On Trains & Buses

Bus service enhancements for Congleton and the Crewe–Nantwich corridor

Posted on September 24, 2026

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Cheshire East Council has confirmed three bus service enhancements, due to take effect from Monday, 28^th September 2026, on its public transport news and notices page. The changes are funded through Phase 5 of the council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, and they cover route 39 between Crewe and Nantwich and the Congleton Beartown network of routes 90, 91, 92 and 93A.

Route 39’s enhancement applies to Mondays to Saturdays during the day. The Congleton enhancements are split between new evening journeys from Monday to Saturday and new daytime journeys on Sundays and public holidays.

More frequent daytime journeys on route 39

Route 39 runs between Crewe and Nantwich, serving Shavington and Hough. As checked against the timetable for 28^th September 2026 on bustimes.org, the published times are unchanged from the previous, less frequent pattern. It does not help that Mikro Coaches, who operates the service, does not publish its own timetables, its website covering private hire only. Until the published information changes, there is some uncertainty about when buses are running.

Evening services across the Congleton Beartown network

New evening services will be introduced on routes 90, 91, 92 and 93A, operating Monday to Saturday. These additional journeys will run approximately every 90 minutes between 18:30 and 22:45. Weekday evening coverage varies by route. Routes 90, 91 and 92 each add three further journeys after their existing half-hourly service ends in the late afternoon, finishing between 21:00 and 21:40. Route 93A adds only two, but the later departure, at 22:00, brings it closest of the four to the network’s stated 22:45 finish.

Sunday and public holiday journeys on the Beartown network

Daytime services will be introduced on Sundays and public holidays across routes 90, 91, 92 and 93A. The Sunday timetables differ by route: route 90 offers the most generous provision, with five journeys running until 16:45, while routes 91, 92 and 93A each offer four, finishing between 15:37 and 16:18 depending on the route. This confirms all four routes are running the new Sunday and public holiday service from 28^th September 2026, each to its own timetable.

How the route 39 and Beartown enhancements fit together

Route 39’s enhancement is a frequency increase on an existing service, from Monday to Saturday. The Congleton Beartown enhancements add journeys outside the network’s existing daytime Monday to Saturday pattern, made up of an evening service and a Sunday and public holiday daytime service, both across the same four routes.

The three enhancements are due to start on Monday, 28^th September 2026, though the council’s announcement does not give detailed departure times for any of them. Passengers should check the published timetables once they are available, particularly for route 39, before travelling.