News Snippets
The changed bus timetable around Stoke-on-Trent has been on its second day but here’s what has changed in case you have not met up with it yet:
Service 1 (Newcastle – Longton – Hanley) – Revised route with an extension to Newcastle to replace the cancelled service 26.
Services 3 / X3 – New Monday to Sunday services between Keele, University Hospital, Hanley, Kidsgrove and Crewe, replacing services 20, 20A & 25
Services 4 / 4A – New Monday to Sunday services between Hanley, Newcastle and Audley / Kidsgrove, replacing services 34 and 34A.
Services 7 / 7A / 7B (Hanley – Kidsgrove / Biddulph) – Revised route and timetable.
Services 8 / 8A / 8B (Hanley – Newcastle / Endon / Brown Edge) – Revised route and timetable, incorporating service 98.
Service 9 – New Monday to Sunday service between Hanley, Tunstall and Newcastle.
Service 17 (Newcastle – Bradwell – Hanley) – Service cancelled, to be replaced by revised service 22
Service 20 (Hanley – Kidsgrove – Crewe) – Service cancelled, to be replaced by new service 3
Service 20A (Hanley – Kidsgrove – Talke Pits) – Service cancelled, to be replaced by new service 3
Service 22 (Hanley – Newcastle – Dresden) – Revised route and timetable, replacing service 17 to Bradwell and operating via Festival Park.
Service 24 / 24A (Hanley – Newcastle) – Service cancelled
Service 25 / 25A / X25 (Hanley – Newcastle – Keele) – Services cancelled, to be replaced by new service 3
Service 26 / 26A (Newcastle – Hanley) – Service cancelled, to be partly replaced by an extension to route 1.
Service 34 (Hanley – Audley) – Service cancelled, to be replaced by new services 4/4A.
Service 34A (Hanley – Kidsgrove) – Service cancelled, to be replaced by new services 4/4A.
Service 72 (Clayton – Newcastle – Park site) – Revised timetable.
Service 98 / 98A (Newcastle – Brown Edge) – Service cancelled, to be replaced by revised service 8/8A/8B.
Service 99 (Sandbach – Biddulph – Newcastle) – Revised timetable, with a reduced service to Biddulph and one journey extended to Sandbach.
Service 99A (Newcastle – Kidsgrove – Mow Cop) – Service cancelled. To be replaced by new service 7A.
Service 101 (Stafford – Stone – Hanley) – Revised timetable.
Congleton Carnival Procession will take place between around around 1100 – 1300 on next Saturday. Delays and diversions for bus services can be expected as follows:
Service 38 will be diverted via the Clayton By-Pass.
Service 42 will operate as far as the Fire Station roundabout and commence from KwikSave.
Services 90 & 91 may be subject to delay and some journeys may not be able to operate.
Services 92 & 99 will be operating via Mountbatten Way in both directions.
One of the latest ways that Ireland has come upon with promoting its western seaboard is branding it as the Wild Atlantic Way. That may suggest a long walking route, but the reality is nearer to being a long-distance motor touring one and Bus Éireann has gone to the trouble of highlighting what bus routes it has that serve parts of Ireland’s Atlantic Coastline so that you can sample what’s there without needing to have a car. There also is a hop on/off ticket that you can order. There is something to that thinking so here’s a list of the services that they highlight, so you can survey the various timetables in one place:
13: Limerick – Adare – Listowel – Tralee
14: Limerick – Kerry Airport – Killarney
40: Rosslare Europort – Waterford – Cork – Killarney – Kerry Airport – Tralee
51: Cork – Limerick – Shannon Airport – Galway
52: Ballina – Westport – Castlebar – Galway
64: Galway – Ireland West Airport Knock – Sligo – Derry
226: Cork – Cork Airport – Kinsale
236: Cork – Bandon – Bantry – Glengarriff – Castletownbere
237: Cork – Clonakilty – Skibbereen – Goleen
275: Tralee – Dingle
279: Killorglin – Tralee
279A: Waterville - Caherciveen - Killorglin – Tralee
350: Galway – Kinvara – Doolin – Cliffs of Moher – Ennis
401: Salthill – Galway
424: Galway – Carraroe – Lettermullen/Carna
440: Athlone – Westport
445: Ballina – Killala – Ballycastle
450: Westport – Achill Island
458: Enniskillen – Sligo – Ballina
480: Derry – Donegal – Ballyshannon – Sligo
490: Donegal – Killybegs – Glencolumbkille
S2: Sligo – Strandhill
BakerBus are set to lose their Monday to Saturday evening journey contract to GHA from the first Monday in July (2014-07-07) so that last evening journey from Biddulph to Macclesfield is set to go at the same time. GHA are taking over service 77 between Congleton and Kidsgrove, another Cheshire East Council contract, from the same date. No timetables are changing though, only operators.
It is not all bad news for BakerBus though since they won the contract to operate the soon to be discontinued evening journeys on Macclesfield local services 9 and 10 on Friday and Saturday evenings from the first weekend in June (2014-06-06) onwards. It would be better if Monday to Thursday evenings gained the same reprieve but anything has to be better than nothing at all.
Éire now has a single place for transport planning that includes not only services on offer by the state-owned operator of buses, coaches and trains, C.I.É., but also other operators in the country. It is Transport for Ireland and also has mobile phone apps to go with the website.
The Wye Valley AONB are funding a summertime Sunday and bank holiday bus service between Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth that serves a part of the lower Wye valley that has not seen a Sunday or bank holiday service for ten years. The operator is First and the route number is 34. The four return journeys between Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth with the first southbound and last northbound ones extending to Hereford for connections with train services. Let’s hope the service gets the support that it so deserves.
Recently, I caught up with an announcement from Ireland’s National Transport Authority about the future of Limerick city’s Colbert Station. It is a joint bus and rail station and the former section does look like an afterthought added to the south of the former. The plan is to move it to the other side of the train station and have it gain a more purposeful look about it. The current bus station then would become a car park and the current car park in front of the train station would be made into a pedestrian plaza. Anything that spruces up what does look a more down at heel part of the city has to help and a disused service station offers some space that can be pressed into service. While the architects’ plans do toy with the idea of building extra floors over the new bus station, that thankfully is an exploration rather than a definite intention. You have only to look at some rail and bus stations in the U.K. to see why that might be a bad idea.
Good Friday services from High Peak Buses will observe the Saturday timetable except for services 1, 11, 14, and 392/393 since these will not operate. Its a Sunday timetable on Easter Monday while other days of the weekend are like any other.
Service 130 between Macclesfield and Manchester is being operated by GHA to a Sunday timetable on Good and Easter Monday. Arriva are providing a normal Saturday service on Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday sees the usual timetable for the day of the week with GHA providing the service.
Around the Tees Valley, Stagecoach, Arriva and Go North East are largely running Sunday timetables on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and on Easter Monday. Usual bus timetables apply on Saturday.