On Trains & Buses

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Bus Services in Cheshire East Show Signs of Improvement

Posted on November 21, 2025

Reading time: 5 minutes.

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After far too long, there finally are some signs of improvement in the provision of bus services in Cheshire East. Some have gained Sunday services while others have become more frequent and there even is a new service in the offing as well. While this is nothing like a restoration to the levels of service last seen in 2010, it feels that things are a little bit better again, at least for now. After all, persistence will be essential for regaining trust.

Evening services remain scant, after all, and a change of administration could bring its own changes, especially when UK Government funding is helping to expand things from what they were. In any case, we are left with a network that would not survive without council funding, so added central government funding is a more positive development. Just like the Silk Town Ticket, these also need publicity to encourage their use and hence enhance their sustainability.

10: Weston - Macclesfield - Hurdsfield - Bollington

This is now composed of what once were three different services, making for some interesting travel options across Macclesfield town. Getting from Bollington to Macclesfield College or from Weston to Hurdsfield offers new possibilities for getting to and from work or education that were not so convenient before the amalgamations; there were two, one under Arriva and another under D&G Buses. Sunday journeys have been reinstated too, albeit at a sparser 90-minute frequency without early morning or evening services. Regaining what we now have needs to suffice for now in these cash-strapped times, and it is good to even have that much, especially when this is the only seven-day town service.

38: Macclesfield - Crewe

The main news is that Sunday journeys are back on this route, offering more possibilities for earlier getaways for day hiking trips; an 08:35 start could have its uses. While service frequency is at the 90-minute level and there are no evening services, having this is better than there being nothing at all, which is how it was for too long. On other days of the week, there is a near hourly frequency and early to late coverage of the day too, making this one of the hardier survivors from the culling of recent times.

87, 88, 188: Macclesfield - Knutsford - Wilmslow - Altrincham

While there are no Sunday services to report here, the Monday to Friday frequency between Macclesfield and Knutsford (service 87) has been enhanced. This is now near hourly, a situation that we have not had for the most of fifteen years. The Saturday service remains as it was, with five journeys in each direction between Macclesfield and Knutsford. The service 88 frequency between Knutsford and Wilmslow is near hourly too, a decrease from it was half-hourly quite a few years ago. Both routes are connected with the same bus going all the way between Macclesfield and Altrincham at certain points of the day, even if it is going the longer way around, particularly for travelling to Wilmslow.

130: Macclesfield - Alderley Edge - Wilmslow - Handforth - Wythenshawe

This interurban stalwart is a shadow of its former self, though there again are Sunday services between Macclesfield and Handforth. These work to a 90-minute frequency and are operated by High Peak, while D&G Buses does the needful on other days of the week. Otherwise, it halts its extension to Manchester Airport from 24^th November due to a decline in demand (my possessing a trolley case had me suspected of going to Manchester Airport recently when I was bound for Heathrow and needing to divert to Wilmslow to get there because of storm damage to overhead wires on the line between Macclesfield and Stockport; while connections are available at Wythenshawe for onward travel to the airport, I am left wondering if I had missed a trick by sticking with train travel all the time that there was a direct bus service) while also boosting its Saturday service frequency to hourly.

150: Macclesfield - Alderley Park - Alderley Edge - Wilmslow

This is the new service of the bunch, starting on 24^th November, complementing service from Monday to Friday when there are no bank holidays. However, it is a limited stop affair that calls only at the following stops depending on route direction:

Journeys towards Alderley Park and Wilmslow: Macclesfield Bus Station, Macclesfield Railway Station, Chester Road (Fire and Ambulance Station), Chester Road (Kershaw Grove), Chester Road (Ivy Road junction), Chester Road (Toll Bar Road), Alderley Park (Alderley House), Alderley Park (Mereside), Alderley Edge (George Street), Wilmslow Railway Station.

Journeys towards Macclesfield: Wilmslow Railway Station, Alderley Edge (Chapel Road), Alderley Park (Mereside), Alderley Park (Alderley House), Chester Road (Shell Garage), Chester Road (Maxfield Close), Chester Road (Ivy Road junction), Chester Road (Kershaw Grove), Chester Road (Clowes Street), Churchill Way (Tesco), Macclesfield Railway Station, Macclesfield Bus Station.

The use of Chester Road likely reinstates bus stops that have been unused since the combination of routes 4 and 19 following the departure of Arriva from the area. The service frequency is hourly at best, while consulting the timetable is much needed to pick up on any variations from this.