Speedwellbus is today launching a campaign to try to persuade Derbyshire County Council to abandon plans to withdraw the 397 bus service between Glossop and Hyde.
Speedwellbus as a company are totally opposed to this ill-thought out and damaging proposal which, if implemented, would have a devastating impact on communities in the High Peak and Tameside.
Please take a look at the Speedwellbus website for information.
Funnily enough I took my first bus journey in years last week when my car was in to have an annoying dent on the door repaired. I pledged to myself that I would use public transport while the car was off the road to see if I could cope.
I feel comfortable travelling by train because I understand the timetables and have an understanding of how the railways work, however since the cuts of the 1960’s, the railways have become fragmented and it is not possible to travel to many places by train. A prime example of this is Stalybridge to Denton. There is a rail line between the two in existence but the train only runs once a week and in one direction only on what is known as The Parliamentary service. This is next to useless and is a crying shame because Denton station is situated in an ideal place for commuters - but that is another story.
So you want to travel from Stalybridge to Denton using public transport. That leaves you two options, taxi or bus. When I made this journey I got a bus from a cold and desolate Stalybridge bus station to the nice modern Hyde station with railway style live information screens and then onto Denton on a 204.
Prior to my recent bus journeys I must admit to viewing busses as annoying slugs which slowed me down when I was in a rush and which were only there to be overtaken. However, I have since had a Damascene conversion and after studying the services buses offer to those without a car I am now of the belief that busses offer an invaluable service to many.
The loss of the 397 route may not affect you directly but you should support the campaign to save this route because it may be the 397 today but a bus route you may one day rely on next.
13 comments:
This sounds like a tendered service, the overheads of which are met by the council concerned. If this route is underused it is particularly vulnerable at a time of increasing spending cuts. Buses do provide a valuable service but their usefulness is dependent on where you live -near or on a main road is ideal - and Stagecoach in particular offer some good value weekly tickets for regular users such as commuters. After about 1830services diminish and connecting routes can be difficult or impossible. They can never match the flexibility, comfort, convenience or speed of the private car or even motorbike but at least have the advantage of not being railbound, with a massively expensive infrastructure like trains and trams which some influential pressure groups deludedly believe is the future.
Trains are the way forward - as the cornerstone of an integrated transport system. Only a person who never travels by train would comment negatively about them
I agree that bus routes such as this should be preserved as a community service even if it does make a loss and requires a subsidy. Stagecoach dominate the Manchester to Stockport route along the A6 because it is a high earner for them but at the same time they neglect secondary routes. It should be written into their contract that they can not cherry-pick routes for maximum profit but that they must also provide a reliable service on the non-profitable routes too.
Let the train (taxpayer) take the strain, sorry to be 'negative' about trains but how is it 40% of the transport budget goes on the 'privatised' railways despite them only moving 6% of of the public. The moct crucial part by far of an integrated transport system is the private car, without the economy boosting flexibility it provides the country would collapse. 6% of the massively overpriced road tax is spent on the roads, the rest goes on things like trams and trains that move a miniscule proportion of the people, and in some cases cause severe congestion, Manchester has the slowest peak time traffic flow in Europe but nothing like the highest traffic volumes and the Metrolink plays a large part in that.
As for Stagecoach and the other large operators they will carry on doing what they like, as they have since deregulation in 1986.
£8 billion, that's eight thousand million, is to be spent on the railways. This will increase capacity by a maximium of 185,000, or 17%. This will reduce car journeys by 1.5%, totally pointless, and cost about £43,500 for every extra rail passenger. This would be an insane decision in a boom let alone in the middle of a recession.
Don't be too concerned. There is an absolutely fantatstic train service between Glossop and Hyde that carries onto Manchester Piccadilly. It runs every half-hour regular as clockwork and is much cheaper.
Buses are shit, and half of them are so decrepit that they shouldn't be on the road. Take a look at Ashton bus station and you will see the Ministry of Transport inspectors there occasionally, handing out failure docs to drivers of buses that shouldn't be on the road. Remember Stuarts? Pennine Buses used to be just as bad, but now hide behind the corporate cloak of First Manchester.
The railways are worth every penny spent on them. Well done to the Tories for having the vision to see the future of transport lies with rail.
Buses are full of benefit cheats, Stagecoach actually have a good, modern fleet which is surprising as the small amounts they receive for running tendered services etc are miniscule next to the £800 million a year the 'privatised' railways get. The infrastructure, tracks, maintenance etc etc etc is paid for by the taxpayer so the train operators can make and keep their massive profits. Personally I'd much rather have buses which more or less financially support themselves and don't cause congestion or cut through city centres obstructing 99% of the moving public. Then there's the astronomical price of train fares...
Let the train take the strain, anyone can make statements but they're not a substitute for reasoned argument.
Some train services, into London and high speed links etc are viable, the rest should be dug up, tarmacced and used as roads. The passenger capacity per minute per mile would increase astronomically.
Why should car users subsidise people too lazy to learn to drive, ride a bike, motorbike or get a cab, bus or coach?
The person who thinks people to LAZY to learn to drive , some people can't afford to do so Blind / parially sigthed people CANT learn to drive Its people like this intolerant selfish person who makes society what it is today Uncaring
Are you saying we should run an entire rail network to suit the disabled? There are already multiple transportation facilities for the disabled, rightly funded by the state.
Many people simply prefer to travel by train because they like it. The massive public outlay to run this supposedly privatised form of transport cannot be justified, especially when there are other options available and it only carries a tiny proportion of the moving public.
My mother who is elderly relies on this service weekly to visit her grandchildren without it she would not see them as there is no other service from Glossop.
Save this bus!!
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