On Trains & Buses

The Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester councils seem to have taken up the baton for public transport information from the now defunct Cheshire County Council. The welcome practice of having a list of bus tables has lived on in the websites for the new councils. Hopefully, progress from here will continue in the right direction. In addition, both new authorities are to work with Warrington Borough Council so my hope is that best practices can continue to be shared and promoted while keeping a certain pan-county approach too.

I may be late coming upon this given my use of a bicycle for the daily commute in recent times but bus services in Macclesfield that usually run along Churchill Way are back on there as before. We can now return to former ways now that the disruptive traffic light works have been completed. Let’s hope that things like that don’t get visited upon us for a while again. It would be good if some attention could be turned to the general state of the roads and footways in the town in place of big projects like this.

Most of my trips to Éire involve my taking a taxi to Manchester Airport on the outbound portion and a train journey back from there on my return. The full price single would appear to be around the £10 mark but its been a while since I purchased one so I am not sure of the price. The reason for that is that I stick with Cheap Evening Returns (or whatever they are called in these allegedly simpler times of Advance/Off-Peak/Anytime ticketing) instead and the whole cost comes to £5.30 (£1.60 as far as Manchester Piccadilly and £3.70 from there to Macclesfield). A recent inspection of the National Rail website reveals that the same price is offered to you for travel between 18:30 and 21:00 so their algorithm must be getting more slick to pick up these things. Another example is the cost of a single fare for travel from Manchester to Macclesfield is usually £7.30 but, on the website, this drops to £3.70 for travel during the same time period. In a time when every pound matters, knowing of this stuff is useful though Northern Rail conductors are good when it comes to supplying you with cheaper fares in the evening time.

I was in Éire and noticed that a new delivery of buses had been put to work by Dublin Bus on their airport 747 and 748 services. Some of the older ALX400’s from 2000 are still used but new Wright doubledeckers are very visible. Both sets have Volvo engines and chassis so that hasn’t changed and the seats in the new ones look uncannily like those in their older counterparts. Apart from the differences in bodywork, the difference in smoothness is noticeable even if the paintwork is similar on both. Given the economic deterioration and its effects on the Irish public finances, I suppose that new bus expenditure will take lower priority for Dublin Bus for the foreseeable future. That has happened before following the economic turmoil of the mid-eighties but the end of that decade saw plans for replacing loud-engined Bombardiers with something more conventional with Leyland Olympians taking over the course of the next decade. If the Irish economy emerges from its current tight spot and it looks a hard slog, investment in new vehicles may restart again but there still could be a noticeable wait before that will be seen.

For a number of years, the 19/19X Macclesfield-Whirley-Prestbury service has been something of an ugly duckling with elderly and not so elderly Mercedes midi-buses fulfilling passenger carrying duties. However, that may change with the awarding of the hourly Monday-Saturday service to Bowers. Apparently, Bowers may be getting the council-owned Macclesfield Rider branded short wheelbase Dennis Darts displaced by the changeover of the 392/3 Macclesfield-Stockport service from Arriva to Bakerbus and these would be used for the Prestbury service. In the intervening period, they have been used on the Connect 88 Knutsford-Wilmslow-Altrincham service along with the larger Optares that are its mainstay. They may be a number of years old now but their low floors would be a boon for those whose mobility isn’t what it might be. Of course, the state of repair of the buses will having a bearing on how people perceive the service. However, it has to look as if it has lost of its unloved appearance and that can only be a good thing.

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.