Services which don't exist but there could be demand for

[knutstransport]

RE: Services which don't exist but there could be demand for

(15/09/2015 19:52)Dentonian Wrote:  There are many places in Greater Manchester, within 10 miles of the Airport with no bus service there - and more to the point, lousy connections. These are often poorer areas, which are being left out of the Airport's jobs bonanza as a result - not to mention why the M60 is solid between Ashton-under-Lyne and Sharston every weekday!
That said, the 200 could do with either an extension or something to interwork with, if only to improve punctuality. The running time is very tight, so drivers are chasing their tales by mid day somedays.

More generally, though, who is going to pay for these services? LAs are hard pressed, and if they were ever going to be commercially viable - especially ones in urban/suburban areas - it would have been a quarter of a century ago when car ownership was much lower.

The suggestion I made to revise the 88 and 200 services could be done without requiring any additional buses. The snags would be while both are contracted services awarded to GHA they are renewed at different times, as well as their currently being 4 GHA Gold for the 88 route and the 200 bus being any Solo they can find.

One difference between Cheshire towns not having a link to the Airport and Greater Manchester towns is in Greater Manchester there's integrated ticketing and more frequent services so a change of bus is less of a hindrance.

Bus usage on the 27 and 88 routes in the Knutsford area is higher than it was a few years ago despite in the case of the 27 route the number of services being cut back.

There was a 47 route between Knutsford and Warrington which wasn't well timed and it got cut back to a token service as a result of a dispute between Cheshire County Council and Warrington Borough Council and then subsequently withdrawn. If it was run at useful times the dispute about who was going to fund it might not have been necessary as more fares would have been collected.