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Cheshire Bus News (was East Cheshire Bus News)
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Hardly, there are far more commercial buses (mostly Stagecoach) on the Sunday variation than there are on the original route. If there is any TFGM funding at all, it must be a small element as it is not shown on the 130 Bus Times leaflet, and could really only be justified for passengers in the Cheadle area.
LOL The Irony
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Why is such a big deal being made over something I said in jocular manner. I even put a laughing emote...
Danfilm007
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Interesting to some - D&G Bus have introduced some new Ticketing machines on the 14th, which feature QR code scanners (For passes like a week one), and also feature contactless card payment (!) which is due "next week" according to the driver I spoke to this morning. Personally, I think it's another barrier to bus usage knocked down (and hope they will market it a bit more to those who, like me, try to avoid carrying cash), but it's interesting that they offer full contactless before the likes of Arriva and Stagecoach do. I know they have their own apps, but for some that's not as convenient as using their card.
D&G have added 4 x Enviro 200s to their fleet - YX09 FKW, YX09 FLM (10.2m) and LJ56 VSP and LJ56 VSU (8.8m) which have been given fleet numbers 51, 52, 53 and 54 and been allocated to Adderley Green. 10.8m Enviro 200s SL64 JGF and SL64 JGO have been moved from Adderley Green to Crewe - I wonder if the plan is to use them directly/indirectly on the new 130 service?
Reported on another forum that these were used on the 130 today.
Danfilm007
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Yeah, I saw one of them out. Is the 130 being run from Crewe then? One of the MCVs was on it at 8:30 in Wilmslow.
D&G website says it's being run from the Crewe depot. I don't think they have enough drivers at Wincham for them to be able to take on more work.
LOL The Irony
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Nobody wants to work there because D&G won't pay drivers for travel costs.
Danfilm007
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Or the operating discs for there! There has been 1 or 2 new drivers on training the 88 recently as I seem to recall.
I thought they had an allocation for something like 14 vehicles at Wincham approved by the TC. They applied to increase it a couple of months back but didn't move any additional vehicles there.
47550
Member
Excellent news. About time there was a direct link to the Airport from Macc. Helps both travellers and employment opportunities. I wish them the best of luck with this.
I think you quoted the wrong post there. I'm not sure what you mean. The drivers who arrive in Knutsford for driver changeovers seem to either arrive on another bus or in a blue Skoda so I presumed the blue Skoda is a company car.
Lots more D&G changes effective from 1st April on VOSA today. Not sure any of them relate to the award of new contracts though.
Current 78 registration cancelled. New 78 registration for Nantwich Bus Station to Mablins Lane, Coppenhall, Crewe via Leighton Hospital.
Current 38 registration cancelled. New 38 registration for Crewe Bus Station to Macclesfield Bus Station via Sandbach, Congleton. Possibly commercial Sunday service with Nantwich section withdrawn?
5/6 registration revised. Suggests a reduced commercial service to replace current contracted service.
85/85A registration revised. Possibly removal of contracted 85A journeys?
8 & 12 registrations revised.
All other registrations relating to Cheshire East contracts like the 42 and 88 cancelled.
The one surprise is the 300 is cancelled altogether, rather than just revised to remove the contracted evening and Saturday services. Possibly if they have won the Route E contract then an alternative will be provided for the Longridge estate one way or another. If not then it might be an excellent opportunity for an operator who has lost work to pick up a new route which they can make a small profit on.
Current 78 registration cancelled. New 78 registration for Nantwich Bus Station to Mablins Lane, Coppenhall, Crewe via Leighton Hospital.
Current 38 registration cancelled. New 38 registration for Crewe Bus Station to Macclesfield Bus Station via Sandbach, Congleton. Possibly commercial Sunday service with Nantwich section withdrawn?
5/6 registration revised. Suggests a reduced commercial service to replace current contracted service.
85/85A registration revised. Possibly removal of contracted 85A journeys?
8 & 12 registrations revised.
All other registrations relating to Cheshire East contracts like the 42 and 88 cancelled.
The one surprise is the 300 is cancelled altogether, rather than just revised to remove the contracted evening and Saturday services. Possibly if they have won the Route E contract then an alternative will be provided for the Longridge estate one way or another. If not then it might be an excellent opportunity for an operator who has lost work to pick up a new route which they can make a small profit on.
Danfilm007
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That's going to have an interesting impact - meaning one side of Crewe doesn't have a service anywhere on a Sunday, and then just the 1 way to Nantwich on the 84.
As you suggest - although a fair few people go to Eagle Bridge, it was often a more reliable route than down the back street to the Bus Station!
Will the 88 still be the 88 after the hourly drop in the timetable/extension to various places? I'm surprised D&G haven't stuck out on a few of these for a bit longer, perhaps waiting for Howards or the like to jump in?
The Cheshire East document suggested E1 for services to Macclesfield and E2 for services to Northwich but it's unclear whether CEC wanted those to be the service numbers or whether the operator could choose their own numbers. Someone's posted on a bus forum that 'a driver told them D&G have won the E contract' but I think it's probably best to wait until we see something on VOSA or on D&G's or Cheshire East's website.
LOL The Irony
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I was talking about Wincham depot.
Hopefully this will have a different service number as it will cause great confusion having completely different routes diverging with the same number. Especially in the catchment area of the long standing Arriva 130. I can see Arriva (and TFGM) being inundated with calls from people in Cheadle (or wherever the routes diverge), asking why the bus to Manchester is being re-routed.
As I understood it, the Alphanumeric coding was to group together services within the new Contracts. For instance, it has been suggested that service 88 will be extended to Northwich to replace the 289, and the number 88 will be used for the full new route.
The proposed timetable approved by the CEC cabinet had Altrincham-Wilmslow-Knutsford services extending to both Northwich and Macclesfield and some terminating at Knutsford. If they are all 88 services it would be more confusing than some 130 services (operated by blue buses) going to Manchester and others (operated by red buses) going to Manchester Airport.
I still don't get what point you're trying to make. Do Wincham drivers not get the same pay and conditions as Crewe drivers? And what exactly do you mean by them not getting 'travel'?
LOL The Irony
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When they opened Wincham, D&G refused to pay for the increased travel costs for drivers as most are based in & around Crewe. I don't know if that's changed.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
What is wrong in just adding a suffix letter to those 130 services going to Manchester Airport?
So you actually mean they don't get paid the costs of getting between their home and the depot. A number of the regular drivers stopped driving the 88 and 300 when they moved to Wincham, I think only 3 remained on the route. When they started running the 88 route they didn't have enough drivers at Crewe to run it so loaned some from Transdev.
The "88" I read about made no mention of serving Macc. As for the 130, the buses might be different colours, but the "130" on the bus stops will still be black.
A sensible compromise given the principle is already established with 368A. Albeit, this will be a bigger variation and presumably more than just the odd subsidised journey for specific shift workers. Would 129 or 131 be better, though?
That was the plan throughout the consultation process: http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/pdf/...ultations/bus-review-summary-of-proposals.pdf If it changed it's because the winning bidder has come up with a better proposal.
You're not thinking straight. The routes will divide in the Wilmslow area so the bus stops which will have both Arriva and D&G services are in Cheshire East, not in TfGM, where they don't have bus service numbers on the actual bus stop signs. Passengers seemed to manage OK with Arriva running alternate buses to Colshaw Farm, so it seems most passengers in Cheshire are more than capable of reading the destination display or/and the timetable.
129 suggests a different route to 130 not duplicating 130 for 10 miles and then following a different route for the final 4 miles.
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