On Trains & Buses

When Cheshire East Council launched online bus tracking for routes 27 and 130, it looked like a step in the right direction and that still is the case. However, there caveats regarding the supplied information that need attention. To my mind, it seems that not enough of the buses operating those route have trackers installed or turned on. What we cannot expect is that every bus connecting Macclesfield with Knutsford or Manchester is tracked because that may mean a restricted pool of buses for initiative such as what Cheshire East Council have in operation. Breakdowns and maintenance can mean that the usual buses are unavailable so untracked vehicles have to be tolerated. Nevertheless, I am getting the impression that not enough are being tracked and that makes the tracker little better than a rolling bus timetable. Another thing that I have spotted is that it doesn’t take account of cancelled services and there were plenty of those during the recent run of arctic weather. In a nutshell, things need improving before the tracker is truly dependable and my only hope is that the general extent of usage will convince the council to do just that and maybe even expand the service to other bus routes.

The first full working week of 2010 was a hectic affair after the previous weekend’s snowfall and that during the early hours of Tuesday morning. Many a website was being hammered in the search for travel information during the disruption and this one was no exception with it getting as many hits in a week as it normally does in a month. The past week has seen things calming down though there have been problems in places. One of these has been the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton and the 58 was being diverted even as lately as today  because of snow drifts and troublesome road conditions. However, the Cat and Fiddle webcam shows a clearance from the way that things were not so long ago. Hopefully, the run of normal Atlantic weather will continue to normalise things even it means getting wet from time to time (or was that nearly all of the time?). The sad part might be having to find another talking point but anything’s better than seeing people getting hurt on ice.

Heavy rain might have been visiting Macclesfield this morning but bus travellers between Macclesfield and Buxton still are being diverted around by Whaley Bridge. Of course, what is rain at lower levels can become sleet and snow up higher on those hills. With that there was last night, you wouldn’t have imagined that heavy rain lay ahead but such is the British weather that big changes like that often happen quickly. What does take a while is the melting of any ice that has formed and the rain only makes it more slippery in the interim period. The result is that I have tended to walk on the carriageway where the footway looks very suspect. Speaking of roads, buses are able to travel and the usual complement of buses serving routes 4, 10, 11, 21, 27 and 130 were out and about. So, while the snow hasn’t departed us yet, milder (and wetter) weather lies ahead. Quite where all the water locked up in snow and ice is going to go is anyone’s guess but rivers and streams could get very full and the next complaint that we get to hear could be about flooding. Well, there’s always something but we have little choice but to get through it.

Since Sunday, there has been a very noticeable thaw. That’s not to say the snowy blanket is in marked retreat but that any that is lying on Macclesfield pavements is reducing and roads are staying clear or are clearing. The lack of severe frosts over the last few nights only  can have helped. Bowers is providing an ever more complete service over its routes (amyone travelling between Macclesfield and Buxton needed to go around by Whaley Bridge when I last looked) and Arriva’s services around Macclesfield seem to be running OK from what I can see. The same statement applies to train services too.

More snow is forecast but this will be of the Atlantic variety so there is a chance that it will not stall what is a slow thaw; there may be disruption like what affected Ireland in recent days (bus services around Cork and Kerry were affected) but that may be part and parcel of things generally warming up. With all the snow that is lying, it is best not have a fast rise in temperature or we will have transport disruption due to flooding. So, it might be better to have a slow clearance than a fast one, especially in hill country where places are heavily plastered with the white stuff. I, for one, will be taking things as they come and it is looking as if places may be slippery on the way to our more usual maritime mix of weather.

Yesterday saw me travel over to Derbyshire to see how things were over there. The hills between Macclesfield and Buxton were thickly plastered with snow but the A537 was clear on the way over though drifting snow was starting to cover it and cut down on visibility at the same time. It must have disimproved after that because the return journey on Bowers service 58 went around by Whaley Bridge on the return journey that evening. It was the 17:05 that I was using and doubts surfaces were surfacing regarding the running of the service and an enquiry of the helpful driver of the inbound service 61 from Glossop set things to rights after she rang the depot for information. That’s not to say that there weren’t confused passengers on board when the bus started to go a different to what was expected. Even so, we all got back to Macclesfield intact and that’s what’s important.

After spending some time enjoying the sunny snowscapes around Buxton, I popped over to Bakewell on the Transpeak service (the return wasn’t cheap at £5.80, it has to be said). Whiteness remained pervasive and the bus stuck to the A6 apart from serving Ashford-in-the-Water. Having come all the way from Manchester, it was running 10 minutes but that can happen on any day.

In general, there was a good supply of buses running in both Buxton and Bakewell but the story doesn’t look so good today. The only Bowers service running is the 61 between Glossop and Buxton so road conditions mustn’t have stayed as they were after more snowfall. Even trains running between Manchester and Buxton have been affected and drifting snow has been the given cause. A combination of more snow and it drifting about cannot be easy conditions within which to be working.

Around Macclesfield, there seem to be signs of a thaw and the 130 was out when I braved the conditions when I tried out my bike (most places were fine but I learned to keep away from steeper cambers and to keep a good tyre footprint on the road; any sliding was arrested by placing a foot on the ground so there was no bump of any kind). As I write this the sky is full of cloud and there has been the occasional flake of snow but tonight and tomorrow may tell tales yet. The cold spell is far from over so it’s a case of taking things day by day.