Picking up one of the new D&G timetable booklets today I notice it states contactless payments are accepted on all Cheshire and Greater Manchester services excluding some a small number of services on the 85 route, plus the 94 route. Also the £5.50 Network Return is valid for onward travel on High Peak services 14, 19, 58, 60/60A (for which timetables are also included in the same booklet.)
New D&G tickets in Greater Manchester:
Greater Manchester Return £4
Greater Manchester Return for 2 people £5
Greater Manchester Weekly Ticket £10
Airport to Runway Park Day ticket £2.50 (the single fare is £2)
Airport to Runway Park Group ticket (up to 5 people) £5
Seems D&G Wincham's depot has had 2 breakdowns in 48 hours.
D&G have been playing around with 88 allocations again. The diagram which includes the 07:25 Knutsford to Macc, 08:20 Macc to Knutsford and 16:50 Northwich to Altrincham appears to have been downgraded from a 35 seater Solo SR to a 28 seater Solo, while the one which includes the 07:05 Knutsford to Alt, 08:20 Alt to Macclesfield and 14:45 Macc to Altrincham has changed from a 28 seater Solo to a 33 seater Streetlite. That's possibly ahead of St Ambrose and Knutsford Academy returning as it'll mean the 88 buses used by St Ambrose pupils will be a slightly bigger bus, as will the regular afternoon 88 bus which gets a lot of Knutsford Academy pupils. However, it does mean a downgrade for the morning Macclesfield commuters and a question mark remains over whether one of the regular 88 morning services will get overcrowded by Knutsford Academy pupils and even whether a Streetlite will still be able to cope with the 15:30 Knutsford to Altrincham in school term time, especially now the 300 and 88A are no more.
(30/08/2018 10:30)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]D&G have been playing around with 88 allocations again. The diagram which includes the 07:25 Knutsford to Macc, 08:20 Macc to Knutsford and 16:50 Northwich to Altrincham appears to have been downgraded from a 35 seater Solo SR to a 28 seater Solo, while the one which includes the 07:05 Knutsford to Alt, 08:20 Alt to Macclesfield and 14:45 Macc to Altrincham has changed from a 28 seater Solo to a 33 seater Streetlite. That's possibly ahead of St Ambrose and Knutsford Academy returning as it'll mean the 88 buses used by St Ambrose pupils will be a slightly bigger bus, as will the regular afternoon 88 bus which gets a lot of Knutsford Academy pupils. However, it does mean a downgrade for the morning Macclesfield commuters and a question mark remains over whether one of the regular 88 morning services will get overcrowded by Knutsford Academy pupils and even whether a Streetlite will still be able to cope with the 15:30 Knutsford to Altrincham in school term time, especially now the 300 and 88A are no more.
I don't know any company who plans allocations a week in advance. It will just be that a bus has become a regular allocation. Generally unintentionally. Only when 3rd September hits do school allocations apply. Anything before that is just a case of working out where you need higher capacity buses depending on peak passengers.
(31/08/2018 03:04)iMarkeh Wrote: [ -> ]I don't know any company who plans allocations a week in advance. It will just be that a bus has become a regular allocation. Generally unintentionally. Only when 3rd September hits do school allocations apply. Anything before that is just a case of working out where you need higher capacity buses depending on peak passengers.
Surely operators don't want to be moving lots of buses between depots on the Sunday before the school term starts. If they've got some bigger older buses not doing much at a depot during the school holiday then I can understand them being brought back in to more regular use when schoolkids start adding to the passenger numbers or if they've got services being cancelled/reduced on the same date that other services are starting/getting frequency enhancements then they might not have much choice but to move them around the day before the changes.
(31/08/2018 08:16)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Surely operators don't want to be moving lots of buses between depots on the Sunday before the school term starts. If they've got some bigger older buses not doing much at a depot during the school holiday then I can understand them being brought back in to more regular use when schoolkids start adding to the passenger numbers or if they've got services being cancelled/reduced on the same date that other services are starting/getting frequency enhancements then they might not have much choice but to move them around the day before the changes.
Most operators don't need to move buses between depots. They keep the same buses in the depot over the school period and just use them as spares, taxis or maintenance gets done.
Even say buses do get moved about a week in advance ready, the actual 'bus duty' will not be finalised until Monday. It will still depend on maintenance schedules. During school holidays, operators tend to go more demand responsive with their vehicles. If the 07:25 Knutsford to Macc, 08:20 Macc to Knutsford and 16:50 Northwich to Altrincham carry 20-25 people normally, they will just use a small bus on that. but if the 07:05 Knutsford to Alt, 08:20 Alt to Macclesfield and 14:45 Macc to Altrincham take 28 people, they might as well have the 33 seater streetlite on for now. It increases passenger satisfaction. Even if only just for a short time, increasing passenger satisfaction at all is a bonus and if that can be achieved by something as simple as changing a bus, why not do it. However, when schools are back in, operators priorities change from passenger satisfaction to tender specs (Based on what has been said previously, it sounds like CEC has amended minimum seating capacity for school holidays possibly to reduce the cost of the tender) and getting as many kids on a bus as possible.
It may well be D&G are putting buses on duties early but it makes little sense from an operator point of view. It will likely be due to maintenance schedules and then priorities.
Reportedly CHZ 8960 has been repainted in a heritage livery.
(03/09/2018 17:51)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Reportedly CHZ 8960 has been repainted in a heritage livery.
Dart 10. Blue/cream 20th anniversary. Based at Adderley Green
As expected the 07:00 Altrincham to Knutsford 88 service is packed to the rafters now the schools have returned, not surprising considering it's effectively 3 services merged in to 1 and D&G seem to think a 28 seater Solo is a suitable vehicle. It'll only get worse in the winter when less pupils feel like walking.