Bus service to continue with new operator and reduced route

No thanks to Cheshire East Council, this service is to be perpetuated by a different operator, but as D&G found out when they tried to improve services in Wilmslow last year it needs more than just financial support. Positive encouragement is needed, commuters need to be prohibited from parking anywhere in town and school children encouraged to forsake their parents 'Cheshire Tractors' for shanks' pony, cycles or public transport.

I note that promises to add double yellow lines in Wilmslow STILL haven't materialised, the sort of action we have all come to expect !

I’m thoroughly disappointed with the service being offered, my Grandaughter attends Cheadle college and the train goes to Cheadle Hulme not Cheadle so no access to the college here by all accounts, shame on you Cheshire east you are letting your residents down, a lot of people attend hospital appointments other than Macclesfield how do they get to access them now, off we go back in time when folk walked everywhere or the use of cars increases

It seems that the "new, bright put things right" Councillors are no better than the previous bunch of light-fingered Councillors. Why will they not support this route?

As a side issue I noticed that recently new double yellow lines have been put on the junction of Dean Drive and Manchester Road. This has stopped all the all day parking that interfered with access to and from Dean Drive. Why is it taking so long to do the same thing on Alderley Road and Bedells Lane where the need is much greater?

Please don't regurgitate the same old excuses for planning, interested parties, businesses and residents again. Get your fingers out!

Brian

Just to address your points:

1) The yellow lines on Alderley Road and Bedells Lane have been approved and will be installed in the New Year. Cheshire East does not yellow line in town centres in December to avoid disruption to Christmas trading for the shops. The Knutsford Road lines will be slightly later as there were considerable complaints about them and the proposals have been amended, which has delayed their implementation.

2) The Dean Drive yellow lines were first requested in January 2018, so took 22 months to get installed. They are also in Handforth, so have nothing to do with your Wilmslow councillors nor the restrictions we face for new yellow lines. Therefore, the Wilmslow yellow lines will have been implemented far quicker than them, in about 8 months.

3) We would love to support the 130 bus route but with Cheshire East has an £8m overspend forecasted this year and a £11m shortfall predicted for next year. Therefore, there is no spare money, so what services do you want cutting to pay for it? The councils annual budget is £300m and 66% of this goes on social care for the young and old. Therefore, it leaves very little to fund the rest of the activity we all want to happen. Government grants have been reduced by about £40m over the past 5 years too. The new government is talking about supporting public transport more, so let’s hope we get some new funding that way and can improve these routes, which we all want to see.

Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Residents of Wilmslow
Cheshire East & Wilmslow Town Council

I do use the 130 and have found it to be a busy service. In particular when the route was reduced to stopping at East Didsbury it became more reliable and changing buses there also allowed for a number of alternative routes on buses with the Greater Manchester network.
In Handforth we have a train station which is either inaccessible or dangerous for those with mobility issues and those either pushing prams or with young children having to negotiate steps without any ramps.
The 130 provided a useful access to Manchester albeit with a change of buses in particular to Manchester Royal Hospital and also the the University of Manchester on Oxford Road.
With the sole exception of having to go Macclesfield for hospital services, if I never went again I would be none the poorer. A bus route into Manchester is far more important for me providing access to the regional capital.
Currently GMPTE operate the 312 service which comes to Handforth Dean to Stockport, surely it is not beyond, even scarce resources to work along with them to subsidise a service extending into Handforth and Wilmslow.
If the 130 bus service does collapse there will be vast area of the area with high population densities and no buses, like central Handforth, Summerfields and Colshaw Farm, none of which are in easy proximity to Wilmslow on a regular travelling basis.
It is interesting at Macclesfield bus station to see the services to areas with substantially less population that still have buses.

Re: Mark Goldsmith. You may not be aware of what happened with one route in Chester. After an operator registered a commercial service to replace a subsided one the amount of money the council spent on the route increased. The reason for this was the new commercial fares put off the passengers who could walk instead, meaning the majority of the remaining passengers were pass holders for which the council had to part reimburse the operator for.

Re: Chris Wigley. I've not been to Handforth station recently but I've heard it's recently got a large amount of investment to make it properly accessible.

Re: Mr Goldsmith. The "services" I'd like to see cut to pay for it are executive pay and the huge amounts of waste that go on in local government!

@ Cllr Mark Goldsmith. In reference to your remarks about CEC's budget deficit, I seem to recall that earlier this year they spent well north of £20,000,000 of council taxpayers money purchasing land that the store, B and Q, is built on near the train station in Crewe. CEC have no problem finding taxpayer's money when they need it. Maybe if they hadn't acquired this land then there would not be a financial deficit this or next year. Furthermore, could you enlighten the us readers, the real residents of Wilmslow why the council had a need to acquire this land and for what purpose.

Sadly, the £151,000 to £161,000 for the unnecessary job of Chief Executive of CEC plus more than £50,000 into a pentsion would still probably not pay for a proper bus service that we all deserve.

Now registered: https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.service.gov.uk/search/find-registered-local-bus-services/browse/results/?fields%5Bstatus%5D=&fields%5BacceptedDate%5D=2019-12-20&fields%5BtrafficAreas%5D%5B0%5D=C&security=70cb0b185808a1f2609bf4bf973c75a3-fb62b7cf523bd7dcb4310915788d1c82&form-actions%5Bsubmit%5D=

(sorry, that URL is a bit messy)

Personally, I think that not going to Cheadle is a mistake, it's a place with no train service after all. Stockport via Cheadle would also make sense. However D&G need to invest a number of their buses for this service and it may be that terminating and turning around at Handforth reduced the number of buses they need to provide for this service.

PC1090231/152 Registered (Short notice)
D & G BUS LIMITED
Route: Macclesfield Bus Station to Wilmslow Road, Handforth via Alderley Edge, Wilmslow
Service number: 130 ()
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 27 Jan 2020

Mark Goldsmith is obsessed with double yellow lines and traffic cones. Maybe next year Wilmslow in Bloom can have a traffic cone theme?
Introducing new yellow lines costs many thousands and the old ones are not even being repainted.
So if you want cuts, cut the obsession with double yellow lines and traffic cones, support public transport and stop passing the buck.

@ Sandra Bills; I too am baffled why this £23M purchase was made by CEC, however it was made in the dog days of the previous Conservative administration, immediately before the election when Cllr Goldsmith was the successful candidate. Given the secrecy (rather than open and honest behaviour) of that previous administration I'm guessing that none of the newly-elected Councillors will be able to explain, with absolute certainty, why this large speculative purchase was made.

It's slightly disingenuous of Cllr Goldsmith to ask which services we'd sacrifice in order to subsidise the 130 bus service. The Council continues to cut services-both overtly and covertly with little regard for public opinion.

One clear example of this is in maintenance services such as clearing drains or repairing roads. The condition of roads around the borough is the worst that I can recall and we've not yet had a big freeze which will likely turn the many potholes into craters.

In addition they seem to have found a new cost-cutting wheeze whereby they don't repaint the white lines and road markings. London Road in Alderley Edge is a particularly good example of this and for most of its length, with cars often parked illegally, you dont know where the middle of the road is and so "right of way" is difficult to determine. There are several examples of where the "Slow" or "Stop" notices painted into the road have been completely eroded away.

If the council has to increase it's revenues then one obvious solution would be to increase parking charges for short stay parking - at the same time enforcing the long-promised yellow line prohibitions.

Build a multi-storey carpark at Broadway Meadow and make sure that the charges for car parking significantly exceed the cost of a bus fare from (say) Macclesfield to Wilmslow.

Use the money raised to subsidise a regular, clean and efficient service that runs not just Monday - Friday but at weekends and evenings so that people can use the service for work, shopping trips and socialising.

I do think that no thought has been given to all the people going into Manchester via Parr Wood, all the elderly going to a different hospital, doing their weekly shopping in Cheadle and beyond, school children going to other schools in Cheadle.
And no service on a Saturday? What sort of country are we living in? Without a bus on Sunday is bad enough.
What good will a bus do that goes only halfway.
All the new homes they have built and are building, all the new cars that will be on the roads. What a nightmare. Congestion, pollution, and an elderly population with no bus.
I'm sure all the pass holders would not mind paying an extra £1 on top of their bus pass.

@ Hannelore Hartig

My opinion is that we are living in a society where private car ownership is King

Our National and Local Governments are not prepared or willing to provide public services for those that that cannot afford to own and run a private car.

And the majority of the electorate that actually vote are not willing to make this a priority when they get to the ballot box.

Sad isn't it.........

When I was a child and student I relied on public transport (both Bus and Trains) to get to school and home from University. Now, I very rarely use a bus. About once or twice in the last 5 years and the train once or twice a year!!!

The replacement D&G 130 timetable is now available at https://www.dgbus.co.uk/assets/130_2020-01-27.pdf.

It gives its termination point as "Handforth Wilmslow Road / Spath Lane" so presumably just past the shops?

12 services northbound on a weekday and 9 services northbound on a Saturday. One fewer southbound on all days.

However, contrary to earlier reports, it does appear that the replacement 130 D&G service will be operating on Saturdays as well as on weekdays.

One day I hope all who write on these pages will stop the what about me attitude and look to a real long tearm project .

One which would benefit many thousands of residents ( and those who will be coming soon to the area due to the new houseing developments all around the area ) maybe the houses are not near you ! but the traffic will be !!!!

There are plans to extend the Meto Trams to Stockport soon .
Perhaps a link from Manchester Airport to Wilmslow via Heald Green ,Handforth Dean and Handforth would put us on the real transport map .
Direct access to the Airport Wythenshaw Hospital Manchester City Center and so much more while still takeing a great many cars off your local roads .
Would help to regenerate Wilmslow town center as so many people are put off visiting due to the lack of parking .same situation in Handforth

.Would help to reduce the traffic on the byepass traveling to Handforth Dean Shops .

Please remember the Handforth Village Development on the bypass at Handforth Dean is comming soon ( no plan for transport infastructure so far )

Now would be a great moment to for once be proactive in the big picture this needs the cooperation of all Councilors in every ward to get together both Parish and County ( forget your own political agenda ) you may only be here for less than five years this project should last for more than fifty ( some legacy )
Wake up guys this is realy what you were elected to do now is your big chance !!!!!!

It could be done in five years !

Pie in the sky so was the Metro its self fifty years ago !

Well it would solve the 130 Bus problem !!!!!!!!!!

I don't own a car, for a variety of reasons but one is the environmental aspect. So am reliant on public transport or walking. I know which one is more reliable but vastly more dangerous - avoiding dangerously parked/driven vehicles and inconsiderate cyclists; wading across puddles whilst trying to avoid those drivers that think it funny to splash; negotiating uneven/potholed/dog pooped/litter strewn/bodily fluids splattered footpaths etc - no, walking isn't good for your health. So keep the bus, please.

I'm sorry, it is simply not good enough! We want a proper bus service into Manchester on a regular 7 day per week and evening basis.
With the amount we pay in Council Tax this can be done with a Park and Ride service, as they have in Hazel Grove on the 192 service!