I went to a restaurant at the Knot Mill end of Deansgate last week and then drove back towards Victoria Station. Given how busy it is all the way along it struck me as very strange that there are no major services travelling from one end to the other. Also connections to South Manchester are almost non-existent. At one time there were buses to Stockport (191/197), Altrincham (264), Chorlton (84) and Oxford Road/Didsbury (46/47). Maybe the 112 could travel along old 84 route to Chorlton for example and 191 /197 could go back to Victoria or Shudehill now?
Just a thought but wonder if anyone can say why such an important area has such poor links?
I agree with the OP, but I’ve seen some horrendous congestion along Deansgate, so I expect this is the main reason there isn’t a regular bus service that runs the length of the road.
The “Free buses” do cover a fair chunk of Deansgate & they now operate to 10pm Mon-Sat, so connections are available to other services.
Because even running dead along a small section of it at 5pm is like pulling teeth?
(17/01/2019 18:05)joe_alker Wrote: [ -> ]Because even running dead along a small section of it at 5pm is like pulling teeth?
Dead running at 5pm is an anathema. A side effect of deregulation showing that pennies are more important than people. Just like on road crew reliefs on with flow peak journeys. Never happened when I was a scheduler.
(17/01/2019 20:41)Brickmill Wrote: [ -> ]Dead running at 5pm is an anathema. A side effect of deregulation showing that pennies are more important than people. Just like on road crew reliefs on with flow peak journeys. Never happened when I was a scheduler.
How are they scheduled nowadays? I assume a computer assigns a vehicle to each running board and fits drivers in?
Deansgate should be 1 way Looping everyone out to trinity way at every crossroads apart from free city bus as Leeds loop does. most bus routes cross Deangate it just the top ends now without buses.
(19/01/2019 17:31)acocker96 Wrote: [ -> ]How are they scheduled nowadays? I assume a computer assigns a vehicle to each running board and fits drivers in?
Pretty much. I think UNITE still have some say about individual duties being unworkable, but the computer doesn't understand reality like inconvenience to passengers, wasted fuel (with massive negative media coverage) liklihood of drivers running late after tight mealbreaks.
As regards Deansgate itself, it is an upmarket area so there is little demand for buses other than commuter/tourist traffic (eg FreeBus, WitchWay etc) and no doubt a significant increase in bus traffic would draw anti-bus propoganda from the middle class Environmentalists (aka BBC NW) who think 15 year old diesel taxis emit Chanel No5 from their exhausts.
(17/01/2019 17:40)Turbostar Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with the OP, but I’ve seen some horrendous congestion along Deansgate, so I expect this is the main reason there isn’t a regular bus service that runs the length of the road.
The “Free buses” do cover a fair chunk of Deansgate & they now operate to 10pm Mon-Sat, so connections are available to other services.
Any bad night of traffic and Deansgate is clogged up with traffic trying to get out of the city centre (along with a lot of other roads). Also can get congested in the run-up to Christmas, which is why First re-route services away from Deansgate during November and December.
A lot of services that do serve Deansgate only runs one way and that's mainly due to the traffic restrictions at Albert Square/Princess Street after the Metrolink 2CC started. With traffic unable to turn right out of Albert Square, services 191/197 are arriving into Manchester via Peter Street, Deansgate and John Dalton Street, while service 278 (soon to be replaced by the 84) leaving via John Dalton Street and Deansgate. If those restrictions weren't in place, Deansgate would probably not be served by those services.
Would be nice to see some services travel further into/across the city centre, like buses from the south terminating at Shudehill or northern services going beyond Shudehill/Piccadilly Gardens but traffic problems would the main restriction. More likely to get the opposite, like Stagecoach warned about a year or two ago, where services would terminate at the edge of the city centre rather than Piccadilly Gardens.
(20/01/2019 17:06)SF07 Wrote: [ -> ]Any bad night of traffic and Deansgate is clogged up with traffic trying to get out of the city centre (along with a lot of other roads). Also can get congested in the run-up to Christmas, which is why First re-route services away from Deansgate during November and December.
A lot of services that do serve Deansgate only runs one way and that's mainly due to the traffic restrictions at Albert Square/Princess Street after the Metrolink 2CC started. With traffic unable to turn right out of Albert Square, services 191/197 are arriving into Manchester via Peter Street, Deansgate and John Dalton Street, while service 278 (soon to be replaced by the 84) leaving via John Dalton Street and Deansgate. If those restrictions weren't in place, Deansgate would probably not be served by those services.
Would be nice to see some services travel further into/across the city centre, like buses from the south terminating at Shudehill or northern services going beyond Shudehill/Piccadilly Gardens but traffic problems would the main restriction. More likely to get the opposite, like Stagecoach warned about a year or two ago, where services would terminate at the edge of the city centre rather than Piccadilly Gardens.
Service 41 will cross from North to South again from next week, as the 18 already does. Numerous other services from the North and the West reach Piccadilly having covered a lot of the city centre. The worst services for city centre access are those from the East. Before 1995, all Ashton Old Road services and many Hyde Road services ran across the city centre to Victoria offering excellent integration with services out of the old Arndale Bus Station and even trains from Victoria.