Last week, the 18:39 130 bus service from Wilmslow to Macclesfield was early both nights that I happened to use it. It was an observation that set me to thinking whether we need a change of timetable for those times of year when the schools are not open. After all, it’s amazing quite the difference on the level of road traffic that you see at mid-term breaks compared the times leading up to and following them.
Some operators who mix in schoolbus services with their normal passenger workings do have different times of operation according to school term times and holidays. If you want some good examples of that, just take yourself off to the remoter reaches of Scotland. Argyll, Lochaber and Skye especially come to mind and it’s all down to the sparse population densities caused by history and geography.
Around more populous parts like Cheshire, it’s a different story because bus companies are not as dependent on schoolbus contracts for their businesses as happens around Argyll. You get the same service level for normal passenger workings regardless. What is the point of my piece is that variation in traffic levels have such a variation in bus journey times that I am left wondering if learning how timetables could be changed might be a good idea. There was a time when the I blamed the school run for all of this but I now recognise that there is more to the quietening of roads of this. In fact, it seems that timing of holidays from work by parents makes up the greater share of this.
Having different timetables for school term and holiday times sounds like causing a certain amount of upheaval for passengers but there are precedents for this in the form what is offered on bank holidays and around Christmas and New Year (sorry to mention those at this time of year, by the way). We have become accustomed to having different bus times for those occasions so why not have them more widely so long as bus companies don’t go using the exercise to curtail bus services as well. There is logistical overhead in doing this and some thought is needed when it comes to providing the timing information at bus stops. However, this is the sort of thing that goes on already and harmonising the term and holiday timings might even make it easier for the travelling public. These days, we have internet journey planners in the Traveline too and there’s also the ongoing GPS tracking of buses. All in all, the more that I think about instating school holiday bus timetables, I start to wonder if it hasn’t been suggested before.
Tags: 130, Argyll, Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, England, Lochaber, Macclesfield, Manchester, Scotland, Skye, Timetables, Traffic, Wilmslow
Last evening’s journey home turned out to be a hell of a lot more interesting than I expected. While I was aware of water mains works resulting in temporary traffic lights on the Wilmslow side of Alderley Edge, the one thing that I hadn’t expected was a road traffic accident to take place in the same area as well. Emergency services were on the scene with the telltale blue lights flashing atop their vehicles.
As a result, the bus driver turned around his bus and asked if anyone was going to Alderley Edge before going on to say that they needed to walk the rest of the way. However, the sight of moving cars prompted a protest from the one passenger who was affected. To placate him, the bus was turned around again but driver still decided that there was no way through for him and the annoyed passenger had no option but to leave at that point. Before this settlement was reached, some untoward comments about driving quality and another passenger decided to act as a mediator in order to bring the situation to a somewhat dignified close.
After that, the bus was again turned in the road and it seemed to be a difficult thing to do the second time around too. Alderley Edge wasn’t served and we were taken around the Alderley Edge by-pass instead. To the driver’s credit, we did call at Alderley Park even if we went the opposite way around to what is usual and passage over every speed bump was jarring. In the end, we all got home and that probably is more than could be said for anyone waiting in Alderley Edge; I don’t envy them one bit and I hope any injuries in that accident weren’t fatal or serious.
Update: Interestingly, I since discovered that the previous bus for Macclesfield got through the accident area to serve Alderley Edge. What was different when mine was passing? Did one driver see things differently from another or did something change between the passage of both vehicles (the second was 15 minute late too)? It is hard to answer those questions exactly so I’ll leave them open for now.
Tags: 130, Alderley Edge, Buses, Cheshire, England, Macclesfield, Timetables, Traffic, Wilmslow
With all the snow and ice that’s about the place, Twitter sounds a good place to let passengers know how services are running and here are just a sample of the bus companies who have been using Twitter accounts to keep passengers informed. There is little something telling me that there might a follow post to this but here are the ones that I have found so that. Well, every time I go having a look, another one turns up. Hopefully, these will help for now.
Arriva North East
Bluestar
Bus Éireann
Cardiff Bus
Centrebus
Diamond Bus Company
First Cymru Buses
First Devon/Cornwall
First East England
First Midlands
First West & North Yorkshire
Go North East
Greyhound UK
Ipswich Buses
Lothian Buses
Metrobus
Newport Transport
National Express West Midlands & Coventry
Plymouth Citybus
Reading Buses
Southern Vectis
Transdev Harrogate
Transdev Keighley
Transdev Lancashire
Transdev York & East Coast
Velvet
Yellow Buses
Tags: Arriva, Bowers, Brighton, Buses, Cardiff, Cheshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Edinburgh, England, Essex, First, Go North East, Hampshire, Ipswitch, Ireland, Isle of Wight, London, National Express, Newport, Northumberland, Plymouth, Reading, Road Conditions, Scotland, Stagecoach, Sussex, Traffic, Wales, Weather, West Midlands, Yorkshire
A few weeks ago, I got news that the A34 was affected by a major traffic incident and it brought back recollections of a two hour journey home early in September. Having changed my place of work over the summer, I have gained an option that wasn’t available to me before then: going home by train. It might have involved a less direct itinerary and cost more but it was worth that outlay in terms of time, confidence and convenience. There have been too many times when I was left waiting for a (very) late bus out in the cold of a dark November evening so having the rail option is a godsend for any future problems that might arise. After all, we are into winter time now and November can seem to be a mad month when it comes to traffic problems in East Cheshire. Let’s see how it is this year.
Tags: Buses, Cheshire, England, Road Conditions, Traffic, Trains
If my journey home took up any more, it nearly might have been faster to walk all of the way. The cause was a spot of bother on the M6 that sent all manner of traffic along the A34 instead. The result was a very congested Nether Alderley with southbound traffic proceeding at less than walking pace; northbound seemed to be doing far better on this score. Surprisingly, Wilmslow was quite clear when I left it and Alderley Edge wasn’t so bad either. When I finally got to Macclesfield, there seemed to be more cars around the town than usual for the time of day though all was free-flowing.
The sight of a Manchester-bound Megabus heading into Wilmslow was a hint of things to come. It must have been displaced from the M6 like so many and the sight of articulated lorry after articulated lorry really brought home the scale of the problem. Small wonder then that the people of Alderley Edge have been demanding the by-pass that now is under construction. Another thing that I was to spot a Co-operative wagon that had pulled up somewhere to very sensibly sit out the logjam. Quite how an ambulance was getting through could only be explained by the sight of flashing lights and the sound of its siren making everyone do the right thing.
Though I had to sit out a long journey, I was glad to be on the bus and not waiting for it. The vehicle wasn’t the largest either and I am not so sure that it is wise for Arriva to be running an Optare Solo at rush hour like it has been doing. Maybe, it’s the advertising for the Cheshire East bus tracker that is the reason but I still consider it best to run bigger buses at peak travel times.
Nevertheless, I do wonder at the wisdom of my deciding not to cycle to work this morning. Yes, the weather did look less than enticing but it stayed dry all day. Even reprising yesterday evening’s sun-blessed route around by Mobberley, Great Warford, Marthall, Chelford and Monk’s Heath would have taken considerably less time than this evening’s allegedly more direct journey. Even so, that’s food for thought for the future now.
Tags: 130, A34, Alderley Edge, Arriva, Buses, Cheshire, England, M6, Macclesfield, Manchester, Megabus, Nether Alderley, Traffic, Wilmslow
