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

[Bevan Price]

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

(19/09/2015 08:48)knutstransport Wrote:  What should be noted is Knutsford station has over 500,000 journeys made to and from it every year. There's only 4 stations in the whole country that manage that level of patronage with an hourly frequency off-peak service. With Knutsford having very few regular bus routes I think part of the reason for Knutsford's very high level of rail usage is because people travel indirectly using the train in the absence of a direct bus route.

You mention very few shoppers from Warrington wanting to go to Knutsford. However, what about people from Lymm, who may want more specialist shops than those available in Warrington? What about people wanting Tatton Park one of the most visited tourist attractions in the North West? What about people getting to and from jobs who would use a bus every day opposed to a couple of times a week like shoppers? What about people from the Knutsford area wanting to travel to Scotland/Birmingham/Liverpool etc where a bus to Warrington and a train from Warrington would be more convenient than the current available options? You mention several miles with few residential properties but what about people staying at the Cottons Hotel or Travelodge, or people wanting to get to the Garden Centre or visit someone in the Nursing Home at Bucklow Hill? What about if it's joined on to a direct Macclesfield-Knutsford? There's lot of possibilities.

1. It is simply impractical to run bus services between "everywhere" and "everywhere else" - there simply isn't the passenger demand to cater for every single journey possibility.

2. How many people make multiple visits each week / month to Tatton Park ? You cannot justify a regular bus service that only gets enough passengers when the flower show (or other event) is taking place - you need a regular, sizeable passenger flow to justify public funding.

3. The majority of people using hotels or garden centres probably go by car - again there would be insufficient numbers to justify a viable bus service.