On Trains & Buses

After seeing the transformative effect of spending some time in Ireland during March, I was lured into planning something similar around Easter. After surveying prospects of getting decent weather, I ended up plumping for Jersey after rejecting other possibilities like Galway, Stirling or Aberdeen. It helped that my brother enjoyed his stay on the island and that I went on a day trip there during a school excursion to Brittany.

Though Condor Ferries offer ferry connections from Portsmouth and Poole, I instead flew with EasyJet between Manchester and Jersey. Those flights were early in the day so that meant hotel stays that forwent breakfasting prior to being in an airport. Otherwise, they worked well, and I had empty seats next to me too. There was a delay to the return flight cause by understaffing at Jersey airport, but that was not critical for me.

Buses run frequently between Jersey airport and St. Helier from early until late, so that made the island’s largest conurbation my base for the trip. It also meant that I could make the best of its bus network for getting around the place, and that day outings by ferry became more realistic possibilities.

Liberty Bus (the name harkens back to the time of German occupation during World War II) operates all the island’s scheduled bus services on contract to its government. The company is owned by Tower Transit, who took it over from the now defunct HCT Group. Aside from arrangements for concessionary fare passengers, a flat fare policy is in operated. For contactless transactions, the tariff is £2.25 while this increases to £2.70 for those using cash. While there are Discover Jersey passes of one, three and seven day duration, the price of the single fare negated these, and I travelled on that basis around the island.

Aside from the airport travels, my journeys took me to L’Etacq, Rozel, La Corbière, Portelet, Gorey and St. John’s. Everything worked without drama, and the efficiency and the courtesy that I encountered was an example for operators elsewhere. My only concerns were centred around making the best of any walking opportunities and not to constrain myself with laggardness; there was a time when my plans were derailed by my reaching Liberation bus station too late on my second day on the island. There was always another option and some services ran very frequently; airport and Gorey ones stand out for me in this regard. Hourly frequencies are common though some places see less than this.

Though I had forgone ferry travel for getting between England and Jersey, I made use of its services for one day trip to Saint-Malo and another to Guernsey. Both had me forgoing breakfast at my hotel in favour of my getting something to eat during the crossings. Because there is often only a single sailing between destinations, not every day offered a day trip, so it was a case of picking from what was available.

In the case of Saint-Malo, it was a matter of choosing from the Saturday, Sunday or Monday options that were available to me. Because it offered the best chance of good weather, I chose the first of these. Many others did likewise, so the crossings were busy with queues for food service, especially on the morning sailing. Even so, efficiency and timeliness were the watchwords. On French side, that meant having plenty of buses available to convey passengers between the ship and the ferry terminal. It all allowed plenty of time to revisit somewhere that I had not frequented since my schooldays, and that was another attraction in going to Jersey in the first place.

Provision for day trips to Guernsey was not as extensive with only a Monday option working for me, though I seem to remember that there was a Thursday option too. Because the vessel was of a traditional type that also served Portsmouth, the food offer was better than on the catamaran that sped me to and from Saint-Malo. That was appreciated rather more than the delay to disembarkation that left me wondering how well St. Peter Port is for receiving foot passengers using minibuses. If the day had been brighter and drier, I might have on the outside deck more often. It probably was just as well that I was kept inside for getting something to eat; otherwise, I would have been torn between outside scenery ogling and the need to fuel myself.

The mix of Jersey island strolling and day-long getaways to other places all worked well. The weather may have been better earlier in the trip but even that was better than other locations that I considered. Transportation ran well in the main, with only ports and airports having any kind of untoward intrusion. This had been a worthwhile getaway.

When Virgin Trains ceased to operate, it came with a sense of sadness because it was the end of an era. For all their faults, it did feel as if it was an operator that cared about what it was doing, a long way from the “nobody cares” railway that some bemoan these days. Virgin and Stagecoach also have the good fortune of escaping the current criticism that is being levelled at both Avanti West Coast and First Transpennine Express as well as the travails of pandemic lockdowns.

Another of the things that I missed was the Virgin Trains train ticket app because of its integration with PayPal and the speediness of their responses when anything needed fixing. Once, I needed a refund, and it got resolved promptly. While I could have opted for the East Midlands app because of its PayPal integration, its Northern Railway counterpart got used more often despite any refusal to refund small fares and its dependence on credit and debit cards (it did store their details, though, so all you needed to remember was their CVC number). The pandemic has meant a near complete changeover from paper tickets to their electronic counterparts.

However, things have improved since then. Integration with PayPal came recently and that was followed by Google Pay capability as well. That all helps with buying tickets on the move or at short notice, which is just as well given the £100 fine for not having a ticket on trains when setting off from a staffed station (some are trying to keep ticket offices open, but there is a real danger of their closure when so many of us are using apps or online booking instead). Otherwise, there still remains the possibility of buying tickets on trains when starting from unstaffed stations.

Being an Android phone user, I cannot comment on integration with Apple Pay, though having that would not surprise me at all. In the main, I stick with the Google option for ease of use because PayPal usage can trigger multifactor authentication for larger purchases. Tickets do not always need activation either, and copies are sent by email too, so they can be added to Google or Apple wallets as well. That could be handy when the app hits a problem. After all, anything is better than the hassle of a fine when technology goes against you.

Last month, Arriva announced the planned closure of its Oswestry, Winsford and Macclesfield depots. The first of these does not have as much of an impact as the others, the news of which has been featured on the BBC, in the Macclesfield Express and in Buses magazine.

The closure of the Oswestry depot will mean that many services will be based in Shrewsbury instead, with some being transferred to one or more other operators. The latter the following:

• 449 Oswestry - Welshampton

• 54 Oswestry - Cefn Y Blodwel

• 71 Oswestry - Four Crosses

• 79a Oswestry - Porth-Y-Waen

• 405 Oswestry - Windsor Road

There is talk of handing over school services and the reduction in patronage of 46% is blamed. Contacts with Shrewsbury County Council apparently proved fruitless, possibly because public spending is heavily constrained at the moment.

The impact of the Cheshire closures is more serious since any services that Arriva currently operate will need replacement. Again, the cause apparently is a reduction in patronage and public spending constraints necessarily limit local councils’ ability to provide additional financial support. The affected services include the following:

• 1 Northwich Circular via Rudheath and Weaverham

• 3 Macclesfield - Weston

• 4 Barnton to Leftwich and Kingsmead via Northwich

• 4 Macclesfield - Upton Priory

• 5 & 6 Macclesfield - Broken Cross

• 6 Leighton Hospital - Shavington

• 7 Winsford Local Circular

• 9 Macclesfield - Moss Rose

• 10 Macclesfield - Bollington

• 31 Northwich - Winsford - Crewe

• 37 Northwich - Winsford - Sandbach - Crewe

• 38 Crewe - Macclesfield

• 84 Crewe - Nantwich/Chester

D&G Bus has registered replacement services for routes 1, 10, 31 and 37 as well as changing their own routes 12 and 38 in response. They have a place on their website for collating information on what they plan to do and warn that things may change as the whole changeover progresses. The company also mentions service 84 in its plans, but Cheshire East Council has included details of a Stagecoach registration for service 84. This will be a Monday to Saturday 84 service that is hourly between Crewe and Chester and half-hourly between Crewe and Nantwich, with last buses leaving for the day at around 19:00 or 19:30.

Cheshire East Council also provides these further details of affected bus routes in their area:

Quite how much of these gets replaced remains to be seen, but councils have to remain somewhat aloof from the efforts of commercial operators even if it becomes a messy process until things settle down afterwards. The planned withdrawal of Arriva from Cheshire East and from much of Cheshire West and Chester council areas is set to happen on 2023-04-23, with the previous day seeing the end of their operations. That means there is time yet for more things to be set in place and there is a petition against the closures that may or may not have an effect. My expectation is that the exits will happen, but this story will run for a while yet.

Update on 2023-03-30

First Potteries has registered a new service 6 between Crewe and Leighton via Bradfield Road, so all the Arriva services around Crewe appear to be getting coverage, even if evening service details have yet to come. What also remains outstanding are nay details of replacements for Macclesfield town services 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Uncertainty remains, so there could be more confusion before everything becomes clear.

Update on 2023-04-02

High Peak will be introducing service 14A to cover for the soon-to-be withdrawn service 9 between Macclesfield Bus Station and Moss Rose. Two hourly extensions to Langley will be offered on service 14, which will follow the same route as 14A for the shared portion, ensuring that a half-hourly frequency will remain available.

Also, D&G Bus is changing its service 19 to go via Upton Priory to replace the soon-to-be withdrawn service 4. Since service 19 will operate mainly with a two-hourly frequency, service 19A is to be offered between Macclesfield Bus Station and Upton Priory to ensure that an hourly service level will remain.

All of these will be Monday to Saturday services only, and it remains to be seen what will happen to those routes that serve Weston or what becomes of any Sunday or subsidised evening services. However, there will be a D&G Bus service X31 running between Winsford (including its estates) and Northwich on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Update on 2023-04-12

Evening journeys get Cheshire East Council financial support on services 37 and 38. Those on the former only go between Sandbach and Winsford while those on the latter cover the entire route.

There will be Sunday daytime journeys on route 84 with some extra evening Monday to Saturday services as well, following financial support from both Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West & Chester council. Everyone gets free travel on the first week that Stagecoach operates the service, too.

There is nothing on Macclesfield Weston service yet, but there is a tantalising slot reserved for service 3 in Macclesfield bus station in the new allocation, so anything could happen yet. That bus station allocation shows several empty bays, a startling reminder of how the bus network has declined over the last decade or so.

Update on 2023-04-17

D&G Bus will take over service three between Macclesfield bus station and Weston as well, so that bus station stance allocation was a hint of things to come. Otherwise, service 12 between Leighton Hospital, Crewe and Shavington gains council-contracted Monday to Friday evening journeys while service one gains an extra early evening journey between Northwich and Weaverham following from council financial support. Since the changeover is just a week away, one has to wonder is the new network is fully announced by now. If anything more does come up, it will get added here.

Update on 2023-04-24

There is just one last minute development to add: D&G Bus have added a service 84X between Crewe and Nantwich. Details on the Cheshire East Council website are a little confused, but this runs up to hourly on Sundays and half-hourly on other days of the week. It will operate free of charge until 2023-04-29, and I am left wondering if we now have competition between different bus operators. Is D&G trying to keep Stagecoach out of its area? Only time will answer that question.

To facilitate replacement of Railway Structure, Buxton Road, Whaley Bridge at Railway Bridge between junction with Forge Road and Whaley Bridge Uniting Church will be closed from 2023-01-16 until the end of March. This means that High Peak are making some changes to any bus services that pass through the area and routes 60, 61, 190 and 199 are affected.

Service 60 will operate in two halves. The first operates on a two-hourly basis between Macclesfield and Chapel-en-le-Frith, the latter being an extension from Horwich End for connection with services 61 and 199 for passengers going north of the closure. One afternoon run extends to Dove Holes for Chapel High School pupils to cover for route 199 while most journeys run via Shallcross to cover for route 190. The second half of the route operates between Hayfield and Whaley Bridge with an hourly frequency as albeit to a slightly revised timetable with all buses doing the full Stoneheads loop to turn around.

Service 61 continues to operate as through service with a reduced frequency. This is reduced to every ninety mins from Monday to Saturday and becomes more irregular on Sundays due to the length of the diversion via Chapel-en-le-Frith. Most workings serve Whaley Bridge village centre, turning via a half loop of Stoneheads (Jodrell Road and Hockerley Lane only). Buses then join A6 via Sheffield Road instead of Hayfield Road to avoid a tight left turn. Sunday service on route 61 also ends after January due to low passenger patronage.

Service 190 operates to a normal timetable, but journeys will terminate at Stoneheads like service 61 and will not serve Shallcross. Shallcross Residents can use the revised 60 service.

The timetable for service 199 is unchanged, but buses do not serve Cockyard, Tunstead Milton, Horwich End or the main part of Chapel-en-le-Frith or Whaley Bridge. Buses from Buxton will operate as normal to Market Street, but instead of continuing on Market Street to Cockyard, it will turn right into Hayfield Road at Town End, head north on Hayfield Road, turn right onto A624, then rejoin A6 at Aldi roundabout to rejoin normal line of route at Bridgemont. Buses from Manchester operate in the reverse direction. In Chapel-en-le-Frith, the Old Pack Horse (on Market St), Town Hall, Kings Arms, New Inn and Eccles Fold stops are not served for the duration of the closure and passengers need to walk down to the Town End stop on Hayfield Road (opposite Fosters Fine Food & Flowers) or Burrfields Road stop for travel towards Manchester, or Town End stop on Hayfield Road East (opposite the back of the Old Pack Horse) for travel to Buxton. For Chapel-en-le-Frith High School, there is one morning trip departing Buxton Market Place at 07:40 and will arrive at Chapel High School for 08:08am, where the bus turns around in the grounds and return to A6 using Sheffield Road. In Bridgemont, buses only serve the Crescent Drive stops on the A6.

There are a lot of changes to bus services around Merseyside in January. Here are the details.

Routes 3 and 3A Huyton - Halewood or John Lennon Airport

Times are changed throughout.

Route 7 Liverpool - Huyton or Warrington

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 10B and 10S Liverpool - Huyton or Prescot

Two morning journeys in each direction previously on route 10B now operate as route 10S between Liverpool and Prescot, missing out Huyton. All other journeys are unchanged.

Routes 12 and 13 Liverpool - Stockbridge Village circulars

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 14, 14A, 14B, 14C and 14X Liverpool - Croxteth or Kirkby

Timing changes to Arriva and Stagecoach Monday to Friday morning journeys.

Route 15 Liverpool - Huyton

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 17 Chain Lane - St Helens - Sutton Manor - Widnes

The Arriva service route is shortened and now runs between Chain Lane and Widnes Green Oaks, no longer serving Vicarage Road. The service is also re-routed around Laffak, now turning left from Bosworth Street onto Chain Lane, omitting Old Nook Lane and Paisley Avenue. Monday to Saturday times are changed throughout. The Merseytravel service, operated by HTL, is also re-routed now turning left from Bosworth Street onto Chain Lane, omitting Old Nook Lane and Paisley Avenue. In Widnes the service is re-routed along Lockett Road, in line with the daytime service. Times are otherwise unchanged.

Routes 320 St Helens - Earlestown and Ashton in Makerfield or Wigan

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 26 and 27 Liverpool ONE - Sheil Road circulars

Times changed throughout on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 28 St Helens - Blackbrook -St Helens - St Helens Hospital - Haydock Industrial Estate

The 15:00 journey from Hall Street now departs at 15:10 and runs ten minutes later along the route. All other journeys are unchanged.

Route 31 St Helens - Parr

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 37 and 38 St Helens - Eccleston or Rainford

Times changed on Monday to Friday services.

Route 47 Liverpool - Crossens

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 52, 52A and 52B Liverpool - Netherton, Old Roan or Bootle

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 53 Liverpool - Crosby

Times changed on Monday to Friday services.

Routes 54 and 54A Liverpool - Thornton

Times changed throughout on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 55 Liverpool - Old Roan

The Monday to Friday times are changed throughout. Sunday times from Liverpool have changed.

Route 56 Liverpool - Netherton

Times changed along the route on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 58 and 58A Liverpool - Netherton

58: Monday to Friday times are changed. The Merseytravel bus service (starting at Netherton at 05:39), operated by PeoplesBus, is unchanged.

58A: Monday to Friday times are changed from Liverpool to Netherton. From Netherton into Liverpool the buses retimed one minute earlier at Trinity Road.

Some stops renamed to bring details into line with the digital timetable.

Route 60 Bootle - Aigburth

Times changed throughout on Monday to Friday services, while there are minor retimings to those on Saturdays and Sundays.

Routes 61 and 61A Bootle - Aigburth

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 61 Liverpool - Halton Hospital

The Monday to Friday and Saturday times are changed throughout.

Sunday times are unchanged.

Route 62 Penny Lane - Bootle

Changes made to Monday to Friday times. Saturday and Sunday times remain unchanged.

Route 63 Bootle - Aintree Hospital

Monday to Friday times have changed.

Routes 68, 68A and 68E Bootle - Aigburth Vale

Minor timing changes to Monday to Friday journeys while there are no changes to those on Saturdays. On Sundays, there are some minor timing changes to evening journeys towards Aigburth Vale on service 68A.

Route 75 Liverpool - Halewood

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 76 Liverpool - Halewood

Monday to Friday times changed.

Route 78 Halewood - Liverpool

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 79 and 79C Liverpool - Halewood and Murdishaw

Route 79: Monday to Friday times are changed throughout. Saturday and Sunday times are unchanged, although there are some corrections to Saturday evening journeys from Liverpool ONE.

Route 79C: Monday to Friday times are changed throughout. The Saturday journeys that depart from Murdishaw at 11:45, 12:15 and 17:48 are retimed at some stops along the route along the route.

Saturday journeys towards Murdishaw and Sunday times are unchanged.

Routes 80 and 80A Liverpool - Speke

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Routes 81 and 81A Bootle - Liverpool John Lennon Airport or Speke

Route 81: Monday to Friday times are changed throughout. Saturday and Sunday journeys have minor retimings at some stops.

Route 81A: Monday to Friday times are changed throughout while there is no change to those on Saturdays.

Route 82 Liverpool - Garston or Speke

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 82A Liverpool - Murdishaw

The Monday to Friday journeys are retimed throughout. Saturday and Sunday journeys now start an hour earlier with three additional Saturday evening journeys from Murdishaw to John Lennon Airport and one additional Saturday evening journey from John Lennon Airport to Murdishaw.

Routes 86, 86A and 86C Liverpool - Garston or Speke or Hope University

Arriva services: Times changed on Monday to Friday journeys, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Stagecoach 86: The Monday to Friday times are changed throughout. Saturdays towards Liverpool ONE are changed between 09:20 and 18:00. Saturdays towards Liverpool South Parkway and Sundays are unchanged.

Stagecoach 86C: Monday to Friday times are substantially changed before 09:00 (up to ten minutes earlier), then minor changes at certain points in the route. On Saturdays minor changes between 08:05 and 17:30 at certain timepoints.

Route 89 St Helens - John Lennon Airport

Times changed on Monday to Friday services, while those on Saturdays and Sundays remain unchanged.

Route 97 Kirkby circular

All trips are rerouted via Bewley Drive, Peatwood Avenue, Gaywood Avenue and Broad Lane as they miss out part of Moorgate Road. Timings are amended accordingly.

Route 102 Aintree University Hospital - Broadgreen Hospital or Page Moss

Times changed for journeys earlier than 18:00 hours.

Route 133 Kirkby - Waterloo

Minor timing changes to the first journey of the day and afternoon journeys to and from Kirkby Admin. 18:16 journey to Waterloo Interchange now leaves Kirkby Admin at 18:32. 17:12 journey to Kirkby Admin now leaves Waterloo Interchange at 17:22.

Route 144 Bootle - Litherland circular

Start times from Bootle Bus Station are unchanged, but there are minor timing changes to the rest of the route for Monday to Saturday journeys only. Saturday journeys now run at slightly different times to ones operating from Monday to Friday. Sunday journey timings remain unchanged.

Routes 166 and 188 Belle Vale and Halewood circulars

All times have changed.

Route 174 Belle Vale - Penny Lane

Monday to Friday times have changed.

Route 204 Liverpool ONE - Belle Vale

The long-term diversion via Upper Parliament Street, Mulgrave Street and Princess Avenue towards Liverpool ONE is now permanently registered. There are minor timing changes to Monday to Friday journeys while Saturdays and Sundays are unchanged.

Route 300 Liverpool - Lydiate or Southport

The main daytime service is unchanged. There are some minor retimings for the Monday to Friday evening journeys that run between Lydiate and Liverpool only, in both directions. The Saturday and Sunday journeys are unchanged.

Route 310 Liverpool - Maghull or Skelmersdale

All times are changed.

Route 319 Kirkby - Skelmersdale

New route 319 operating between Kirkby Bus Station and Skelmersdale Concourse with a 30-minute Monday to Saturday daytime frequency. Services operated on evenings and Sundays operate to an hourly frequency.

Route 345 Liverpool - Waddicar - Kirkby

Monday to Friday times are changed.

Routes 375 and 385 Southport - Wigan

Monday to Friday times changed on both services. The Neverstitch Road timing point replaces Old Skelmersdale War Memorial on journeys heading towards Wigan.

Route 409 Wallasey Village - Woodside circular

Monday to Friday times are changed throughout. On Saturdays the 07:29 journey from Birkenhead Bus Station to Wallasey Village is now retimed at St Albans Road to be two minutes earlier at 07:45. All other Saturday times are unchanged.

Route 410 New Brighton - Clatterbridge Hospital

The Monday to Friday 07:20 journey from New Brighton and 08:30 from Clatterbridge both now run five mins earlier throughout. Times are unchanged for Saturday journeys, but there are additional journeys in both directions at 22:10 and 23:10, the latter finishing at Birkenhead. On Sundays all daytime journeys prior to 18:30 depart five mins later with additional journeys in both directions leaving at 21:10, 22:10 and 23:10, the latter finishing at Birkenhead.

Route 411 New Brighton - Woodside - New Brighton

Most journeys are retimed to run about five minutes earlier.

Route 500 Liverpool John Lennon Airport - Liverpool - Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Times changed with additional stop.

Route 699 Greenbank Student Village - University of Liverpool or Liverpool City Centre

Monday to Friday times are changed.

Route 835 Northwood - Liverpool Freeport

Times have changed.

Routes 897, 898 and 899 Huyton or Page Moss to Kirkby Admin

Route 897: Times are changed throughout.

Route 898: The HTL morning service is unchanged while times have changed throughout on journeys operated for Merseytravel by Arriva.

Route 899: Times are changed throughout and route descriptions and timing points updated.