Stagecoach Manchester

[djb]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester and Wigan

(25/09/2016 19:08)Dentonian Wrote:  Certainly not from 31st October. This was my first thought when I saw the 330 registration, especially the Sunday timetable. However, once I learnt that the Airport Interchange to World Freight section was subsidised and that the shifts there apparently dictate timings*, I wondered if MAplc's Ground Transport department approached High Peak first. Given the inherent punctuality problems on the 199 - the 1020 weekdays from Stockport to the Airport STILL runs very late, despite the working getting increased running time right back to start of the day - and the fact only one extra bus would be required, this would have made much more sense. Its only about 8 minutes each way to WFC, so the extra time would allow for recovery for late inbounds. The only questions then would be whether the Sunday service interworks at the Buxton end, and if High Peak would be willing to retime Sundays to suit shift times.
Extending another existing service all the way from Stockport seems strange now that Metrolink is seen as the prime form of public transport for Airport workers (as witnessed by the withdrawal of 19 & 369 from the same date). Frankly, if there was a justification for more buses on the route (with a haphazard timetable), then it should have been done a decade or more ago. And that goes for both MAplc as a srategy, or Stagecoach as a commercial decision. TBH, it would have been better as a completely stand alone service, which would not get caught up in delays further along the route, and could be properly timed. Otherwise, MAplc should have put more weight behind the "KickStart" plans to re-introduce a quasi 400 service back in 2010/1, before the now Chancellor scrapped the scheme without consultation, and presumably without compensating the various parties who had spent nearly £1 million that year.

Pure speculation, but I would think High Peak will keep a close eye on the 199 loadings and 330 punctuality before making a decision, but as the two run virtually together from Stockport to the Airport on Sundays/PHs, I would suspect that's where the biggest threat will be.

*The 330 times in/out of WFC vary throughout the day and week, so I'm sceptical about this reasoning.

Out of interest are any of the October change timetables in the public domain yet? Specifically the 143, 19, 368