On Trains & Buses

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Those Cheshire East Council cuts are coming

Posted on November 3, 2012

Reading time: 5 minutes.

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Cheshire East Council seemingly is exceeding its budget for the year by something of the order of £7.7m and that may explain why they have been looking for cuts in services. That appears to include subsidised bus services and the sort of savings that were being sought were £750,000. Thus, it comes as no surprise that they have agreed with the proposals to withdraw financial support from quite a few bus services to achieve this. Notices have appeared to inform bus users of what is happening, possibly at the same time as they were updating the timetables for the Macclesfield to Knutsford service in our area.

The only change from the submitted proposals is that they take effect from the start of next year instead of the week before Christmas. Now, all that remains is to see which unsupported services and journeys are continued on a commercial basis and which don’t. It may be that some will survive like Sunday bus services between Macclesfield and Bollington, which lost their funding over a year ago. That is the only hope for the likes of the weekday (Monday to Saturday) evening 130 Macclesfield to Parr’s Wood service, which now has a very uncertain future.

The council have a page informing us what is happening, and the updates should prove interesting. The only hope is that we will see reductions instead of wholesale service withdrawals and hope is all that we have been left now. For everyone’s information, here are the affected services:

Service No.	Route Description	Journeys Supported by the Council
5, 6	Macclesfield - Weston Estate	Mondays to Fridays (evenings) circular service every half hour from 18:05 to 23:35.
6	Shavington - Leighton Hospital	All Sunday and Bank Holiday journeys.
8	Crewe - Wistaston Green	Mondays to Saturdays (evenings) 6 evening return journeys from 18:23 to 23:23 and the 06:50 morning journey.
9	Crewe - Rope Green	Mondays to Saturdays 6 journeys between 12:35 and 17:35.
9, 10A	Macclesfield - Moss Rose/Bollington	9 Mondays to Saturdays (evenings) between 18:55 and 22:55. 10A hourly evening service between 18:15 and 23:15.
15	Crewe - Sydney - Elm Drive	Mondays to Saturdays hourly morning peak and evenings between 18:00 and 23:00.
16	Crewe - Elm Drive	Mondays to Saturdays - two morning journeys (08:35, 09:05) and seven afternoon journeys (from 14:05 to 17:15). All-day Saturday between 08:35 and 17:35.
20	Crewe Bus Station - Leighton Hospital	All Sunday and Bank Holiday journeys between Crewe Bus Station and Leighton Hospital only.
38	Crewe - Macclesfield	Sunday evenings 5 return journeys from 17:35 Crewe and 18:50 Macclesfield.
44	Crewe - Shavington - Nantwich	All diversions into Hough village. Plus 4 journeys from Crewe (07:45, 08:45, 15:45, 16:45) and 4 journeys from Nantwich (07:40, 15:40, 16:40, 17:40).
45	Crewe - Marshfield - Nantwich	Monday to Saturday departures from Crewe bus station (07:12, 15:12, 16:12, 17:12) and Nantwich Bus Station (08:15, 09:15, 15:15, 16:15, 17:15).
45	Crewe - Marshfield	Mondays to Saturdays 5 evening return journeys between Crewe and Marshfield starting 18:40 last bus 22:59.
56	Tiverton - Nantwich	Tuesdays & Saturdays all journeys.
61	Audlem - Nantwich	Schooldays
63	Swanwick - Brine Leas/St. Annes/St. Thomas More	Schooldays
71	Tytherington - Poynton High	Schooldays
71	Aston/Wrenbury - Malbank/Brine Lees	Schooldays
77	Betley - Brine Leas	Schooldays
78	Crewe - Malbank School	Schooldays
79	Rode Heath - Alsager	Schooldays
83	Bulkeley - Chester	Tuesdays all journeys
84	Crewe - Nantwich - Chester	Mondays to Saturdays (evenings) - 4 evening return journeys from 1845 and 2145 - the final journey between Crewe and Nantwich runs at 22:35.
85	Newcastle - Madeley - Crewe	1 early morning journey 0550 from Crewe to Newcastle arriving 06:43. Service is also supported by Staffordshire County Council.
85	Newcastle - Madeley - Crewe	4 evening return journeys Monday to Saturday. Service is also supported by Staffordshire County Council.
95	Goostrey - Holmes Chapel	Schooldays
108	Leek - Macclesfield	a single morning journey - Leek to Macclesfield (extended to Fallibroome High on schooldays only). 1 return journey (Fallibroome to Sutton / Langley on schooldays only). One return journey Friday and Saturday evening only. Service also supported by Derbyshire County Council
127	Chesterton - Crewe	Friday only service (completely withdrawn)
130	Macclesfield - Manchester	Saturday 2 morning journeys from Macclesfield (06:45 & 07:45) and 1 from Handforth (07:44). Mondays to Saturday evening service (2 return journeys).
378	Stockport - Handforth - Wilmslow	4 return evening journeys Monday to Friday and 3 return journeys on Saturday.
378	Stockport - Handforth - Wilmslow	All Sunday and Bank Holiday journeys.
390	Bramhall - Poynton - Stockport	Mondays to Saturdays all journeys.
391	Poynton - Stockport	Mondays to Saturdays all journeys to be reviewed in conjunction with the 392 / 393.
392, 393	Macclesfield - Poynton - Stockport	Mondays to Saturdays all journeys. To be reviewed in conjunction with the 391.
737	Weston - Shavington/Crewe	Schooldays
891	Middlewood - Poynton High School	Schooldays
K44	Weston - Shavington/Malbank Schools	Schooldays
K80	Congleton - Eaton Bank School	Schooldays
K95	Congleton - Eaton Bank School	Schooldays
K96	Congleton - Eaton Bank School	Schooldays

While it’s not good to see that number of journeys under threat, I believe that folk need to be aware of it too. To mind, this is far more than “some” of the services that the council supports as is their wording for what is coming. One only can hope that this is the last of the bus service cuts, but it is impossible to rule out another round of them either.