Howards/Springfield

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield
Howards have suspended the 27 service - not sure why as the problems appear to be on the roads in the Over Peover area, where hardly anyone boards or alights between the morning and afternoon peak.

[djb]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(01/03/2018 09:54)knutstransport Wrote:  Howards have suspended the 27 service - not sure why as the problems appear to be on the roads in the Over Peover area, where hardly anyone boards or alights between the morning and afternoon peak.

How was the route at the macc end? If it was like everywhere else in the area I’m not surprised they suspended it!

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield
Not sure but Arriva were running the 130 with a warning services may be subject to delays so Monks Heath to Macclesfield must have been OK, unless for some resson the baby Enviro 200 was struggling on roads that the Geminis were coping on. There was a fallen tree on the 27B route but no reported closure of the most direct route between Knutsford and Macc.

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield
Surprised there's anyone using the 289 bus today. There's a very dirty W reg Dart running it with MP Travel logos and legal lettering (no obvious on hire notices) and when I saw it the destination display was showing both the wrong route number and wrong destination. However, despite that it did have a few passengers on board.

[dca529x]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(02/03/2018 14:47)knutstransport Wrote:  Surprised there's anyone using the 289 bus today. There's a very dirty W reg Dart running it with MP Travel logos and legal lettering (no obvious on hire notices) and when I saw it the destination display was showing both the wrong route number and wrong destination. However, despite that it did have a few passengers on board.

At least they made the effort to get something out. It not exactly an urban route and they could of so easily not bothered, bearing in mind the appalling condition of the roads.

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(03/03/2018 09:38)dca529x Wrote:  At least they made the effort to get something out. It not exactly an urban route and they could of so easily not bothered, bearing in mind the appalling condition of the roads.

What do you mean by appalling conditions of the road? By yesterday lunch time even the road outside my house (a cul-de-sac with not much traffic or direct sunlight and hadn't been gritted) was 90% clear of snow and ice. Even High Peak had their 190, 199 and TP services running by yesterday afternoon. Although, I suppose there were strong winds which could have brought some tree branches down.

To be honest I expected that kind of reply to my observation, people are always quick to defend enthusiast friendly bus operators not following the rules.

[dca529x]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(03/03/2018 10:02)knutstransport Wrote:  What do you mean by appalling conditions of the road? By yesterday lunch time even the road outside my house (a cul-de-sac with not much traffic or direct sunlight and hadn't been gritted) was 90% clear of snow and ice. Even High Peak had their 190, 199 and TP services running by yesterday afternoon. Although, I suppose there were strong winds which could have brought some tree branches down.

To be honest I expected that kind of reply to my observation, people are always quick to defend enthusiast friendly bus operators not following the rules.

I'm not sure that a comparison between relatively main road routes and the 289 is entirely fair, which is rural in many parts. All that matters to any prospective passenger, is that it turns up, which it did, not what colour it was. Having travelled on a D&G 130 during the worse of it (after the other lot's 130 failed to show up) it was noticeable how the road conditions changed drastically once you were past Henbury. The weather seemed fairly localised and the road conditions around the 'Costa Del Macc' were very different to that 5 miles down the road.

[knutstransport]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(04/03/2018 09:10)dca529x Wrote:  All that matters to any prospective passenger, is that it turns up, which it did, not what colour it was.

I'm not arguing about the colour. I'm saying a combination of the bus having logos for another company with no obvious on hire notices, showing 'Knutsford 200' on the destination display while running a 289 Altrincham-Knutsford-Northwich service is the issue. I'm familiar with local buses and I thought at first glance it must be a vehicle heading to a school for an afternoon school run. With it being an old, not well presented bus made it look more like vehicle which would be used on a school service than a normal service.

Quote:I'm not sure that a comparison between relatively main road routes and the 289 is entirely fair, which is rural in many parts.
...
Having travelled on a D&G 130 during the worse of it (after the other lot's 130 failed to show up) it was noticeable how the road conditions changed drastically once you were past Henbury. The weather seemed fairly localised and the road conditions around the 'Costa Del Macc' were very different to that 5 miles down the road.

As you say the 130 services (both D&G and Arriva) continued to operate, which is why it seemed surprising that Howards suspended the 27 the other day. If it's the roads in the Over Peover area were the issue then they could have omitted them and on most services no-one would have been affected.

I'm not sure why you are making an issue of road conditions on the 289 route, as far as I'm aware there were no issues and the services were able to operate all week. Macclesfield and Chester are the places in Cheshire most likely to suffer disruption during wintry weather, so what conditions were like in Macclesfield bare no relevance to whether non-Macclesfield services should have been operating or not.

[Solo40336]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(02/03/2018 14:47)knutstransport Wrote:  Surprised there's anyone using the 289 bus today. There's a very dirty W reg Dart running it with MP Travel logos and legal lettering (no obvious on hire notices) and when I saw it the destination display was showing both the wrong route number and wrong destination. However, despite that it did have a few passengers on board.

As mentioned, road conditions this time of year make it near impossible to keep any vehicle clean, the deposits of grit mixed with any remaining snow and ice is a problem faced by all road users, evidenced by the fact that this particular bus (W481 UAG) only left the paint shop late Feb!
Although I don't know the details there's quite a close relationship between the two companies and if a vehicle has to be sourced on short notice owing to breakdowns, road traffic accidents etc, then the destination display would be the least of concerns, at least they tried, a lot of operators would have just stick an A4 piece of paper in the window.

[iMarkeh]

RE: Howards/Springfield

(05/03/2018 00:44)Solo40336 Wrote:  As mentioned, road conditions this time of year make it near impossible to keep any vehicle clean, the deposits of grit mixed with any remaining snow and ice is a problem faced by all road users, evidenced by the fact that this particular bus (W481 UAG) only left the paint shop late Feb!
Although I don't know the details there's quite a close relationship between the two companies and if a vehicle has to be sourced on short notice owing to breakdowns, road traffic accidents etc, then the destination display would be the least of concerns, at least they tried, a lot of operators would have just stick an A4 piece of paper in the window.

At least an A4 piece of paper would have had the right number on it!!!