Here in Macclesfield, there is another round of traffic disruption besetting us; it’s as if it never stops. This time, it is the need to maintain overhead electricity cables that is the cause of the trouble. The result is the closure of part of the Silk Road with diversions being set in place with anyone intent on turning right on Hibel Road, Beech Lane or Jordangate being sent to the roundabouts at the end of Churchill Way or near the Tesco superstore. The Jordangate traffic lights have been switched off too so pedestrians have been advised to use the nearby footbridge over the road instead. Otherwise, there are signs and bollards littered everywhere with Beech Lane/Manchester Road being the alternative route for traffic going to and coming from north of Macclesfield. When you see the what is being done, you would suspect chaos but I haven’t really seen any apart from a traffic build-up around Sainsbury’s on Sunday. While I am travelling to work earlier than before, I have seen no real effect on bus running times either. Is because it is summer school holiday time that things are working as smoothly as they are?
The posting rate has gone down here to one a month and Twitter may be to blame for sapping it. Mind you, personal fatigue and other distractions may have had a role to play too. After all, it’s not as if the world of public transport is going to stay as quiet as it is at the moment.
For one thing, there are those cuts in public spending that loom large on the horizon. Then, there’s a transport secretary who may not be as enthusiastic about the subject as his predecessor. Well, he has been displaced from a possible role in the Treasury by the politics of coalition governments. The combination makes for testing times ahead and may make for much commentary.
The A34 bypass works trundle onward with the A535 being closed for while with Bollington Lane being reopened in the meantime to take strain. The result is that you cannot fail to notice the extra traffic on the A34 and it’s just as well that the summer school holidays are coming soon.
Elsewhere, the road system is showing the signs of a rough winter with a partial collapse on the A537 between Henbury and Broken Cross. There now has been an imperfect repair (aren’t they all these days?) and I hope that no harm came to anyone beforehand.
Victoria Road in Macclesfield has seen some resurfacing of the loose chipping variety that looks a rough job though that may change as the new surface settles. Let’s hope that it lasts better than previous attempts of the same kind on the A34 around Siddington and the B5087 around Over Alderley. They look a bit more sorry these days with some evidence of surface cracks in the case of the former. In fact, the whole road surface between Monk’s Heath and Siddington is well cracked and similar road conditions can be found on the A537 around the “Birtles Bends”.
All of these observations come from another factor that may be cutting down on new entries on here: my cycling to and from work during the long spell of fine settled weather than we have been enjoying for what feels like months now. That has seen to it that my bus travel has been curtailed though things now look less settled than they were.
Still, I have noticed a bus running on service 27 between Macclesfield and Knutsford with is electronic destination display not working. That sort of thing has happened before with those buses with paper signs appearing on screens during the time before a new display was instated. This sort of thing even afflicted a vehicle on the 130 with one side not showing anything at all. Has Arriva fixed that one yet?
To finish, you could summarise this post in a single sentiment: the cracks are showing in the transport infrastructure so how are any savings going to be made? Currently, it looks as if the cuts are going to hurt, regardless of the political rhetoric surrounding them. It was only a few years back that the now defunct Cheshire County Council proposed drastic reductions in evening bus services. The result was considerable negative feedback and much of those plans were rescinded. Could they appear again? If so, we need to make a stand in order not to let things go too far.
Arriva seems to have retimed the 130 services to the extent that you find drivers having to stopover at convenient places for longer that is ideal. Then, there’s having to go slower than usual to keep to the advertised timing points, a legal requirement. Seeing this does make you wonder if things have gone from one extreme to the other. There was a time when such considerations were far from being observed with the bus timings suffering as a direct result. Some people must consider that the only road works relating to the Alderley Edge Bypass to be a major upheaval. While there can be no doubt that there’s potential for major disruption, you do have to ask if there has been overcompensation.
The same thing affects the 27 too, it seems. If you want to get from Knutsford to Alderley Park, you have to deal with a much reduced service level. The question arises is whether this is temporary or not. One would hope that it is the former and not the latter but you have to wonder in these times when austerity has been trumpeted by a new government. Who knows?
There was a time when the Scottish Borders had railways running through the area but they now are no more though a restoration of the line between Edinburgh and Galashiels/Tweedbank is in the offing. That will be a partial help though it doesn’t really work for those coming up from the south like myself. It makes little sense to go north to come south again unless you have a reason to go north in the first place; basing yourself in Edinburgh and fanning out from there would be one.
What has brought this realisation my way was a trip to the area last weekend. Travel was by train as far as Carlisle followed by a lengthy ride on the X95 bus service from Carlisle to Edinburgh operated by First South East & Central Scotland. Those two hours did allow some gaping at the surrounding countryside, wonderment at the continued presence of single track bridges under permanent traffic light control on the A7 between Carlisle and Edinburgh along with looking out the windows at towns like Langholm, Hawick and Selkirk. Selkirk was where I stopped for a walk to Galashiels and Melrose via the Three Brethren and the South Upland Way but the return trip started from Galashiels after an overnight stay in Melrose and some exploration of the place.
Because of having different stopping and starting points at the Scottish ends of my cross border journeys, I went with two single journey tickets only to find that they were the same price of £6, not too bad considering the distance travelled. However, noticing that a return from Galashiels to Melrose was valid for a month, I’d be tempted to go with that the next time. Day tickets were not advertised on First buses so I stuck with paying single and return fares. Since returning home, I have done some investigation on their website and the cheapest one would have been £5 and it can go up to £9 depending on how many zones through which you need to pass. There’s the multi-operator One-Ticket too but that only makes sense if you are staying for a week or more. Maybe, playing safe like I did wasn’t so insensible and I didn’t imagine making as much use of buses as I did anyway.
All of the buses on which I travelled has Wright Solar style bodywork and felt fresh and reasonably well presented too. Apart from the X95, I also used services 9A (Melrose-Galashiels), 60 (Berwick-upon-Tweed to Galashiels) and 62 (Edinburgh-Melrose). Even the older buses that I saw working services or parking around Galashiels bus station didn’t look too shabby, whatever it is like to ride in them. It is all a far cry from the Alexander Y-Type bodied Leyland Tigers and such like with their high-floored bodies of which First had many in the late nineties or the Volvo Ailsa double-deckers that they started to phase out of operation around the same time.
In spite of any impression given so far, First isn’t the only operator with Munros of Jedburgh and Perryman’s Buses of Berwick-upon-Tweed running services too. The former fans out from its base in Jedburgh across the Borders, north to Edinburgh and south to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Once upon a time, I think that it ran the 67 between Berwick-upon-Tweed, Kelso and Galashiels but that is now in the hands of Perryman’s along with the 253 to Edinburgh whose route hugs the coastline.
The last time that I visited the area around Galashiels, I came over from the east on the 67 after staying a night in Berwick-upon-Tweed. As if to highlight the northeasterly tilt of the Scotland-England border, Berwick is nearly to the north of Galashiels or Gala as it is known to the locals. Now that I think of it, I am not sure why I went up the East Coast Mainline unless there were engineering works ongoing on its West Coast counterpart; not only did it add distance to my journey but it added to the cost of it too. It’s an approach that I wouldn’t take for a walking trip now though it does highlight another lost railway link that lives on in the form of First Scotland East bus service 60, the one that I took in order to ensure a return train trip. Again, there were two hour bus journeys involved so you have to see what this says about the size of the area governed by the Scottish Borders Council, not the most helpful of organisations when it comes to public transport information provision if my poking around its website is a fair reflection of their efforts. Learning from their counterpart in Dumfries and Galloway wouldn’t a bad start.
Given the area’s size and what it has to offer visitors from beyond its boundaries, it is pity that its railways were removed to make it so dependent on long distance bus services. If they still existed, getting a bike to the Scottish Borders for some cycling along its quiet roads and lanes would be so much easier. As things stand, it might be best to factor in a cycle from somewhere like Berwick-upon-Tweed where a more friendly road system and less taxing gradients are in its favour. Taking a folding bike would one workaround though they are not the cheapest of options and I have little experience of using them. Still, I am tempted by the idea and it would allow me to use a train/bus combination to get into an area that is both off the beaten track and worth exploring by bike. That’s not to stay that doing it on foot is a limitation but a little variety never hurt, did it?
Over the past bank holiday weekend, I spent some time on the Isle of Man and that meant sampling its public transport system as I explored some of the island’s many delights. Steam trains and electric trams were in operation but it was buses that I was using with journeys taking to me to the likes of Port Erin and Peel. In a way, it’s surprising but I was on double-decker vehicles for all of this, something that helps when it comes to enjoying the scenery as you pass through it. Bus Vannin, the Manx government-owned bus company is the sole operator on the island and there are signs of that public ownership in the operation and the upkeep of the vehicles. It has single deckers too, Dennis Darts by the appearance of things, but these seem to be kept for shorter route and are the full length item and not the stubby short wheelbase counterparts that are so commonplace on the British mainland.
It cannot be said that all Manx roads are smooth but they’re not in bad nick at all and the driving of the buses that I used was stately and sedate rather than hurried, even are a short delay at some roadworks. I suppose that it helps that the island is not overrun with other motor traffic so stop-start driving condition are rare though I do wonder what things are like when the TT is in full swing, not that I am desperate to find out; quieter times will more than do me, thank you very much.
Some of those roads are narrow though and I’d advise against trying to get about the town of Peel with no map; I ended up walking in a circle while trying to get my bearings after a strenuous day’s walking. Seeing the way that tight corners are negotiated by double-decker buses is an eye-opening spectacle and cars use the same streets too. It helps to be unhurried…
The title arises from the colour scheme applied to the mixture of Dennis Darts, Dennis Tridents and, latterly, Wright Eclipse Geminis. The latter have gained a mix of maroon (madder?) and cream as have a few of the Tridents. Otherwise, it’s a combination of bright red and cream and it’s not as garish as it sounds. The newer buses get the Bus Vannin logo while older vehicles bear the arms of the Isle of Man, complete with triskelion and motto. It’s refreshing to see two liveries used side bt side without the pressure that many private sector operators feel when it comes to their brand identity.
Services are regular too with the backbone routes connecting Douglas with Port St. Mary, serving the island’s airport along with Castletown (the old capital) and Port Erin, Ramsey, via Peel or Laxey. Douglas has copious local services as well and these are but a selection of what is operated. Sunday services are more limited but are largely hourly on the main routes so they are more than usable. Interestingly, a Saturday service was offered on the bank holiday itself (the Isle of Man has a Mayday holiday too) when so many places on the British mainland are subject to Sunday service (Macclesfield is but one example).
My experience of the Manx bus system was a positive one and reminded me of another municipal operation: Lothian Buses. Apart from the use of marron or madder in their liveries and their public ownership, it is the driving that really sticks out in my mind as a similarity. While on my way to Port Erin, I was reminded of a journey downhill from Bruntsfield towards Tollcross when any bumpiness resulted in any easy off of the accelerator and I suppose that the way that they were glided around corners might have reminded me of the 42 up and around the Mound.
Where this mental meandering is taking me is the resurgence of madder on Lothian’s buses. I have to admit that the harlequin livery was never to my tastes and often wondered at the cost of its maintenance. It seemed like change for the sake of change when the madder and white livery that bedecked so many Olympians (Leyland and Volvo) looked just right. Was it all the idea of a chief executive who was parachuted in from Stagecoach and who wanted low floor buses to be made more distinctive? He’s retired now so it’s intriguing that the madder and white is coming back in a new form. The curves in the new scheme may leave me unsure but it’s good to have the more traditional colours on the way back. We are facing more financially constrained time so the new scheme might be easier and cheaper to keep, no bad thing at all. There was a consultation ongoing on Lothian’s website, something that I don’t remember from ten years ago but I had other things on my mind back then; starting a career after university was the biggest of them and that involved a move south to Cheshire, a good distance away.
In a way, it’s odd that an island excursion that took me out into quiet countryside went and reminded me of a bustling city but that’s what can happen at times. Now that I come to think of it, I haven’t been in Edinburgh so it might be a good time to think of fitting in a return visit.