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Cheshire Bus News (was East Cheshire Bus News)

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daodao

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The services are being ran from Crewe with Wincham drivers. With Wincham being so small, there aren't enough people willing to work Sundays.

The D&G website now states that Sunday services 1/2/4 (Northwich) and 15A (Chester) are now being run from their Wincham depot.
 

Martin2012

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If anyone is able to answer I'd be interested to find out has the 84 Crewe to Chester service ever had a later finish on a Sunday/Bank Holiday than 1635 ex Crewe and 1805 ex Chester?

If so can anyone remember what sort of time the last departures were and if any cutbacks were a commercial decision or the withdrawal of subsidy?

Also, someone suggested to me in the Staffordshire thread that up until April 2015 Service 3 ran from both Hanley and Crewe until around 2230 on Sunday evenings. If anyone is able to answer I'd be interested to find out did the 2230 journey from Hanley go all the way to Crewe back then or did it terminate at Radway Green?
 

Deafdoggie

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If anyone is able to answer I'd be interested to find out has the 84 Crewe to Chester service ever had a later finish on a Sunday/Bank Holiday than 1635 ex Crewe and 1805 ex Chester?

If so can anyone remember what sort of time the last departures were and if any cutbacks were a commercial decision or the withdrawal of subsidy?

Also, someone suggested to me in the Staffordshire thread that up until April 2015 Service 3 ran from both Hanley and Crewe until around 2230 on Sunday evenings. If anyone is able to answer I'd be interested to find out did the 2230 journey from Hanley go all the way to Crewe back then or did it terminate at Radway Green?

In those days it was 20 and before that 320. There was a PMT depot at Crewe. Although Burslem depot did most runs Crewe did some, mainly the first buses off Crewe and last buses off Hanley.
 

Martin2012

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Thanks for taking the time to explain.

A little while ago I found an old Service 20 timetable online which showed the last journey from Crewe terminating somewhere en route before reaching Hanley. Would that have been Burslem by any chance?
 

Martin2012

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Something else I'm really intrigued about, back in the days when Service 3 (and previously 20) extended beyond Crewe Bus Station to Leighton Hospital was Coppenhall served or did it take a different route?

I remember being told on here that Coppenhall was previously served on the old 320 route but was that still the case in September 2015 when the Leighton extension got dropped?
 

Statto

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If anyone is able to answer I'd be interested to find out has the 84 Crewe to Chester service ever had a later finish on a Sunday/Bank Holiday than 1635 ex Crewe and 1805 ex Chester?

If so can anyone remember what sort of time the last departures were and if any cutbacks were a commercial decision or the withdrawal of subsidy?

Also, someone suggested to me in the Staffordshire thread that up until April 2015 Service 3 ran from both Hanley and Crewe until around 2230 on Sunday evenings. If anyone is able to answer I'd be interested to find out did the 2230 journey from Hanley go all the way to Crewe back then or did it terminate at Radway Green?

My Chester area bus guide from Autumn 1997, shows then Midland Red North C84[now Arriva 84] an hourly service Chester-Crewe on Sundays, with 2 hourly extension to Hanley[Chester-Crewe-Hanley], last Sunday service out of Chester was 22.50, last service to Hanley was 20.20[21.25 from Crewe], the C84 has it's origins as Crosville C84, which was a through route Chester-Crewe-Hanley, hourly headway most of the day.

Not long after that guide i have was printed the C84 was split at Crewe, & renumbered 84/85, i think just after Cowie became Arriva.
 

Deafdoggie

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Thanks for taking the time to explain.

A little while ago I found an old Service 20 timetable online which showed the last journey from Crewe terminating somewhere en route before reaching Hanley. Would that have been Burslem by any chance?

From Crewe direction, the bus would have terminated at Tunstall. Burslem depot being between Tunstall & Burslem. If you know the area now, Burslem depot was what is the Dudson factory (next to the small ASDA) on Scotia Road.
 

PaulWC

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My Chester area bus guide from Autumn 1997, shows then Midland Red North C84[now Arriva 84] an hourly service Chester-Crewe on Sundays, with 2 hourly extension to Hanley[Chester-Crewe-Hanley], last Sunday service out of Chester was 22.50, last service to Hanley was 20.20[21.25 from Crewe], the C84 has it's origins as Crosville C84, which was a through route Chester-Crewe-Hanley, hourly headway most of the day.

Not long after that guide i have was printed the C84 was split at Crewe, & renumbered 84/85, i think just after Cowie became Arriva.

I've got a Crewe bus guide from 2001 which shows the 84 from Chester exactly the same on Sundays. The 85 had a last bus from Hanley to Crewe at 22.30. The C84 was historically Cheste-Crewe-Newcastle under Crosville, only being extended to Hanley in 1986 just prior to the Garden Festival opening.

I think it might have been 2012/13 when the subsidies were cut and the Sunday evening buses went on the Chester service.
 

PaulWC

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The 320 / 3 always had the same route north of Crewe bus station (since it was extended there in the late 80s), as per the replacement D & G service 12.

When the 320 was extended past Crewe Bus Station it replaced the old K12 which was a Coppenhall circular, and for many years the 320 simply followed a circular route up Broughton Road, Parkers Road and back down Mablins Lane. This was later changed to carry on down Parkers Road and then left into Bradfield Road and back to town.

The 2001 bus guide shows this route round Coppenhall by which time it was the number 20, so it was later than that before the extension to Leighton Hospital came about - much later than I remember.
 

Martin2012

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Thanks to those who have taken the time to respond and provide me with this interesting information.

It's a real shame for passengers that services in this neck of the woods no longer seem to run as late in the evenings as they once did, particularly on Sundays. Am guessing it's mostly down to council subsidies being cut but have there been many cutbacks that have been the result of commercial decisions by either Arriva or D&G?
 

daodao

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It's a real shame for passengers that services in this neck of the woods no longer seem to run as late in the evenings as they once did, particularly on Sundays. Am guessing it's mostly down to council subsidies being cut but have there been many cutbacks that have been the result of commercial decisions by either Arriva or D&G?
Sunday and particularly evening services are no longer subsidised by many non-metropolitan LAs - there would be far fewer such services in metropolitan areas like Greater Manchester if the subsidies provided there were equivalent to those in Cheshire/Staffordshire.
 

Martin2012

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Sunday and particularly evening services are no longer subsidised by many non-metropolitan LAs - there would be far fewer such services in metropolitan areas like Greater Manchester if the subsidies provided there were equivalent to those in Cheshire/Staffordshire.

I did gather this was probably the case.

Have there been many instances in the Cheshire East area where an operator has tried to run a service commercially after the subsidy has been withdrawn? Only one I'm aware of is D&G Service 12 but have there been many others?
 

Martin2012

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According to the D&G Bus website, their Free Service to the Crewe Tesco store is being withdrawn after 22nd June due to Tesco withdrawing the funding for it.

Are there any other buses which serve this store?
 

Deafdoggie

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According to the D&G Bus website, their Free Service to the Crewe Tesco store is being withdrawn after 22nd June due to Tesco withdrawing the funding for it.

Are there any other buses which serve this store?

Nothing that goes close to it really. That said, if you ever use it you’re likely to be the only one on it. I doubt many people will notice it no longer runs
 

itsonlyme

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Useful to me in one direction once a week, normally the only passenger boarding a vehicle which arrived empty. waste of money really, but I'll miss it especially on a wet day.
 

Simon75

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In those days it was 20 and before that 320. There was a PMT depot at Crewe. Although Burslem depot did most runs Crewe did some, mainly the first buses off Crewe and last buses off Hanley.
Fist use D&G Crewe garage as an outstation for about 3 buses for 3 (and 3A ?) Mon-Sat
 

Simon75

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I did gather this was probably the case.

Have there been many instances in the Cheshire East area where an operator has tried to run a service commercially after the subsidy has been withdrawn? Only one I'm aware of is D&G Service 12 but have there been many others?

The last 4 Mon-Sat 38 Crewe-Macclesfield and last 4 Macclesfield - Crewe (now only the late evening journeys Macclesfield outstation) are part funded Arriva/Cheshire East (were for a number of years, most evening journeys were ex GHA
 

Martin2012

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Of course I'd forgotten about the changes to the funding arrangements on the 38.

I would have thought a Tesco Free bus would be welcomed by store customers. Particularly those who are elderly and disabled who would welcome the use of a bus to get to the store entrance (unless of course it comes down to the fact that ASDA is nearer to Crewe Bus Station than that Tesco.

Presumably the last couple of journeys on the 3 from Hanley overnight at D&G's depot. Don't have the timetable to hand but am pretty sure there is an early morning journey towards Hanley that starts at Radway Green and not Crewe. Presumably on this one the bus travels light down the motorway or would it overnight in Crewe then run empty to Radway to commence service?
 

Deafdoggie

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Of course I'd forgotten about the changes to the funding arrangements on the 38.

I would have thought a Tesco Free bus would be welcomed by store customers. Particularly those who are elderly and disabled who would welcome the use of a bus to get to the store entrance (unless of course it comes down to the fact that ASDA is nearer to Crewe Bus Station than that Tesco.

Presumably the last couple of journeys on the 3 from Hanley overnight at D&G's depot. Don't have the timetable to hand but am pretty sure there is an early morning journey towards Hanley that starts at Radway Green and not Crewe. Presumably on this one the bus travels light down the motorway or would it overnight in Crewe then run empty to Radway to commence service?

Although you think the Tesco Free Bus would be well used, it really isn’t.

Radway Starts/Ends in the 3 are so placed because of quick & easy access to A500 to run ‘dead’ to/from Adderley Green.
It’s really no faster or quicker if coming from Crewe, so may as well come in service.
 

Martin2012

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Although you think the Tesco Free Bus would be well used, it really isn’t.

Radway Starts/Ends in the 3 are so placed because of quick & easy access to A500 to run ‘dead’ to/from Adderley Green.
It’s really no faster or quicker if coming from Crewe, so may as well come in service.

Thanks ever so much for explaining.

Something odd I did notice last time I came to the area was one of the bus stops in Haslington seemed to only be served by the 3. Seemed to be the last stop on Crewe Road before the 3 turns right into Slaughter Hill and the 38 continues round to the left into the village. Any known reason why that particular stop is only served by the 3 or was it just a mistake on the timetable?

On one occasion when I was waiting at that bus stop to catch a 3 back to Hanley I took a photo of a passing D&G vehicle on the 38 and the driver, thinking that I was looking to board stopped and opened the doors so presumably that stop must have been on the route at some point.
 

darloscott

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These supermarket free buses aren't as well used as everyone would like to think. I've just spent two years running one in my area and some days we were running a double deck (the supermarket contracted a DD so they got one) sometimes for 4 or 5 people. There was a few days where we didn't pick anyone up for a half hour long run.
 

Deerfold

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These supermarket free buses aren't as well used as everyone would like to think. I've just spent two years running one in my area and some days we were running a double deck (the supermarket contracted a DD so they got one) sometimes for 4 or 5 people. There was a few days where we didn't pick anyone up for a half hour long run.

I've always been surprised how poor the publicity is for many supermarket free buses. I'd have thought the supermarkets would advertise them better (a link when you look up a branch, clear publicity inside the branch) - after all, if they're paying for them presumably they want people to use them to shop with them. Many operators don't mention them (or hide the timetable) - presumably they want them to be popular so the supermarket keeps paying for them.
 

ag51ruk

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D&G are starting a commercial service on route 38 between Crewe and Macclesfield from 2 September, hourly Monday to Saturday daytime in addition to their existing Sunday service.

The times are on Traveline but not yet on their website.
 

sonic2009

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I wouldn't be surprised if D & G get most of the services from Arriva. Winsford depot is falling apart, driver shortages, bus shortages the lot.
 
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