« December 2007 | Main | February 2008 »
There's no doubt that Sunnyside Road is a nice name for a road. The outlook won't be so sunny for bus passengers on the aforementioned thoroughfare between February and June. Sewer works between Shrewsbury Road and Greenside Lane mean that services 168, 169, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234 and 235 (plus some school buses) will be diverted via Moorside Street, Medlock Street, Chappell Road and Greenside Lane from the 4th of February.
It seems that if you're an identity fraudster you only need to hang around hospital skips or roundabouts and you'll come across lots of useful data. You can add 'bus depots' to that list. First has held its hands up to an error which saw individual drivers' pay details posted on a staff notice board at Queens Road depot.
The Manchester Evening News reports that the poster was designed to show drivers what they could be getting under a new pay deal which is currently on the table. It seems the use of individual names was approved by the Unite union but unfortunately someone messed up and printed drivers' dates of birth on the poster. The poster was reportedly close to the public information desk meaning anyone suitably inclined could walk in and leave with a list of drivers' names, dates of birth and pay levels to use for nefarious purposes.
Needless to say the company has apologised and the details have been removed.
Roadworks in Leigh are causing diversions to be put in place for a number of bus services around the town this weekend. Quoth the raven (and by the raven, we mean GMPTE):
The 583, 594, 595, 652 and 658 services have been diverted because Westleigh Lane will be closed until Sunday 27 January.
The 583 service will follow Atherleigh Way, Lovers Lane and Wigan Road missing out Westleigh Lane and Abbey Lane.
The 594 will follow Atherleigh Way, Lovers Lane, Wigan Road, Smallbrook Lane, Westleigh Lane and Abbey Lane.
The 595 will run to Westbourne Avenue only.
The 652 and 658 will follow Wigan Road to the Tamar and then resume their normal routes.
Just days after Stagecoach announced that their purchase of Mayne had been approved and already the wrecking ball has swung on Mayne's Clayton depot. The South Manchester Reporter has a picture.
Has anyone seen evidence of Stagecoach's repainting programme yet? It'll be interesting to see how the Mayne vehicles get used on Stagecoach's wider network. It's likely some of the older vehicles will be disposed of. If we hear any more we'll let you know...
Now, that's the kind of headline we wish we could use every day! When this story came up on the BBC News site we prayed it had taken place in Greater Manchester, but it was in Dewsbury which is not too far away so we'll cover it anyway.
It appears Arriva Yorkshire have attracted the scorn of a couple of goths who have been turned away from at least two of their services. Aptly-named Dani Graves (hopefully not a pseudonym) leads his girlfriend Tasha Maltby (neither pictured here) around on a dog lead (with consent on boths sides, we assume). It's hard to not have sympathy for a bus driver confronted by such a scene. We'd be tempted to turn them away for potentially scaring any OAPs traveling.
Arriva, however, are saying that the ban was simply down to the need to ensure other passengers on board are safe. From heart attacks, we assume. We suggest Dani and Tasha move to south Manchester. We've seen much stranger people than them on a 42 night bus.
Stagecoach Manchester have announced via their website that the deal to buy A Mayne & Son has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading and that the independent operator has now passed into Stagecoach's hands.
Nothing will change immediately and tickets for each operator will be not be valid on the other's services, however all Mayne vehicles and services will be absorbed into Stagecoach over the next two months. The deal opens up new areas of Tameside to Stagecoach and since the two companies had no directly competing routes (Stagecoach's 216 runs direct between Manchester and Ashton, whereas Mayne's services run via various parts of Droylsden and onto areas such as Mossley and Smallshaw) we don't expect any major route changes in the short term.
A repainting programme will kick off soon so look out for some interesting vehicles in Stagecoach colours soon (although not the Dennis Falcon up there, that's quite an old photo from Wikipedia!).
We've received word that Stagecoach Manchester have agreed to terms to sell their Princess Road depot in Moss Side to Manchester City Council for demolition. This has been on the grapevine for several years but nothing had been heard recently. The news means an end to a historic part of Manchester's transport heritage. Originally opened in 1909 as a tram depot, it has been in use as a base for bus operations in the city for generations.
Times move on though. Moss Side is in need of regeneration and Stagecoach need a more modern depot. Having buses squeeze in and out of a residential street at the side of the depot throughout the day isn't an ideal situation. Apparently a new depot is planned in Sharston. This would be an ideal place operationally. Many of Stagecoach's Princess Road-based services start and end in the Wythenshawe area and it is well placed for the M56 motorway and Altrincham Road which links through to Altrincham and Stockport. It's also closer to the Parrs Wood and West Didsbury termini. Just think of all that mileage currently spent on sending buses up and down Princess Road to terminus points and driver changeovers.
The new depot is a good two years away yet, so you've still got a good stretch of time to get some final photographs if you're that way inclined.
In early 2008 the economic mood of the nation is certainly pessimistic. Talk of recession and house prices falling is rife. In these circumstances you'd think smaller operators would be cutting back on risky commercial workings. Not so Vale of Manchester, who launch a new link between Bury and the Trafford Centre on the 4th of February.
Offering an alternative to First/South Lancs Travel's 300 express service, new service 514 will run via Radcliffe, Little Lever, Farnworth, Walkden and Worsley on Monday to Saturday daytimes (frequency not yet known, but we'd guess hourly). Obviously, if you live in Bury you're unlikely to want to travel on a slow service across Salford when the 300 will take you direct via the M60 much quicker, but if you live anywhere along the rest of the route it's a handy new link.
It's encouraging to see small operators like Vale of Manchester, JPT and Bluebird increasing commercial workings in recent months. We just hope that the public along this new route are confident enough about their finances to want to go on Trafford Centre shopping sprees!
The government has given Greater Manchester an extra cash boost to help pay for its Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) bid. The £1.5m adds to the £3.2m already domated by central government. Don't take that as a hint that Manchester will be successful in its bid for cash to improve public transport and introduce congestion charging though, extra government money was also announced for schemes in the West Country and Cambridge.
According to The Manchester Evening News, an estimated £10m has already been spent on Manchester's TIF bid. Much of that has apparently been spent on consultants' fees. People tend to object to public money being spent on consultants. "Why can't they spend it on important things like mending roads and new playgrounds for kids?" they'll say. The unfortunate truth is there's big business in consultancy and government needs experts to help implement new policies. If you want to blame anyone, blame consultants!
The winner(s) of TIF money will be announced in the next few months. Manchester's bid is the largest submitted and reportedly would take up the majority of the money available. As a result, Greater Manchester's councilors and transport chiefs will be praying no other areas' bids are successful in addition to theirs. In that situation, Manchester would most likely end up with an amount lower than the proposed £1.2bn, leading to a shortfall in funding. We can't see the public taking too kindly to making up the shortfall through taxes in addition to paying a congestion charge!
If you lived in the north, west or south parts of Greater Manchester any time between 1970 and 2004, chances are you'd have seen service 400 in action. This bus service ran between Bolton and Stockport via Bury, Rochdale, Oldham and Tameside. While the 22 service, which runs between Stockport and Bolton 'the other way' (via south Manchester, Trafford and Salford) remains, the 400 was withdrawn four years ago.
Why was this? Well, we recommend you read Stuart Vallantine's in-depth article which details the 400's demise and suggests reasons why it should be reinstated. Click here to head over to the article on his site.
