On Trains & Buses

Cheshire East Bus Funding Cuts: The effects become more apparent

Posted on November 6, 2012

Reading time: 2 minutes.

Today, my email inbox saw automated messages from the Cheshire East Council website telling me that the bus service changes and bus subsidy reductions pages had been updated and there’s a lot on them for digestion now. For sake of a summary, I have decided to highlight a few of the forthcoming alterations here.

38

D&G are revising their registration for this Sunday service between Macclesfield and Crewe. The content is not something to which I am party so I will need to see what it involves when more information becomes available.

130

D&G have cancelled the Monday to Saturday evening journeys between Macclesfield and Didsbury from the start of 2013. Since the service takes them outside their area, their deciding to do this is understandable. Still, it leaves me wondering if Arriva might be able to do something towards blunting the loss like they did around East Yorkshire a while back. Some depend on the first of the weekday evening Macclesfield-bound journeys to get home from work so I am left wondering if something will be done to help them.

378

The timetable for this service between Wilmslow and Stockport will stay as it is until 28th January when Transport for Greater Manchester will review it. Then, we will learn what comes next.

391/392/393

The 391 Poynton to Stockport service is getting canned but will survive until March 2nd. From March 4th, the 392 and 393 services will be truncated so as to operate only between Macclesfield and Hazel Grove where I expect that they will meet with the 192 Stagecoach service to Stockport and Manchester. Another change to those routes is that they’ll be diverted around Poynton so as to make up in some way for the absence of the 391.

More to come

The above are the changes that stand out for me but there are others with some operations becoming commercial, others changing and some being lost altogether. Interestingly, there is no news yet from Arriva about affected journeys on their services. Macclesfield town services are extensively impacted by the council’s decision so it is of interest to see what happens to those, particularly the one to nearby Bollington since it has attracted so much interest. Trunk service journeys on the 130 between Macclesfield and Manchester (early Saturday mornings) and Sunday evenings on the 84 Crewe to Chester service are among these too. Thus, there is quiet a bit more to come yet.