D&G Bus

[iMarkeh]

RE: D&G Bus

(28/05/2021 07:21)Rick Hunter Wrote:  The time between Hale Barns and Wilmslow is over generous. To arrive in Wilmslow on time would mean travelling at around 15-20mph all the way, much of which is a 50mph road so would be a danger. Travelling at 30mph the bus arrives with 20 mins to wait. As was suggested earlier maybe have the bus leave Altrincham at 17.05 or even 17.10 That may benefit any workers that finish work in Altrincham at 17.00

Given that you work at D&G, have you suggested this through to management there to try and get it put through or are your ideas more contained to the forum and this discussion? If so, what has the feedback been from them?
I've found that D&G don't listen to customers much when I have spoken with them and you certainly don't get reasons as to why things are done as they are.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(27/05/2021 21:47)Rick Hunter Wrote:  Knutsford to Falcon bearer is fine at 10 mins most of the day.

It was 7 minutes for over 20 years on the 300 service from Canute Place to Falcon Bearer. D&G extended it to 10 on daytime services when Aldi was under construction and there was more congestion than usual on Brook Street. It remained as 10 even when construction finished, despite a filter was added to the traffic lights at the A537/B5085 junction and despite the 88 now going to Longridge from the bus station, so a slightly shorter distance. If anything the time should be reduced from when it was the 300 pre-Aldi construction not increased.

I used to get the 88 bus to Wilmslow on a regular occasion from Manor Park North/Lowe Drive stop and the time on my ticket was pretty much always 4 minutes after the time the bus was due to depart Knutsford bus station, as that's over 1/2 of the way and included the bus stopping and the driver selling tickets (which doesn't happen on every journey) I can't see why anyone would think it needs more than 7 for Knutsford bus station to Falcon Bearer.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(27/05/2021 21:47)Rick Hunter Wrote:  The 15.55 from Altrincham is often very late, many times instead of passing the next bus near Wilmslow it is only at Airport city.

Checked this today and it at the Water Lane/Alderley Lane bus stop at 16:25, so it was actually close to the estimated time, unlike most journeys which are very early at that stop. It left Bank Square and Wilmslow station on time, it left Mobberley on time and arrived at Knutsford bus station 3 minutes early, so was stopped there for 8 minutes given there's a 5 minute wait timetabled in. After Knutsford it ran to time to Over Peover, arrived in Chelford a few minutes ahead of schedule and was early at Macclesfield Hospital. So there was about 16 minutes spare between Mobberley and Macclesfield, granted some of that would be taken up if peak time traffic was at pre-COVID levels but the Altrincham to Macclesfield journey time on the 15:55 is easily achievable, regardless of whether it passes the other bus in the right place.

The following 16:50 from Altrincham was almost 10 minutes early at Water Lane/Alderley Lane stop, was 1 minute late at the Falcon Bearer and arrived at the bus station 2 minutes early. What a surprise 7 minutes from Falcon Bearer to the bus station, not 10!

[Rick Hunter]

RE: D&G Bus
Several staff have made suggestions to management to no avail Drivers seem to get less feedback than passengers. When the 16.02 89 Knutsford - Northwich was being dropped one of the regular passengers contacted the company Chris Almond told her the company felt it was a waste of council money running the service empty. That bus now runs to Macclesfield at 15.58 with 1 woman on it daily. She used to catch the 17.15 to Macclesfield which now travels empty and often returns empty as very rarely anyone gets on the 18.15 from Macclesfield.

(28/05/2021 12:00)iMarkeh Wrote:  Given that you work at D&G, have you suggested this through to management there to try and get it put through or are your ideas more contained to the forum and this discussion? If so, what has the feedback been from them?
I've found that D&G don't listen to customers much when I have spoken with them and you certainly don't get reasons as to why things are done as they are.

[Rick Hunter]

RE: D&G Bus
The 15.55 Altrincham to Macclesfield has a timetabled journey time of 135 minutes and misses out Ollerton so of course it is easily achievable. To reduce the time between Knutsford and Falcon by 3 minutes would mean inserting the 3 minutes somewhere else. Today I only made it in 7 minutes once. Hollow lane and Adams Hill I got stuck in traffic

(28/05/2021 17:59)knutstransport Wrote:  Checked this today and it at the Water Lane/Alderley Lane bus stop at 16:25, so it was actually close to the estimated time, unlike most journeys which are very early at that stop. It left Bank Square and Wilmslow station on time, it left Mobberley on time and arrived at Knutsford bus station 3 minutes early, so was stopped there for 8 minutes given there's a 5 minute wait timetabled in. After Knutsford it ran to time to Over Peover, arrived in Chelford a few minutes ahead of schedule and was early at Macclesfield Hospital. So there was about 16 minutes spare between Mobberley and Macclesfield, granted some of that would be taken up if peak time traffic was at pre-COVID levels but the Altrincham to Macclesfield journey time on the 15:55 is easily achievable, regardless of whether it passes the other bus in the right place.

The following 16:50 from Altrincham was almost 10 minutes early at Water Lane/Alderley Lane stop, was 1 minute late at the Falcon Bearer and arrived at the bus station 2 minutes early. What a surprise 7 minutes from Falcon Bearer to the bus station, not 10!

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(29/05/2021 19:20)Rick Hunter Wrote:  To reduce the time between Knutsford and Falcon by 3 minutes would mean inserting the 3 minutes somewhere else. Today I only made it in 7 minutes once. Hollow lane and Adams Hill I got stuck in traffic

Why? Buses continuing to Macc/Northwich have at least 7 minutes recovery time at Knutsford bus station, buses heading to Wilmslow have loads of recovery time in Wilmslow. Most even turn off the engine at Bank Square, as they know they're going to be stopped there for a while.

It's like your 15:55 example, you said it's hard to keep to time getting to Wilmslow but as you say there's loads of recovery time after Wilmslow.

Buses can't exactly wait in Mobberley or on Chapel Lane without causing an obstruction so they can't be arriving early at those stops.

Today's the first day of a Bank Holiday weekend and the day after the schools broke up, so I guess there would be more traffic than normal. I don't know if they were running COVID vaccination clinics in Bexton Road today or not but if they were that would also cause more traffic than normal.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(29/05/2021 19:08)Rick Hunter Wrote:  Several staff have made suggestions to management to no avail Drivers seem to get less feedback than passengers. When the 16.02 89 Knutsford - Northwich was being dropped one of the regular passengers contacted the company Chris Almond told her the company felt it was a waste of council money running the service empty. That bus now runs to Macclesfield at 15.58 with 1 woman on it daily. She used to catch the 17.15 to Macclesfield which now travels empty and often returns empty as very rarely anyone gets on the 18.15 from Macclesfield.

There were also complaints about the Macclesfield to Knutsford times from both employers and job seekers, with I believe Cheshire East getting a letter from Esther McVey on the subject.

The 16:45 service from Macc instead of 15:45 at least means those working 7.5 hour office shifts with flexitime don't have to wait over an hour for a bus home. (When people return to offices.) Neither do they have to leave Knutsford almost 12 hours before they get home, they'd have spent less time away from home by getting a job in Salford, than a job down the road in Macc.

However, it will mean when the hospital resumes regular visiting between 14:00 and 16:00 the bus times will suit that even less well. When GHA run the service there was a 16:00 departure from Macclesfield bus station, which allowed hospital visitors to stay until visiting finished and then there was a bus along soon afterwards and they could get 6-10 people per day using the bus for that purpose. The 88 times have never worked as well for that purpose.

If the 89 had run hourly in 2018 and 2019 from 7am to 7pm I would have used it daily instead of the train with the trains being unreliable on occasion and costing more than the bus. Well D&G's loss if they didn't want what would have worked out as almost £1500 in weekly tickets over 2 years from just one person.

[Rick Hunter]

RE: D&G Bus
You missed what I meant. The end to end journey time is 115 minutes for most journeys Taking 3 minutes off the time between 2 points will mean there are 3 minutes extra time somewhere else unless the overall journey time is shortened. The time end to end is adequate, just distributed in the wrong places. Waiting in Mobberley isn't such a problem. Chapel Lane coming from Wilmslow is a nightmare as the bus stop is right in the marked car parking spaces. Morley Green is a problem area to wait as the road is very narrow.

(29/05/2021 20:14)knutstransport Wrote:  Why? Buses continuing to Macc/Northwich have at least 7 minutes recovery time at Knutsford bus station, buses heading to Wilmslow have loads of recovery time in Wilmslow. Most even turn off the engine at Bank Square, as they know they're going to be stopped there for a while.

It's like your 15:55 example, you said it's hard to keep to time getting to Wilmslow but as you say there's loads of recovery time after Wilmslow.

Buses can't exactly wait in Mobberley or on Chapel Lane without causing an obstruction so they can't be arriving early at those stops.

Today's the first day of a Bank Holiday weekend and the day after the schools broke up, so I guess there would be more traffic than normal. I don't know if they were running COVID vaccination clinics in Bexton Road today or not but if they were that would also cause more traffic than normal.

[iMarkeh]

RE: D&G Bus

(29/05/2021 20:32)knutstransport Wrote:  The 88 times have never worked as well for that purpose.

I think the issue is that the 88 is so long with so many potential markets, any attempt to serve one market means jeopardising another.

Do you accommodate 17:00 finishers from Macc or 17:00 finishers from Barclays.

You can't do both. One set of people will always be disadvantaged.

Then combine that with the school, you don't want buses sat around forever. Then you have Knutsford, Northwich, Wilmslow and Altrincham passengers to consider. If you want to go one further, you could link it with the train times and school times.

It's one of those routes that you can't please the majority because of the amount of different markets available. If the 88 was split, you would be able to serve the individual markets better maybe.

[iMarkeh]

RE: D&G Bus

(29/05/2021 19:08)Rick Hunter Wrote:  Several staff have made suggestions to management to no avail Drivers seem to get less feedback than passengers. When the 16.02 89 Knutsford - Northwich was being dropped one of the regular passengers contacted the company Chris Almond told her the company felt it was a waste of council money running the service empty. That bus now runs to Macclesfield at 15.58 with 1 woman on it daily. She used to catch the 17.15 to Macclesfield which now travels empty and often returns empty as very rarely anyone gets on the 18.15 from Macclesfield.

That's sad to hear if they are even ignoring drivers. I think it goes to show D&G don't care about passengers because they are paid regardless of whether they pick up 1 or 500 passengers. They see no reason to improve anything.