Middle of nowhere.

This is henry square. A very busy part of the town and looks great following on going regeneration. I'm not sure what the old building used to be but i liked it. The new building are all very busy. The courts the walk in centre and a few other buildings containing offices. What i can't undertand is why we have not sent a bus service around here? I get lots of people asking where the walk in centre and the court buildings are but never know there was a road going around here that leads on to cavendish street. I think a service around here would be helpful and easier than using katherine street as that sometimes gets clogged up with buses.

Delayed 216s

Ok Remember that these roadworks are both ways and add so much time to service in peak times.
This first picture is the Junction of Great Ancoats Street and Old Mill Street. In the evening traffic is backed up to Oldham Road because of this bottle nect. You normally get through these roadworks when you are supposed to be leaving Manchester City Stadium

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Just afer you turn onto Every street you are hit with these lights. This too is backed up to Great Anoacts street at peak times and normally costs another 3-4 minutes. By now the bus should probably be at Edge Lane.

Lets not forget why we are driving up and down this road.. This is the bus stop at the botom of  North road.
On some mornings there can be 20-25 people at both these bus stops. On a Monday morning this can add considerable time due to it being the main day for megariders being issued. We would never moan about having a busy bus but this does add time to the journey

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This is the next set of roadworks. 3 minutes are lost here if you missed the lights. This is a long stretch and is at the Junction of Canberra Street and Ashton New Road. By now the bus Should be in Droylsden.

 Further up the road is the roadwarks outside Aldi. Currently no lights, However!! They tend to put some on and narrow it now and again depending on what they are doing that day. Without the lights Speed is reduced to approx 15-20 due to the width reduction.

These Three show the farce that is the junstion with Edge Lane. Pic 2 shows a waggon getting stuck on the right turn which is the middle section of the chicane. Doesnt help with cars parking on the corner slowing everyone down. Last weekend 4 way lights were put up here causing delays of up to 5 minutes. When you come through here the bus should prob be passing Snipe Retail.

 These two are more narrowed roads which have both seen lights on in the past few weeks. These are outside the Buxton and the Jolly Carter Pubs.

 

Crazy Woman time!! Ok for the time being lets imagine the car parked in the middle of the Droylsden main bus stop is a bus. The second you pull up people cannot wait to get round you and cut you up. I have had to be over generous with the brakes on a few occasions here because of cars being in the right turn lane and cutting in front. This is also one of the busiest stops on the route. You can lose a good 5 minutes unloading and loading passengers here. Then you have to battle to get out of the stop and through the lights without getting flashed by that camera. We have had many drivers given tickets here because of that camera. Mainly at very low speed. This is because as the bus sets off you get to a point of no return. Either you slam on or try to power out of it before it goes red. Its a tough call here and you have to be very cautious. None of our people ever deliberatly go through on red but because the bus has just set off you are still going through after is changes at low speed.
Ok!! Crazy woman didnt like me taking a picture of her car sitting somewhere it shouldnt.
As i was passing Ryecroft the car came along side very closly and this mad lady asked me why i took a picture of her car. I giggled to myself and carried on riding. She carried on shouting abuse at me along side me so i giggled a little more at her and i stopped. She decided that shouting was the limit today and drove off.


So there you go thats the 216 problem areas. Lets not forget Snipe retail on a Weekend when there are queues to get in or the large amount of people that use the service. All in all though its a great well run frequent bus service that works well. Little miss or Mr Moany arse in the Tameside advertiser is welcome to get the 219 instead. but until the bus grows wings or the tram is finished, this is how it is.

Top of the the world

Good ride that. Got some intesting pictures on ashton new road including one of a car which had parked in a busy bus stop which in turn chased after me will explain more when i get home. I just come up to the pike. It's a bit windy and there is only me here today. I won't bore you with scenery shots as this new phone is good but not suitable for big pictures like that. Plus the ashton under lyne does a good enough job of posting stuff like that. Just having a little rest now before heading over to oldham. Wasn't going to do too much today but this bike is so easy and so addictive thought i'd climb a hill.

Whats this

Not seen this in the highway code. Any ideas?

Not so bad!

Day off today so i've come to try the bike out. Just got into piccadilly in 20 minutes.which beats to old one. Thought i'd take the trip back to highlight the perils on the 216 route. At the moment they are running on time with 3 buses on the stand at piccadilly. Will also update whats happening with the metrolink works whilst i am out too.

Play time

On a late last night pretty uneventful really. Finished just after midnight. I'm off today luckily because i'm going to take the new bike for a ride. Not sure where yet but will get a feel for it at least. I'm back in at 5am tomorrow and the same for thursday and friday.

All quiet

Just in piccadilly at the moment. It's quiet out. A few people knocking about either going to work or going home after there night out. Got 20 minutes here and i'm only on my first trip. Got the usual people giving me daggers because i won't load up yet but not to worry. Finish at 2 and on a late tomorrow so nice 24 hours off. New bike comes tomorrow, had to swap it because of delivery issues on the one i ordered but this one is just as good. Can't wait.

A little lost

This has turned up at ashton overnight. It's come from lancs don't know if it's here to stay or here on loan. Bit far from home though.

Change of subject time? Almost.

This is the 409 stand in ashton. It looks like this most of the day before 3 or 4 buses come in at once. Now i will admit we have, at certain times though the day, problems with the new road and a few people at work have been talking about the letter that was written in to the tameside advertisor. I think it's safe to say we all feel disappointed with the narrow mindedness of this letter and disagree with what has been said. Back to the 409s. My phone is almost dead because of the amount of emails today since it was mentioned that speedwell was running an ashton- oldham service lol. It's a brilliant idea almost! First will go all out to stop speedwell doing anything on this route. The other problems is, the lack of distance. The 409 makes a lot of it's money taking people through oldham and on to either ashton or rochdale. The speedwell service will certainly be missing a trick if it doesn't do the full length. Will have to wait and see i suppose.

What a shed

Just got on 64 in oldham. Am trying to get to elk mill without using my car but nothing goes there from oldham? How pathetic is that. No wonder there are huge queues trying to get in there every weekend. We do a huge trade to crown point and snipe on the 347 and 216. Someone has missed a trick in oldham. Anyway am off today and need to rest the pins so no bike ride today just rest and a bit of shopping for me. In at 4am tomorrow though on staff taxis. This bus is one of oldham depots finest volvos sounds great. Shame about the driver who looks 10 and drives like lewis hamilton. Just noticed the 402 floating around royton. Is this the same route as the O4 little gem service?

Metrolink Underpass

This is the new entrance to the underpass that runs underneath Great Ancoats
Street in Manchester. The tram runs through here and comes out on the other
side and runs parallel to Pollard Street. Its all very much taking shape now
up the new road. Lots of tram tracks on the road now causing more and more
chaos everyday but im told it will be worth it in the end. On a 9 - 5 today
7s and a couple of trips on the 330 so no tram tracks for me lol. Off
tomorrow too so might head out on my bike somewhere as the weather is
looking pretty ok. However I get the impression summer has been and left us.

Out to lunch

Trainees are at lunch at the moment. Seemed to be loads in driving school at the moment. Not a bad thing i think. Just waiting for the taxi to do my 3 216s which is the back half of my split. First half was 2 trips on a 347 which was painfully boring. Hoping for a nice simple afternoon without hassle. Bike been delayed until the 16th so am a little annoyed at that but nothing i can do.

Mine thank you!

Catch of the day last night on the 216s. This county card was looking a bit odd so i asked for a closer look. A quick snatch and i noticed it ran out in APRIL! The punter swiftly got off after i took it off her. Good result coz these things arn't cheap. In today too nice and easy trip to glossop twice followed by a round trip on a 231. Not done a sunday for a while so hoping for a nice peacefull drive today. Bike has been delayed, it should have been with the supplies friday but not turned up yet so will be making a few angry calls on monday. Bit gutted but hoping this week sometime still. Had a look at 19081 this morning. I know a couple of people commented on the state of the interior. I have checked and it is due to be done this week however due to the comments made it will be done tomorrow morning. So should be sparkling again soon. Very rare they get that bad so shouldn't see too many like that.

Bus type things

Bit of an update on the bus movements at ashton if you are interested. At the moment 19120 is the newest enviro we can have as we don't have adblu. We are getting it very soon along with newer enviros from somewhere so i am told. Also we are getting the newer man buses from stockport and not before time. Not sure when! I am guessing for the 25th july rewrite. Also got the final details for the mossley buses. We are still going to mossley. We are terminating at shudehill and we are putting just one extra bus on to increase the journey times of the ones already on there. Also get 15 standing time at shudehill so they should all run bang on time with no problems honest!

All gone

This is the ex row of shops and pub at the junction of crickets lane and penny meadow in ashton. Always an eyesore really although i didn't think they warrented pulling down. I'm not sure if it's part of a bigger plan as there are some works going on further down near the station. Will see in time i'm sure. Just off to work on a split duty today which means a trip to the gym inbetween shame i have 216 on the back half as they ain't the nicest thing to do on a friday afternoon. Found out the 217 218 details yesterday too. They are covering mossley still just not serving piccadilly. Instead using shude hill, church street, lever street and onwards up oldham road. Also i believe there are extra buses going on there although i'm not sure how many. Someone mentioned doubling to make it a 30 minute service on both routes. Hardly any need in my opinion!

Last early rise.

Finished my silly 4am starts for this week now. I thought i'd try my poorly shoulder on my bike and come feed the ducks in alexandra park. It's looking very nice this year. This is the bowling green which is looking very well kept. My new bike comes next week sometime so will probably be out more on that.

Idiot of the day goes too!

Had to get out and get a picture of this. This is the crossing on market street at hyde. It's often very very busy. It annoys me that this dhl van has parked here totally blocking the view of people about to cross. I just finished work. Been a very average morning really. 2 trips on a 330 followed by a 346. Easy really. Was going to ride into work but pulled my shoulder this morning doing the very energetic movement of getting out of bed. Should be ok in a few days hopefully. I need to get back into a routine after my two weeks off. Mixed stories today about the 217 and 218s some say the mossley section is staying some say it's going i was going to go ask the boss but forgot. Back in at 430am on the 216s which are taking a pounding again due to some new road works on the new road so i'm not looking forward to them.

back to normal

Been in work since 4am. Done taxis now i have a trip and a half on the 389 which i have not done for ages. Changes are coming on the 217 and 218 with mossley being removed and it will be leaving from shude hill and not going to piccadilly at all. Bad idea i think. We just got this bus back from the paint shop looking pretty good for it's age. Shows the man buses will be with up a bit longer.

But why?

I'm back in on monday doing staff taxi at 4am but i'm just waiting for a 425 to oldham when this old prisma turns up. It's the 1950 so this bus will be out for the night i'm sure. Why though? We ensure all night buses are enviros. Because the they have cctv and low floor. Whilst i am typing this though the bus has now broke down and ain't going anywhere. The driver has kicked us all off so i'm going for a 409 lol. Happy times

First thing

It's 440am. I'm just waiting time out at the bus station. 3 216s first thing followed by another 2 after breakfast. It's not to bad on there at the moment. I'm in today as overtime as in still on my holidays so to speak. Had a relaxing time really looking forward to normality from tuesday and also my new bike on the first week in july.

Not the best idea!

I'm just in piccadilly grabbing some early morning sun until my 216 leaves and i notice this jpt bus pull up at the lights. One thing we are taught is not to drive around with doors open. Especially in the middle of manchester. People tend to just jump on as the feel if you do and if your just setting off and they end up under the wheels then this causes huge problems for everyone. Working overtime today and friday as i'm still on my summer hols. Finish at 1 so it's a nice easy duty today.

Almost done

Been to halifax and now i have come over to brighouse. Don't fancy the a62 so train to wherever now i think. Have done my 40 miles now. Back home now here is the link to the Tracker with all the pictures on should you wish to look, I wont post too many as a lot look the same. Beautiful still.

Another ride out.

Still off although in tomorrow as overtime so i decided to head up the rochdale canal today towards halifax. It's pretty hot today so am sure i'll burn plenty off today. Just stopped off at stakehill roundabout will post the picks later.

Old Days

This is something you might have seen about. These little plaques were put
into place in the old days to show bus drivers where the bus went lol. These
days we have to remember. One even shows the old A5 route which was one of
the Ashton Little gem services and the one from Hadfield shows the 211
route. Some route changes are being looked at in Glossop at the moment due
to issues with the turning circle (or lack off) at the Royal Oak. And I also
heard that the 217/8 Are going to Shudehill. That I feel is pretty
pointless.

Longendale Trail

Thought I'd head out to the Longendale trail today. It's been a great ride.
Mottram road wasn't the easiest but nothing to worry about. It's yet another
place that anyone can cycle. Even if you get the train to Hadfield it's a
decent ride to the Woodhead Tunnel. That by the way would be amazing if
bikes could go straight through it too Sheffield. Who knows maybe one day.
Here are a few of the pics.
Also there was a March coming down Oldham road took a few shots of that.

Where am i

Out on the bike today but where is this shot taken. Not too hard i think if it turns out well. I can't really see coz of the sun.

How annoying

I'm stood in crappy oldhams small bus station waiting for a 425 to home. This lady seems to think the smoking ban doesn't apply to her so i thought i would post her lol.