On the 236s at the moment. It's one of the few that go into manchester direct from glossop. I don't get the point to be honest. I bet there is 3 people max who travel past ashton on the way up. Would be easier to bring them up on a 216. Offered my services for the evening too. Am now working till midnight on the 216s should be easy enough. Nice not to sit in traffic on them. This is my bus this afternoon. Just shut it down for a bit. The piece and quiet is a rarity.
Actually, you'd be surprised at the number of commuters who depend on use of this service from Glossop right through to Manchester and back. Making use of the 216 sounds reasonable on paper but doesn't work in reality. For example, the last direct service to Glossop leaves Piccadilly at 1850. Miss this and the next available 216 from Manchester isn't due in Ashton until 1940 which leaves just one minute to spare before the Ashton-Glossop 236 departs. Invariably, you just miss it and then have a 30-minute wait for the next bus. Stagecoach still get the full subsidy, though.
ReplyDeleteCould get the Hyde Road-run 219
ReplyDeleteIts amazing how quiet and quick the 216 in the evenings are, I caught one last week at about 20:20 from Ashton, driver pulled on stand and no sooner I had got on the doors were closed and he was off, we were in Manchester for about 20:50
ReplyDeleteThis is the old Number 6, of course, which ran half hourly between Manchester and Glossop, jointly operated by Manchester, Ashton and North Western. Did SHMD play a part as well? A pity to see the current version only going to Manchester in peak periods. Stagecoach seems to have moved away from limited stop routes in Greater Manchester (whereas First has just announced a new one).
ReplyDeleteAndrew - I travelled from Shude Hill to Ashton one afternoon last week in exactly 30 minutes on Speedwell's S50, although it didn't do much in the way of picking up passengers along the way!
Anonymous - The 219 runs along Ashton Old Road, not Hyde Road.
Why do so many people post comments on this blog as "Anonymous"? Is it really too much trouble to type in a name, or even a nickname?
I think the Hyde Road Run 219 comment, ment that Hyde road Depot did the route.
ReplyDeleteThe latest limited stop is the X57.
I remember the old pink ladies (mcw/Olympian Express Buses) doing the 236 237 limited stop to Ashton then every stop to Glossop. They always seemed busy. Obviousley the comment about sacking off the manchester side of it would entail retiming to make sure connections were not missed especially around the 1850 trip Which i have Monday evening lol. Tonight i did the 1820 and had 6 people travelling through. 3 of them got off at tameside college.
216s tonight though were busy. Much busier that i thought. Its nice though coz its foot down all the way. great timings at night.
More Adventures tomorrow on the 217/8 330s.
Dont forget though that at the moment (not to sure from September) Ashton Depot do both 216 & 219s at night, not to sure what timings are like on 219s at night although I'm guessing similar to 216s.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your photo btw I've noticed that the Stagecoach MANs have a similar if not the same dashboard layout as First Manchester's Optare Prisma Mercedes 0405s
I think the comment regarding the 219 is probably levelled at me following my remarks on the 236/7. I've tried this also and unfortunately find that the running of the 219, alike to the 216, is not compatible with the 236/7 timetable. Although it looks frequent on paper, there is almost always several missing.
ReplyDeleteI think there's a danger we're losing sight of what's important here. Joined-up public transport simply does not exist which is why a direct route is most efficient. The 236 service is subsidised for the benefit of those who live to the east of Ashton, especially residents of Glossop, Hadfield and Longdendale. The last weekday service used to leave Manchester at 1120 and it's now just no longer feasible to travel on buses late in the evening. The solution is to run all the 236 and 237s to Manchester and reduce the 216 service proportionately. The argument seems to be that few travel all the way through. That's why the operator receives a subsidy.