New Cheshire East bus review

[knutstransport]

RE: New Cheshire East bus review
From Cheshire East council meeting notes

Quote:Cheshire East has one of the lowest levels of per capita bus use in England, with an
average of only 10.6 trips annually per resident by bus. Bus patronage declined by 22%
between 2009-16 in Cheshire East; a more significant decline than occurred nationally.
Contributory factors to this decline include the geographical nature and demography of the
borough, with high car ownership levels and a number of remote rural areas which are
challenging to serve with conventional bus services. Congestion is also identified as one
of the causes of reduced bus patronage, owing to adverse impacts on the reliability and
attractiveness of bus travel. The trends in local bus patronage place considerable
pressure on the viability of commercial bus services, whilst requirements for additional
public subsidy place increasing pressures on scarce Council budgets.

So nothing to do with services suffering more from subsidy cuts than in other areas.

And when they say 'congestion' they probably mean trying to have one service for too many different markets like the 88 Macclesfield-Knutsford going all around the houses between Knutsford and Chelford and the 88 Knutsford-Wilmslow serving roads which were previously served by the 300 Knutsford Circular and less recently an Alderley Edge-Brook Lane-Chapel Lane-Wilmslow local service (I can't remember the service number.)