Manchester Buses

Stockport town centre shuttle gets Metroshuttle branding

Stockport's town centre shuttle bus has just been rebranded as a Metroshuttle service, the same as its Manchester and Bolton equivalents. It's got a snazzy new livery too.

As you'd expect, Councillor Keith Whitmore, Chair of GMITA was on hand for the launch (isn't he always?). “We’ve been working with the council to develop this fresh new look and I’m very pleased with the result. I hope it encourages even more people to give the Metroshuttle buses a go" he said.

Whitmore promised to bring Metroshuttle to more of the region's town centres if possible, which is great news - bring them on!

Speedwellbus - what's really happening

Yesterday we speculated on what was behind news that Tameside independent operator Speedwellbus was de-registering a large number of services in October.

Speedwellbus have been in touch with details about their future. We incorrectly stated yesterday that all their services were being de-registered. They are in fact reorganising their business to reflect the present harsh economic climate. Also, some of the de-registrations that appeared on VOSA's website will no longer be happening thanks to a deal with GMPTE over reimbursement levels. Some commercial services are still to be withdrawn. The recently launched S50 (Manchester - Hey Farm) service is to be scaled back to run between Ashton-under-Lyne and Mossley only.

Responding to our request for comment, the company's Managing Director Jack Hampson sent us this statement which we're reproducing in full.

Over recent months as the recession has worsened Speedwellbus has seen a decline in revenues across all of our services. This has led to some of our routes falling into a marginal position, and the decision was recently taken to address this by de-registering those routes. Contrary to the perception that some may have formed from the VOSA website, we have not de-registered all of our services. The core of our business has always been our Glossop-area cross boundary services which operate into Tameside and Stockport. These routes form no part of the changes we are making, and will all continue as at present.

 

Since the changes to concessionary reimbursement were made in 2006, we have been struggling to maintain the profitability of our Greater Manchester services. The reimbursement per passenger trip which we receive from GMPTE is quite low. As we carry a relatively high number of concessionary passengers due to the nature of the routes which we operate, the move to free travel for the elderly has hit our income stream hard. We have attempted several changes to our network over the years to try to address this shortfall, but the general fall in revenue as the economy has worsened meant that we had to take more widespread action to protect the financial position of the company.

 

The de-registrations which have appeared on the VOSA website are those of our Greater Manchester contracted services, together with the 41/337 (Dukinfield/Ashton/Crowhill) and 343 (Hyde-Oldham) routes which we operate commercially. In the past few days we have reached an agreement with GMPTE whereby they will increase the subsidy rates of the contracted services to a level which will allow us to continue to operate them. As such there will not now be any on-road change to these services. The commercial routes, at the discretion of GMPTE, will presumably be put out to tender. 

 

We have also had to make some changes to our recently-introduced S50 service. The project had a difficult launch as Swan Street - the only practicable means of access to Shudehill Interchange - was closed on the very day the service commenced. We had not been given any advance notice of this closure and therefore were completely un-prepared for it. This, coupled with the other roadworks at Ancoats and the Metrolink works at Droylsden, has meant that the SpeedwellValue project has had probably the worst possible start. We have decided therefore to withdraw from the Ashton to Manchester section of the route until the roadworks and closures have finished. This will allow us to concentrate on delivering the value service we have promised on the Ashton to Mossley section of the route. Passenger numbers are already strong on this section, despite the reliability issues caused by the roadworks, and we are confident that this scaled-down S50 service can be a success for us.

Is Speedwellbus disappearing from our roads in October?

It appears that Hyde-based independent operator Speedwellbus may be disappearing from our roads come early October. As multiple Manchester Buses readers have pointed out to us, a search of the VOSA website reveals that the company has de-registered all its bus services from the 3rd and 5th of October.

The operator has had a number of problems recently. In July we covered a report that the Traffic Commissioner had cut 9 vehicles from the company's license. We've been hearing multiple reports that their recently launched commercial S50 (Manchester - Hey Farm) service has been suffering low passenger loads. What future for the company now all services are being de-registered?

We've approached Speedwellbus for a comment. We'll let you know what we find.

Urbis gets its own special bus shelter design - how about some more?

A new, specially designed bus shelter went into service outside Urbis yesterday. The shelter has been designed to complement the sleek, modern glass look of the city-centric museum itself. 

GMPTE sent us this photo and as you can see, Keith Whitmore - Chair of GMITA and lover of photo opportunities - is centre stage again. We really should do a Whitmore Gallery soon as our Gmail account is full of photos of him we've received from GMPTE over the past year or so.

Anyway, now Urbis has its own special bus shelter how about some more themed designs around the city? We could have:

• Garden themed shelters at Piccadilly Gardens
• Shelters in the shape of trains outside rail stations
• A really, really tall one outside the Beetham Tower. 

  Any other ideas? 

Manchester's Oyster Card gets another chance

A Greater Manchester smartcard payment system is back on the cards, the Manchester Evening News reports. The idea, similar to London's Oyster Card, was included in the failed TIF bid but was left out of a cut-down batch of improvements that was recently green-lit.

The card is back as part of a plan to develop a stronger "City Region identity" for Greater Manchester. As well as paying for public transport, the card could also be used to pay for a range of goods and services across the region.

Is this a great idea? Definitely, a smart card system would be a real boon for the region's public transport system. It would be easier and quicker to travel around the region and payment would be easier. No need to buy a new System One ticket from an authorised reseller every month, you could top up online or easily at an on-street machine.

Stagecoach Manchester already has smartcard-enabled ticket machines although there are no immediate plans to begin using the feature. A system-wide card, that works on any bus, tram or train would be fantastic but it's not without its problems.

London has a distinct advantage when it comes to running a smartcard system. All London bus services are operated under contract from Transport for London. In Manchester, where most bus journeys are commercially run by individual operators, the problem would be getting all operators to sign up to accept smart cards. Smaller operators may not be too keen to spend money on upgrades to ticket machines and there could be some real friction ahead, especially as councilors are reportedly keen to push the plan forward.

If it can work, the benefits will be huge. We just hope the hurdles along the way don't end up consigning this great idea to history. Again.

Catching up: JPT, Kickstarting routes and a retro cavalcade

It's been a busy few weeks on and off the buses in Manchester. It's been so busy here at Manchester Buses HQ that blogging about buses has had to take a back seat. We're back now, so here are some of the things we've missed.

• JPT's new services are mainly single positioning journeys, except the 17. Shaun has written more detail in the comments section here.
• GMITA has bid for £3 million of government money for 'Kickstart' bids across the region. These bids are intended to launch new bus services or improve existing ones. A previous successful Kickstart bid in Greater Manchester saw service 263 (Manchester - Altrincham) upped from every 15 to to every 10 minutes. What services are being bid for this time? GMITA's keeping tight-lipped but there are 12 of them and we'll find out if the bids were successful in late autumn.
• This Thursday sees 40 years since Passenger Transport Executives were introduced in the UK.GMPTE, Merseytravel and Northern Rail have worked together to arrange a 'Cavalcade of Buses' (6 modern, 6 vintage) to travel from the Museum of Transport in Cheetham Hill to Museum of Science of Industry on Liverpool Road. The buses depart the Museum of Transport at 2.30pm, running via Cheetham Hill Road, Trinity Way, Water Street and Liverpool Road, arriving at their destination at 3pm. All buses, including a Leyland Titan similar to this one pictured, will remain on show until 8pm.

Have we missed anything important? Let us know by leaving a comment!

[Image Credit: Terry Wha on Flickr]