes you want to go to a central timetabling authority to complain but there appears to be none so it’s a case of contacting each operator. Maybe, Passenger Focus might be able to provide some help if no satisfactory response is forthcoming from either of the companies in question. Our local MP is said to have “intervened” but, like a lot of places where he has stuck in his oar, it doesn’t seem to have the desired effect and we have been left with the less than ideal situation that we now face. It probably needs someone else to make an effort…
Altrincham, Arriva, BakerBus, Buses, Cheshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Stockport, Vale of Llangollen, Wilmslow
In Buses, News, Timetables on December 12, 2008 at 12:12 pm
This morning, I spotted that changes are on the way for the commercial 130 service that Arriva runs between Macclesfield and Manchester. I didn’t catch the details but I hope that there’s no backward steps from where we are now (newer buses, more regular service). In my search for more information, I visited Cheshire County Council’s website but so only an indication of timing changes for Saturdays.
While on there, I also noticed that services like the 392/3 between Macclesfield and Stockport and the 288 Knutsford-Wilmslow-Altrincham are no longer going to be operated by Arriva with BakerBus of Biddulph taking over the former and Vale of Llangollen running the latter. Cheshire isn’t well endowed with different bus operators so we end up getting ones from Derbyshire, Staffordshire and even North Wales coming into the fray. These services were contracted by the council so it could be that Arriva were uncompetitive in their tenders but the changes are a reminder of a trend that has all the hallmarks of a retreat.
Not so long ago, Arriva was the predominant operator in Cheshire but that its hold on that position is no longer as sure as it once was. Upheavals such as depot losses due to the introduction of new bus stations may well have had there part to play in all of this. For instance, bus services in Crewe are now run by a variety of companies with First Potteries and D&G running their fair share. In fact, Arriva’s depot in Crewe is now long shut with Macclesfield retaining one, even if they have had to move with the demolition of the old bus station to make way for a new medical centre.
Let’s hope that Arriva’s retreat from Cheshire doesn’t have an adverse impact of bus users like me. If there is a plan to reduce the frequency of the 130, I could commend it as an opportunity for another operator. Stagecoach perhaps? Well, Arriva does run the 130 from Manchester and it might be a wake up call for them.
130, Arriva, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Manchester
In Buses, News on November 27, 2008 at 4:45 pm
On first sight, having someone else get the pleasures of nice new buses instead may not sound so wonderful. However, if you get their old buses, it may not be all that bad.
The 130 Manchester-Macclesfield service seems to have had a feel of a Cinderella about it, especially when you consider the buses that have purveyed the route over the years. When I first moved to Cheshire, daytime service was largely supplied mid-engined Leylands that felt and sounded tired. That unloved feel also applied to Leyland Lynxes and early Leyland Olympians were drafted in too. P-reg Mercedes minibuses, then among the most recent buses in the Macclesfield fleet, were used for on evening services. When early Dennis Darts came in replace the Leylands, there was a definite improvement in the journey quality.
When the service changed from hourly to half-hourly, tired ex-London L-reg Dennis Darts with Northern Counties bodies were brought in and continued in service through the tumultuous changeover to a new bus station in Macclesfield. That meant that Arriva lost its depot and the uncertainty in the summer of 2005 caused drivers to leave the company with staff shortages causing service cancellations and resulting in passenger discontent. It’s none too clever what can happen when management take their eye off the ball. I think that there might have been a changeover from Arriva Midlands North to Arriva Northwest and Wales in and around the same time too, which may not have helped even if it was a more sensible organisational arrangement.
Things stabilised when the service started to run from a depot in Manchester instead of Macclesfield and newer buses from Merseyside came on stream. These were again Dennis Darts but with Eastern Lancashire bodywork and ex-Liverpool registrations. These have been mainly M-reg with the occasional N-reg turning up at times too. Their age made them susceptible to mechanical breakdowns, particularly when stuck in heavy traffic for extended periods, so getting newer vehicles is an advance. Some were also a bit louder than might be liked; M169WKA caused me to complain twice before it was sorted after a lengthy absence from service.
Arriva’s 263 route in Greater Manchester seems to getting new Wright single deckers and it looks as if we are getting the X-reg Dennis Darts that they are displacing. While suspensions do feel worn on some of these, we are not getting a bad deal with the airiness of the interiors, the better seating and the extra legroom. Our “new” buses may be eight years old but the Plaxton bodywork still has a certain freshness about it and they are standard length too, something that seems to trouble some of the drivers at times. In recent years, we seem to have been getting ever newer buses every few years so it will be interesting to see when the next batch of more modern vehicles are offered to us and what they might be like.
Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield
In Buses, Incidents on November 14, 2008 at 5:37 pm
This morning, I pressed the bell ahead of my stop as usual but the bus passed it by. I was told that I didn’t leave enough time for the bus to stop, a very surprising statement because I have done exactly the same as I have done on many a time and the bus has stopped as expected. My suspicion is that that the driver may not have realised that my stop was there at all, a disappointing state of affairs it has to be said. However, I have come across this before and contact was made with the bus company then to sort things out. I may need to do so again.
Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, Macclesfield, Parking
In Buses, Incidents on November 6, 2008 at 4:40 pm
The route taken by my bus to work in the mornings passes through the grounds of Macclesfield General Hospital. However, the bus driver decided against it on this morning’s run due to the fact that she reckoned that she’d never get the vehicle through. She might have had a point because cars and other vehicles are parked anywhere and everywhere there, making the job of getting a long wheelbase single decker through there an unenviable task at the best of times. Limited space ensures that car parking is never going to be plentiful there so taking the bus seems a sound proposition and you get to save on parking and other charges too.
The incident does highlight a problem for bus drivers: their vehicles are large and all it takes is one inappropriately parked car or van to obstruct when road space is none too plentiful anyway. The town of Macclesfield has only recently gained traffic wardens and, whatever some may say, it really does need to be said that they have their use. If anything makes people think about where they are parking and whether an obstruction would be caused, then it only can be a good thing.
Arriva, Bakers, Buses, Campbeltown, Carlisle, Celbridge, Cheshire, Coniston, Cumbria, Dublin, England, Fort William, Glasgow, Ireland, Kildare, Knutsford, Lake District, Macclesfield, Manchester, Oban, Rail Replacement, Scotland, Scottish Citylink, Scottish Highlands, Stagecoach, Windermere
In Buses, Incidents on November 3, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Buses are like any machine: they can and do break down. It does need to be said that they are reliable for most of the time but, people being people, having a breakdown when you are in a hurry is the last thing that you need and some can vent their frustration at this too. Of course, the same comments equally apply to car ownership and usage.
If your journey is of the leisure variety, things aren’t so bad; you just alter your plans like I did when visiting the Lake District on Saturday. I was already running late thanks to thoughtless folk on the railway in Manchester and so was encouraged by the sight of the Stagecoach bus operating the 505 to Coniston. However, it had broken down so any thoughts of heading to the Coniston fells had to be placed on hold. I instead went on an out and back walk from Windermere train station itself and had an enjoyable day. Having had a number of ideas in mind meant that a broken down bus was never going to spoil a wonderful day.
I also use buses on the daily commute and the Arriva-operated 130 Macclesfield-Manchester service is the one that mainly serves my needs but it uses buses that are between 10 and 15 years old so the occasional missing bus can be attributed to a breakdown. I saw one broken down outside my house one evening and it did take some time for mechanics to appear and set it on its way again. Thankfully, new buses are coming to Manchester so we might be getting the ones that they are displacing and they would be newer than what is now plying the 130 route. I have never been on a 130 when it broke but the same could not be said of one occasion of using the 27 Knutsford-Macclesfield service when an Iveco minibus stopped up and we needed to wait for another to come and rescue us. Those buses are long gone and the 27 seems to be a paragon of reliability these days.
Having a mechanical failure in the right place helps if your journey is to continue without too much disruption. It’s not so good when it takes an hour or like the time when a bank holiday journey from Oban ended in the early hours of the next morning because of a missing Scottish Citylink coach from Fort William to Glasgow. Another Scottish Citylink case and a near miss was my witnessing the elements of gearbox trouble on an early morning 916 Glasgow-Fort William-Uig Scottish Citylink coach service; it didn’t inspire much confidence, especially given that this was on the edge of Rannoch Moor at the time. Switching the engine on and off was enough to restore progress though. That was unlike a rail-replacement coach service from Glasgow to Carlisle when gearbox failure stopped us in our tracks on the side of the M8; we were put on another vehicle very quickly if my memory serves me correctly. Quick rescue was also assured when a Dublin Bus vehicle operating the 67 between Celbridge and Dublin malfunctioned because we were on a busy thoroughfare. Quick rescue is one thing but it can fill up a following vehicle very quickly like when a Citylink coach on which I was travelling from Oban to Glasgow picked up West Coach Motors passengers from a failed 926 Campbeltown-Glasgow coach. Luckily, there was also a Citylink coach plying the same route and that took its share too.
I may have collected up a good number of incidents here but that is because I have been a heavy user of bus and coach services for over a decade. Bus mechanical failures remain rare and, with mobile telecommunications being so pervasive, help is always easy to contact even if it takes a little while to come. Allowing a bit of slack on the time front and possessing a modicum of patience can get us all through whatever gets thrown at us.
