Howards/Springfield

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield
Change to the 200 service for Manchester Aviation and Transport Festival this weekend

Quote:In order to maintain a reliable service, Howards will be operating the 200 service in two sections: Wilmslow to Manchester Airport and Manchester Airport to the Viewing Park.
The link to the viewing park will be operating every 30 mins 0917-1217,1317-1647 from
the Airport and 0928-1228/1328-1658 from the Viewing Park.

Possibly that'll allow them to run a big bus between the Airport and the viewing park without having to run it down to Quarry Bank Mill?

[The H man]

RE: Howards/Springfield
Our open top titan is providing the link between the viewing park and the airport today and tomorrow.

[SK15 GZG (Moderator)]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(22/07/2017 20:03)Dentonian Wrote:  Is this B113 WUV? That's what it looked like from a distance, but all records seem to show this bus still with Lomas (Ladyline), Key Green.

ta

It's B93 WUV

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield
More changes to the 200

Quote:Styal Road, Wilmslow - closure from 24 July for approx 6 weeks
Emergency repairs to a faulty electricity cable on Styal Road Wilmslow commence on Monday 24th July for approx. six weeks. Styal Road will be closed completely so service 200 will divert
via the A34, Heald Green and Finney Lane to get to the Airport. There will be no bus service to Styal Village or Quarry Bank Mill for this period.

http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/public_tr...ables.aspx

I fail to see the point of running the bus to Wilmslow if it's not going via Styal. Wilmslow has an hourly train to Manchester Airport, Styal only has a train service at peak times. I would have thought if it's not possible to run a bus from the Viewing Park to Wilmslow via Styal then running a bus between the Viewing Park and Styal would have been the best option. Any schoolkids/college pupils from Styal now won't be able to use the bus during their school holidays and I've already seen posts on other forums where people are saying they've cancelled their plans to visit Quarry Bank Mill this summer due to there not being a bus.

[djb]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(23/07/2017 08:50)knutstransport Wrote:  More changes to the 200


http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/public_tr...ables.aspx

I fail to see the point of running the bus to Wilmslow if it's not going via Styal. Wilmslow has an hourly train to Manchester Airport, Styal only has a train service at peak times. I would have thought if it's not possible to run a bus from the Viewing Park to Wilmslow via Styal then running a bus between the Viewing Park and Styal would have been the best option. Any schoolkids/college pupils from Styal now won't be able to use the bus during their school holidays and I've already seen posts on other forums where people are saying they've cancelled their plans to visit Quarry Bank Mill this summer due to there not being a bus.

Totally agree. Apart from wilmslow town centre and stops from ringway road onwards, it won't serve any usual stops! So it only really serves as a wilmslow - airport service. The priority should have been maintaining some sort of link in styal.

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(23/07/2017 14:23)Dentonian Wrote:  The only excuse I can think of is lack of notice to organise the ideal solution. However, digressing slightly, and bearing in mind my visits to the RVP are few and far between and would be confined to particularly busy days, the fact that a full size double-decker was used, presumably without a hitch, yesterday, does suggest a bit of flexibility in considering replacement facilities if the 200 ceases next Spring. Previously, I don't recall seeing anything bigger than short Darts or Primos on the service.

Some of Howards' larger single decker vehicles have made an appearance on the 200 before - including F15 HOW and the Metrocity. When Howards first took over the 200 on an emergency contract they didn't have the two little Enviro 200s so it was always a bigger bus. Speaking of which Howards have now been running the 200 and 289 services for 12 months as it was last July that GHA Coaches collapsed.

[djb]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(23/07/2017 14:23)Dentonian Wrote:  The only excuse I can think of is lack of notice to organise the ideal solution. However, digressing slightly, and bearing in mind my visits to the RVP are few and far between and would be confined to particularly busy days, the fact that a full size double-decker was used, presumably without a hitch, yesterday, does suggest a bit of flexibility in considering replacement facilities if the 200 ceases next Spring. Previously, I don't recall seeing anything bigger than short Darts or Primos on the service.

I can only assume the lack of time is the case. Quarry bank mill is still open and there is also space to turn a bus in the entrance area to the prison outside the cafe (if allowed), so why one of those wasn't the terminus for a service to the rvp I don't know.

Unless it's a funding thing..... id like to think Cheshire east didn't insist on it going to wilmslow still if they're the primary contributor.

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield
Cheshire East shouldn't be using public funding subsiding a bus service which is only really duplicating another public transport service as that isn't legal. I doubt there's much demand for Wilmslow to the Viewing Park as off-peak weekday services are almost empty leaving Wilmslow.

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(23/07/2017 18:42)Dentonian Wrote:  Can you clarify which stetch you are referring to - especially as you say another "public transport" service?

If the bus service doesn't serve Styal or any place of significance between Wilmslow and the Airport then it's just a bus service which duplicates the train service, except for the extension to the Viewing Park. So is the link between Wilmslow and the viewing park an essential link? If not then it doesn't meet what Cheshire East previously told us are the legal requirements for a subsided bus route. Or are they only legal requirements when Cheshire East doesn't want to run a particular bus service?

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield
Whether a specific rail service or section of a service is subsided or not is difficult to say. Apparently the English sections of the ATW franchise are profitable but the franchise as a whole is heavily subsided and even with that information it's not possible to say whether the Stockport to Manchester section of the South Wales to Manchester service is profitable or not or whether the English sections would remain profitable if they ended at the Welsh border.