On Trains & Buses

Unlike a near neighbour, Conwy Borough Council doesn’t share bus and train timetables via its website though it does produce a printed timetable twice a year. Gwynedd Council also produces printed timetables around the same time but also offers PDF versions via its website. It’s not the only example of such inconsistency in service provision but it doesn’t make Conwy as easy to explore using public transport as Gwynedd and both local authority areas share the Snowdonia National Park. While you can understand that everyone wants to approach a job in their own way, it’d be better if there was at least sort of consistency between council areas (it’s not an exclusively Welsh problem at all). To its credit, Conwy’s council does host a microsite dedicated to the Conwy Valley Railway but another devoted to providing bus timetable information wouldn’t go amiss because it has fine countryside to be exploring too.

Somehow, Arriva has come into the possession of an Optare Solo (admittedly, it looks a bit tiddly on a route normally operated using full size Dennis Darts and the occasional double decker but never underestimate how many can be fitted into these buses) with a sign on board dating from the days of Chester City Transport. It’s like a vague memory that the erstwhile municipal operation had at least one bus with Cheshire County Council “Cheshire Rider” livery and this, with its dark blue paintwork, might have been one of them. That recollection leads me to wonder if Arriva has the bus on loan from Cheshire East Council, especially with the local authority’s logo featured on the sides of the vehicle.

This week, it has appeared operating 130 services between Macclesfield and Manchester and carries signage publicising the real time bus tracker that has been available since the end of last year. The strap line goes something like “to find out if the 130 is on time, go online”. With that sort of livery and the mention of Cheshire East Council, you’d expect the bus to have a GPS tracker but I have seen little evidence of that so far. Maybe, it’s one of life’s little ironies.

It also has appeared at the same time that Arriva has updated the 130 timetable to cope with all the upheaval that the A34 bypass and associated works has brought to Alderley Edge and Nether Alderley. Adding to that is what is happening in Macclesfield with roads being dug up all around the town to replace old gas mains. It’s like everything is happening all at once but we’ll have to hop that they stop up soon enough.

Last weekend, I went walking around Capel Curig. To get there, I went by train to Dolwyddelan before walking over Carnedd Moel Siabod to where I was staying on Saturday night. Because I was travelling back of a Sunday, there were no trains running on the Conwy Valley railway line, so it was a matter of catching the X84 from Betws-y-Coed after walking there from Capel Curig. Because the service accepts train tickets, there’s no more to be paid when you are in possession of one.

That meant finding the bus stop that is called “Platform 2” in the car park near Betws-y-Coed’s train station and its National Park centre. The choice of name does make you wonder if someone has been using their sense of humour, yet it seems to be the main hub from which you can catch any of the buses serving the village. It was the 12:20 that I wanted, and it turned up on time, but the bus could have done with being bigger.

With the summery sunny weather, Arriva should have sent something more than a short wheelbase Dennis Dart, but that’s what came, and it was well full too, not ideal when you are carrying a hefty rucksack around with you. In fact, it became even cosier at Betws-y-Coed before it set off and stayed that way until it reached Llandudno Junction where most of the passengers, myself included, disembarked. Mercifully, some got off in Llanrwst, leaving space for the others who came on board, and there were no more coming on after that.

Hopefully, drivers of the X84 will get bigger buses for the route as the year wears on and that the May change in the rail timetable brings Sunday trains to the Conwy Valley again, at least for the summer season. After all, Betws-y-Coed is a popular spot and many continue to Blaenau Ffestiniog for the Ffestiniog Railway. As it stands, using undersized buses will encourage people to bring their cars in the belief that public transport is inadequate and the Snowdon Sherpa network needs all the patronage that it can get.

Yesterday saw me head into Derbyshire for a spot of exploration in the Peak District National Park. What got me to Baslow for the start of the walk was a two part bus journey. Service 58 took me from Macclesfield to Buxton and service 218 got me from there to Baslow. My trot finished up in Bamford (Hathersage or Grindleford could have been stopping points too if time was tight) and a train to Manchester was put to use.Getting back from there took far, far longer than usual because of rail engineering works between Manchester and Stockport. The 30 minute bus journey wasn’t the bone of contention but rather the 50 minute wait for an onward train connection afterwards. Southbound Virgin and Crosscountry services weren’t available so it was a case of using the 21:52 to Stoke or getting a taxi.

To keep everything within the £10 cost of a GM Wayfarer ticket, I stuck with the train. After all, it was allowing me to mix and match modes of transport as needed to set up a linear walk. Derbyshire has its own Wayfarer but that doesn’t extend beyonds it boundaries to carry you into Greater Manchester and Cheshire like its more useful Greater Manchester equivalent. You need to watch you are getting in order to get the full deal.

The whole point of the day wasn’t to see if how far a GM Wayfarer would carry me. There was a good walk enjoyed under ever clearing skies and my legs are telling me a little about my exertions today. However, having that single ticket made it all the easier, ever if going into a train station to make the purchase and then travelling by bus sounds strange. Well, that’s what is needed in Macclesfield…

After having the idea in my head for a while, I finally went out for a cycle that mostly followed quieter lanes as my itinerary took in Gawsworth, Astbury and Goostrey on the way to Northwich. Many of the roads that I followed were new to me as was the town of Northwich itself. The plan was not to overdo it so I had designs on using trains to get home again. However, a missed train allowed an opportunity to check out the countryside on the north side of the town too. Well, the service is two hourly on Sundays.

When another train did come to the down at heel halt that is Northwich’s train station (the local user’s group have posters up regarding giving the thing a spot of TLC), I was glad to find that there were bicycle spaces available, especially with Northern trumpetting about there only being two per train. Eventually, there were three on the train without any protest from the conductor. Even so, there was no trouble with retrieving my mode of transport in Stockport so the next train serving Macclesfield saw me on board.

That was a Virgin so arrangements were more formal than the “help yourself” regime of Northern or CrossCountry. First, you need to get Virgin staff to unlock the compartment where bikes are kept on the train. On the night, a spot of (illegal) smoking was the cause of setting off a row between passengers so the process of loading involved a little wait. Once that little formality is out of the way, you need to find a member of the train crew to ensure that you get the bicycle off again (there are signs to that effect in case you are unaware or have forgotten), a pressing need when you are getting off at the next stop like I was. Saying that, the procedure worked without a hitch and I wasn’t dumped in Stoke or left bereft of anything. Incidentally, storage space didn’t seem to be a problem either.