On Trains & Buses

In recent times, I am seeing a lot of traffic here coming from searches for Dublin Bus timetables. I find that a little surprising given that the said bus company has a new website and, of course, that relates the required information. However, the transition may have thrown search engines and there may be many who are concerned about the cutbacks that are planned too. From my short encounter with it, the new web presence seemed to deliver what I wanted from it so I suspect that it do the needful for all of us.

It seems that the major part of the Churchill Way traffic lights renewal is out of the way with the new ones at the Chestergate and King Edward Street junctions operational. I have yet to confirm the same for the bus stops that were put out of action by the venture but I can vouch for the 27 Macclesfield-Knutsford plying its usual route. I have yet to confirm the same for the 130 but I did see local evening service 6 going down Hibel Road rather than going by Churchill Way. There are still some roadworks and temporary traffic lights still feature further along the road, nearer the post office on Castle Street., but the extent isn’t what it was. I hope that major road works depart the town of Macc for while to allow us respite but I cannot say that I am convinced of that.

Update 2009-03-02:  I can confirm that their attention is now centred on the junction between Churchill Way and Castle Street.  For me, the jury is still out regarding a return to normal routes for Arriva services using the said road.

I have seen a recent piece in the Macclesfield Express about there being some upset regarding changes to bus services between Poynton, Stockport and Manchester. Bakerbus has scored again with another contract with a new 391 service between Poynton and Stockport that is due to commence after the thirtieth of March, replacing service 191 run by Stagecoach. That offered peak time extensions to Manchester so it might seem that Poynton is losing out, hence the noise that’s being made with local politicians being quoted in the article in question (make of that what you will). However, Poynton does have hourly train services to Manchester six days a week so I suspect that the powers that be thought the extension to be non-essential. I suppose that we cannot fight for every service to be retained so long as we have enough of them to be useful. Still, we need to keep up our eyes and ears to ensure that nothing on which we depend gets lost, particularly in times like this when money is tight.

Those who have been here before will notice a few changes. With spring on the way and the chance to play with a new WordPress, I decided that I’d refresh the site’s appearance and brighten it up a little bit. The weather’s very grey where I am writing this in the U.K. and a spot of sun wouldn’t go amiss so I thought that sprucing up the appearance of this thing might offer something to visitors in the meantime.

Macclesfield has been beset by another set of road work. This time, the centre of attention would appear to be Fallibroome Road (single line traffic under temporary traffic light control) and the roundabout at the junction between it, Victoria Road and Priory Lane. My bus to and from work goes by here so let’s hope that the traffic doesn’t back up too badly. There are excavations ongoing and new pipes in evidence so my guess is that the water company has struck again.

I was over in Ireland last weekend and managed to fit in a visit to Wicklow’s hill country. One occurrence that sticks in my memory is an all too rare good tale. I was awaiting the 145 from Bray to Kilmacanogue at Bray train station and a helpful bus driver ask me where I was going and gave a lift up as far as the main street from where I could have a better chance of catching the bus that I was after. This was done free gratis and it is a favour that’s all too rare in the U.K. and it’s nice that it still remains in the country of my birth and upbringing. Of course, the helpful driver worked for the same company as that which ran ran the bus that I wanted, Dublin Bus, but a good welcoming impression was given nonetheless. A bit more of that in these depressed times and returning the favour with more paid patronage would be in order.

Arriva has come up with a new website for www.arrivabus.co.uk. Everything that used to be there remains, albeit that locations have been changed about. I was looking for timetables and they were duly delivered. However, some for Arriva Midlands were incomplete with blank pages in PDF files but that can be remedied by a trip to Traveline. Even so, it’s something that should be fixed sooner rather than later.

It would appear the 130 Macclesfield-Manchester service has been diverted from its usual route via Churchill Way in Macclesfield and now seems to go around by Bond Street and Catherine Street instead. That could come as a shock if you decide to await the thing on Churchill Way or King Edward Street so I thought that I’d better put the word out. As to whether the bus stops to pick up or set down passengers at any point along the diversion, that is something that I cannot say.

In  a move that could be confusing, the 288 service operated by Arriva and serving Knutsford, Wilmslow and Altrincham is set to be called Connect 88. It’s one thing to change operator and bring in new buses but changing the route name is another. A name change is a minor irritation but it can confound and I have seen search results for the 288 in the stats for this site. So, here’s a link to the timetable that applies from next Monday and further information on Cheshire East Council’s website: Connect 88. All should become clearer once you go over there.

Update on 2012-01-30: Above link updated because Cheshire County Council no longer exists.

Annoyingly, Arriva has omitted the timings of the Monday to Saturday evening service between Macclesfield and East Didsbury from their latest 130 Macclesfield-Manchester timetable. I suppose that their excuse would be that they don’t operate it themselves since BakerBus are doing the honours on behalf of Cheshire Country Council. So, to set things to rights, here are some timetables cobbled together from Traveline (the timings are the same for Saturdays regardless of the Monday to Friday trappings of what you find below):