(11/05/2018 17:26)iMarkeh Wrote: [ -> ]It's like when they has that temp Spath Road bus. Arriva dropped it from the 130, D&G ran Wilmslow to Handforth Dean then moaned no one was using the bus. What is people were going to Macclesfield, Parrs Wood etc. They don't think of the bigger picture D&G, they see an opportunity but don't fully explore the options and then balls up the timetable.
You've got mixed up there. Stagecoach ran an hourly Wilmslow-Lacey Green-Handforth-Bramhall-Stockport 378 bus with a more frequent service at the Stockport end. They sometimes had double deckers leaving Wilmslow with just a single person on board and decided to stop serving Wilmslow altogether. There were loads of complaints and someone organised a petition which got a few hundred names on it but Cheshire East weren't interested in awarding a replacement contract or paying Stagecoach to continue to serve Wilmslow. D&G responded by registering a Mon-Fri only Wilmslow-Lacey Green-Handforth-Handforth Dean service and it suffered from very low loadings. It also didn't help the Cheshire East bus review as some Councillors got the impression that more people complained about losing bus services than actually used the bus services.
I'm not sure when Arriva decided to truncate half of the Macclesfield services at Colshaw Farm, whether that was before or after D&G's failed Wilmslow to Handforth Dean.
(11/05/2018 19:41)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]You've got mixed up there. Stagecoach ran an hourly Wilmslow-Lacey Green-Handforth-Bramhall-Stockport 378 bus with a more frequent service at the Stockport end. They sometimes had double deckers leaving Wilmslow with just a single person on board and decided to stop serving Wilmslow altogether. There were loads of complaints and someone organised a petition which got a few hundred names on it but Cheshire East weren't interested in awarding a replacement contract or paying Stagecoach to continue to serve Wilmslow. D&G responded by registering a Mon-Fri only Wilmslow-Lacey Green-Handforth-Handforth Dean service and it suffered from very low loadings. It also didn't help the Cheshire East bus review as some Councillors got the impression that more people complained about losing bus services than actually used the bus services.
I'm not sure when Arriva decided to truncate half of the Macclesfield services at Colshaw Farm, whether that was before or after D&G's failed Wilmslow to Handforth Dean.
I do apologize, it must be that one. I thought it was the 130. The point remains the same in that D&G didn't fully explore where anyone in the area wanted to go. They just did a small route that kept people quiet. Everyone will use public transport if it goes where they want, when they want, at a reasonable price. You have to sit down with these people or most companies would use social media, and find out exactly where these people want to go. If you don't go where these people want to go, they won't use your service.
Spath Lane seems very council like. It looks the complete opposite of what you would expect from Wilmslow (Wilmslow being known for a slightly better off town). Don't get me wrong, some people will but the majority the people who live in a council area won't go shopping at Waitrose (in Wilmslow). There is Tesco at Handforth so I am unsure why that didn't work a little better. Wythenshawe would be the perfect link I think for Colshaw Farm and Spath Lane. Wythenshawe is kind of the perfect area for 'council estate residents' shopping needs.
I think bus companies need to remember sometimes when making links to places. Like said previously about flights, shift times but they also need to think who their potential passengers are and what sort of links those people will want (also how far they will travel. Stockport is a long way compared to Wythenshawe and also Stockport Bus Station is quite far from the supermarkets and majority of shops which wouldn't have helped as people would have had to change buses which is never popular).
(11/05/2018 21:59)iMarkeh Wrote: [ -> ]I do apologize, it must be that one. I thought it was the 130. The point remains the same in that D&G didn't fully explore where anyone in the area wanted to go. They just did a small route that kept people quiet. Everyone will use public transport if it goes where they want, when they want, at a reasonable price. You have to sit down with these people or most companies would use social media, and find out exactly where these people want to go. If you don't go where these people want to go, they won't use your service.
Spath Lane seems very council like. It looks the complete opposite of what you would expect from Wilmslow (Wilmslow being known for a slightly better off town). Don't get me wrong, some people will but the majority the people who live in a council area won't go shopping at Waitrose (in Wilmslow). There is Tesco at Handforth so I am unsure why that didn't work a little better. Wythenshawe would be the perfect link I think for Colshaw Farm and Spath Lane. Wythenshawe is kind of the perfect area for 'council estate residents' shopping needs.
I think bus companies need to remember sometimes when making links to places. Like said previously about flights, shift times but they also need to think who their potential passengers are and what sort of links those people will want (also how far they will travel. Stockport is a long way compared to Wythenshawe and also Stockport Bus Station is quite far from the supermarkets and majority of shops which wouldn't have helped as people would have had to change buses which is never popular).
The D&G Wilmslow to Handforth Dean bus did start and end at Wilmslow Station where I recall D&G said trains to Stockport are available. So it sounds like they listened to people saying they used the Stagecoach 378 to get to Stockport but at the same time didn't want part of the route duplicating a Stagecoach service and probably they failed to realise those who wanted the bus to Stockport were those who could have caught the train to Stockport from Wilmslow or Handforth anyway and were pass holders who wanted a free way of getting to Stockport.
The D&G Little Bus service (which is for people who can't use ordinary buses either due to physical disability or because they don't live near a bus stop) takes people to Handforth Dean for Tescos, which is possibly where D&G got the idea of a normal bus to Handforth Dean from.
I'm not sure on Spath Lane but Colshaw Farm (Wilmslow) and Longridge (Knutsford) finished up as overspill estates for Wythenshawe. It might be hard to imagine but Wythenshawe was once in Cheshire. Despite Colshaw Farm and Longridge being in Cheshire the estates finished up under the control of Manchester City Council, until they were passed to Great Places Housing (the social housing under control of Macclesfield Borough Council was passed to Peaks & Plains.) I'm not sure about the other estates but there's still a few faded Manchester City Council notices on Longridge.
(11/05/2018 19:41)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]You've got mixed up there. Stagecoach ran an hourly Wilmslow-Lacey Green-Handforth-Bramhall-Stockport 378 bus with a more frequent service at the Stockport end. They sometimes had double deckers leaving Wilmslow with just a single person on board and decided to stop serving Wilmslow altogether. There were loads of complaints and someone organised a petition which got a few hundred names on it but Cheshire East weren't interested in awarding a replacement contract or paying Stagecoach to continue to serve Wilmslow. D&G responded by registering a Mon-Fri only Wilmslow-Lacey Green-Handforth-Handforth Dean service and it suffered from very low loadings. It also didn't help the Cheshire East bus review as some Councillors got the impression that more people complained about losing bus services than actually used the bus services.
I'm not sure when Arriva decided to truncate half of the Macclesfield services at Colshaw Farm, whether that was before or after D&G's failed Wilmslow to Handforth Dean.
The D&G 130 started in response to Arriva withdrawing their Macc - Wilmslow short journeys. Unfortunately, D&G played nicely, reasonably interworking thier service with Arriva's 130, which did them no favours, as there was an opportunity to capitalise on Arriva's ongoing unreliability issues and make their presence known.
The 130 Handforth Dean leg disappeared at the same time as the CEC cuts and saw the service diverted via the withdrawn 200 to MIA. The whole D&G 130 coming off will leave Styal unserved, except for rail.
Interestingly, Arriva have now launched a consultation into peoples views of the reduced hourly 130. I wonder what they are up to ?. The cynic in me says, no good. We'll see.
(12/05/2018 09:48)dca529x Wrote: [ -> ]The D&G 130 started in response to Arriva withdrawing their Macc - Wilmslow short journeys. Unfortunately, D&G played nicely, reasonably interworking thier service with Arriva's 130, which did them no favours, as there was an opportunity to capitalise on Arriva's ongoing unreliability issues and make their presence known.
The 130 Handforth Dean leg disappeared at the same time as the CEC cuts and saw the service diverted via the withdrawn 200 to MIA. The whole D&G 130 coming off will leave Styal unserved, except for rail.
Yes but the 130 Macclesfield to Handforth Dean was D&G's second attempt of running a Handforth Dean service. The initial attempt started at Wilmslow station and served Lacey Green and the town of Handforth, which the D&G 130 did not. The first attempt was in response to a Stagecoach cutback, not an Arriva one.
Styal is getting an improved rail service in a couple of weeks so it will have an hourly service to both Wilmslow and Manchester Airport. Really Cheshire East should have coordinated the cancelling of the 200 service so that it ended the day before the improved rail service starts.
(12/05/2018 10:40)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Yes but the 130 Macclesfield to Handforth Dean was D&G's second attempt of running a Handforth Dean service. The initial attempt started at Wilmslow station and served Lacey Green and the town of Handforth, which the D&G 130 did not. The first attempt was in response to a Stagecoach cutback, not an Arriva one.
Styal is getting an improved rail service in a couple of weeks so it will have an hourly service to both Wilmslow and Manchester Airport. Really Cheshire East should have coordinated the cancelling of the 200 service so that it ended the day before the improved rail service starts.
I'm quite aware of the 378 replacement attempt and its history, which quite frankly wasn't really going to work and that's what happened. The 130 was very different in that it attempted to maintain the x30 min service between Wilmslow and Macc in the apparent assumption the loadings were there, they probably were a while ago, but they aren't any more, no doubt driven away by Arriva's unreliability. Operationally, a x30 min service with one bus between Mac & Wilmslow just isn't possible, so if you are going to use two, then it makes sense to use that time to push on somewhere that may be of use and Handforth Dean it seems was chosen. Which created an on paper at least, some new links to it. So a good try. But, being a very car orientated place, the bus usage was low. Cue the CEC cuts and the withdrawal of the 200, which gave an opportunity to try something else and use the time to get to MIA and back, but it appears that hasn't worked ether, so that's where we are at the moment. At the mercy of Arriva and a council with no interest whatsoever in good public transport provision to encourage less car usage.
(13/05/2018 09:33)dca529x Wrote: [ -> ]I'm quite aware of the 378 replacement attempt and its history
If you were aware of it then you probably quoted the wrong post earlier on or misread the post you were quoting because what you were saying didn't follow on from what you quoted.
According to the Cheshire West website the 89 is to be revised towards the end of July.
The following changes are showing on VOSA for D&G services from 22nd July:
Revised:
5, 12, 35, 85, 88 (Macclesfield-Knutsford), 88 (Altrincham/Wilmslow-Knutsford), 288
Cancelled:
78, 87, 270
New:
737 (Manchester Airport Viewing Park Shuttle)
Just looking at D&G Bus website they've uploaded new timetables from 22nd July and it seems the 288 and 270 are being merged in to one route with the airport city and viewing park extensions withdrawn.
It also seems they are withdrawing or cutting back the majority of their commercial services in both Staffordshire and Cheshire on 22nd July.