Luxury bus service launches

I'm trying to see the point of this? Is it instead of or as well as the normal service? Is it the same price or more expensive? Can OAPs still use the bus pass ?

As far as I can see the point of the article is to get Mr Menlove's name in the newspaper twice in two weeks. The Chair of a company typically does not have executive functions so it is hard to see why it justifies this level of coverage.

What this does not mention is that whilst this is a half hour service it only goes through Morley Green every hour (and not at usable times for those who do currently use it daily to get to Altrincham).

Also how much will it cost after the first 4 weeks? Are the fares going up from existing levels?

It's a route that is subsidised by East Cheshire, and only appears to be used to capacity at school times. How has this 'improvement' been funded?

Rather a shame that the service aimed at CEC electors rather lower down the food-chain had to fold, due to the cut in grant from CEC.

http://bbc.in/12IpiIL

I know which initiative I'd rather my council-tax was spent upon. Could anyone enlighten us on which of the Councillors were involved in the decision to make that cut?

I totally agree with Pete Taylor - the infirm in our community need the service of a Dial-A-Ride bus, not upgraded seating on an already existing bus service.

To make such a fuss over new bus seating shows us just how Cllr. Menlove has his priorities and concerns in totally the wrong direction. This so called initiative adds nothing to the well being of Wilmslow's residents, other than, as Jackie Pass has said above, give Cllr Menlove a photo opportunity. Cheap and shoddy at voters expense.

Readers and voters may care to look into Cllr Menlove's role in the winding up of the Dial-A-Ride service (East Cheshire Community Transport charity), which had its Cheshire East Council grant cut from a yearly £10,506 to £6,186.

Does this bus go to Lyme Green as well..... RM ......... knows his way there .... ( and back again ! to quote Tolkein ) ........ irrespective of the cost

I believe that If you are going to improve an existing service then that improvement should be for the benefit of all

Therefore the improvement of introducing a half hourly services should have been introduced across the whole of the route. The new time table shows that there is only a one minute saving in journey time by missing out the Morley Green Section of the existing route!

The simple question Councillor Mendlove is who made this decision and on what basis?

I hope the bus manages to find a parking space at Wilmslow station. I always have extreme difficulty. There are too many taxis, and not enough spaces for the general public.

Tried it today. One table per bus, Wi-Fi not advertised but seems to work.
The buses do not wait at the station, only at Green Lane, where the bus stops have been reversed as the route is now Knutsford <> Wilmslow station <> Green lane <> Altrincham. The station adds approx. 2 mins to timetable. Whilst I welcome the 30 min service, (orig 1 hr pick up times remain the same), there is still no Service on Suns & B. Holidays. A reduced hourly Sunday service would have been nice for those wishing to attend a Church eg St John's, URC, St Theresa's etc.

This sounded like quite a good idea until I looked at the timetable.
Last bus leaves Altrincham at 18:25 which is tight for those working until 5:30 and far too early for those that finish at 6pm like myself.
Then thought it might work for getting out for a night in Knutsford or Altrincham (which you can only sensibly get to from Wilmslow by taxi) but then the weekend timetable has you sat in town by 6:45 and its back to a taxi for the journey home.
I'm not sure who is taking these decisions through an evaluation that considers actual use (I'm guessing our esteemed Mr Menlove!) but they really need to canvas opinion. I'm sure Cheshire East have heard of Twitter and online surveys as a way of asking for and collecting opinions, do they fancy trying that before they spend any more of our money for us?

"Does this bus go to Lyme Green as well?" - Nick - we will never know because the timetable will be redacted.

In view of the rather alarming number of unanswered questions which have been posed to CEC Cllr Menlove on several of his photo-opportunity appearances, I'm wondering if he is struggling with this inter-web thingy.
Perhaps he should enroll here: http://bit.ly/1oXsdrg
This looks like a superb initiative, aimed at those of us who are of a certain age and who might be in need of help.
After all, he missed the bus when the Lyme Green fiasco was unfolding on his watch.

So if Councillor Menlove is familiar with the inter-web thingy maybe he would kindly give us his response to the questions and comments on this forum.

I used it today Wilmslow to Altrincham, and back from Knutsford to Wilmslow. The new buses are no more comfortable than those they replace; you feel every bump in the road, and the engine is possibly slightly more noisy. There is one table which is good when the bus is nearly empty and you get it to yourself, but with passengers sitting opposite leg room would be somewhat limited. Also, one worries about those thoughtless people who will use the seats opposite as foot rests as they do on trains where seats face each other.

On entering Wilmslow station car park, predictably the bus could not swing round to reach the bus stop until a taxi begrudgingly moved off the double-width taxi queue to allow the bus sufficient space. Why are there SO MANY taxis at the station these days?

I didn't try the wifi but I'm told it does work. So all in all, same old same old, really.

Cllr Menlove is far too busy at CEC etc to also represent constituents on WTC.
A candidate without Cllr Menlove's history seems a far better choice.
Oh! Seems that one is standing, Mr David Jafferay. Voting to give a younger person a chance to serve Wilmslow makes far more sense IMO.

As usual the involvement of Cllr. Menlove provokes comment. Having negotiated Wilmslow station today I noticed that the traffic problem is exacerbated by the "premium parking" spaces at top dollar compounded by the taxis parking illegally and free. Boys in blue stop hiding behind trees hoping to catch someone not wearing a seat belt, put on your brave hat and face these law breakers!!!

I'm delighted that modernised buses are coming here too - it's marvelous using similar ones elsewhere. As more businesses come to our area, we will all benefit from improving public transport rather than being stuck in the smelly, energy-inefficient traffic jams.

I too went to the station today and once again could not park. There should be a limit to the number of taxis allowed at once. Back to the bus, and my original comment does anyone know what the new fares are? Why do we need a table on such a short journey?

How interesting that CE have lauched this.

Manchester Airport is the regions largest employer yet there is no public transport link from Handforth.

Wilmslow has 3 evening trains per hour from Manchester, whilst Handforth has one (Cheadle Hulme and Heald Green in Greater Manchester are much better served). Handforth has an award winning station, it really is well kept, the downfall is if you are disabled, pushing a pram or want to take a cycle on the train then it can be hard or impossible to negotiate the stairs - no ramp or any level access.

I am trying to understand Lisa's comment which I think must be straight from the PR department at Cheshire East - why would anyone want to take a bus to Altrincham to get the Metro to Manchester? There will shortly be a Metro much closer off Ringway Road when the Metro comes to the Airport.

For seniors who qualify for free bus passes to the free option really is the 130 bus (is there a worse service?), those living in Cheshire East do not benefit like our neighbours in Altrincham, Heald Green, Cheadle Hulme or Bramhall (despite them still holding the address Cheshire) because in the area covered by GMPTE seniors have free bus, train and Metro off-peak.

I wonder how many reader have experienced the new off-peak rules by Northern Rail and Virgin. In the past an off-peak ticket could be used after 9:30 am with no restrictions on the return time. These two rail companies have now introduced an evening peak time for travelling in Greater Manchester, so if a journey is between 16:00 and 18:30 then one has to buy a peak ticket. This isn't supposed to apply to tickets which start in Manchester and travel outside the Greater Manchester county border............but Northern Rail and Virgin have revised their map to include Handforth, Wilmslow and Alderley Edge! Yet we cannot buy GMPTE tickets like the System One.

Thanks Mr Roeves. Much appreciated.

I think it is generally difficult to argue that investment in local public transport is anything but a good thing. However, in this case, the value proposition put forward (and political leverage that Cllr Menlove has tried to gain from it) does seem to be a little ill-conceived.

I've nothing really to add to the discussion (except that as a vegetarian, the leather seats aren't really a selling point!).

However, I would like to make a positive comment. My Mother uses this route several times a week and she is forever singing the praises of the drivers, who by all accounts are friendly, helpful and flexible. Well done and thanks to them.

Let's get a bus route to the airport please!!

Steph, why would people use a bus to the airport, rather than the existing rail service from Wilmslow Station ?

Also on a similar theme why would anyone use Connect 88 + tram to get into Manchester, rather than the train?

By far the main users of the Connect 88 are school children going to/from school (at our end of the route Wilmslow/Morley Green <-> Altrincham). It is also used by older people who may well have limited access to personal travel. Also a few going/to from work. It is only regular (even if not daily) users like these that can make a bus route financially viable.



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@Steph: There already is a bus route from Wilmslow to the airport: the 200. It's about once per hour during the day.

@Fred As to why you'd use a bus instead of the rail service - if you live along or near the bus route but not near the station it's likely to be quicker and less hassle to get on the bus straight to the destination, rather than having to walk (or catch a bus the wrong way) to the station first.
With the Connect 88 service, if you were heading to somewhere in Trafford borough instead of into Manchester itself, it might be cheaper and quicker to use the bus to Altrincham then get a tram a couple of stops, rather than get a train all the way into Piccadilly then change to a tram and get most of the way out to e.g. Sale.