I wasn’t even aware there was a consultation. I just moved in in June in Moor Lane area to take care of my elderly and have been heavily relying on X41 & X43 to go to St Peters Square for his therapy until this happened…
It’s a shame - but to be fair they have done a consultation and made adjustments to the proposal in response. Manchester’s road network isn’t geared up to drive buses through and further closures are planned so you can see why.
Exactly. Even Picadilly garden is better Shudehill. Piccadilly at least is full of people and lighted up whereas Shudehill is kind a hole hidden somewhere in the wall. This stop by the way goes all the way at the very end of the Shudehill station. Not safe certainly for ladies at night.
This is a cracking idea! I always jump off at The Cathedral as it’s such a painfully slow trek through the streets to Chorlton Street.. Should have had done this years ago
They did! At different times the route has terminated at the Arndale Bus Station, Victoria Station and Cannon Street.
Did the X43 actually terminate inside the coach station at one point (maybe pre-rebuild?) rather than just at the bus stop outside?
Regarding the X41:
Shudehill bus station is nothing whatsoever like what you describe. Buses to the north and west of Manchester run from there, so services to Accrington and Burnley would fit in with that.
I was not especially impressed the other morning (sensible time, not 'after a nightclub' morning!). Not as dark as the old Chorlton Street but large amounts of solid walls forming the central building where it would have been better to be transparent. Not many staff visible (if any), whichever coach company has a waiting room - that was open (and is close to the X41 stand) but the ticket office was shuttered. Plus the toilets were closed - not a good thing before a bus journey of an hour or longer. On the return journey I alighted at Shudehill, walked through the city centre and the bus I had just alighted from passed me near Piccadilly Gardens, heading to Chorlton Street private to do a pm peak journey back to Burnley. Rub it in why not!
Metrolink times can be found by using the journey planner on www.traveline.info.
So it does, well I never!
Perhaps Lancashire or the relevant district council could have offered a subsidy for the route to continue running across the city centre.
You don't wait in the shelter, you wait in the coach station, follow your bus on bustimes.org, then wander across the road as your bus turns into Chorlton Street!
Most local authorities have a wide-ranging calls for more money from a number of sources.
You can also find the metrolink times on bustimes.org
I don't think a subsidy, or lack of, is the issue.
I'm sure that was a very rare exception though, not a sufficient reason on it's own to amend a service. I've travelled through at various times of day, in either direction, and there can be next to no traffic through the centre up to lots of it.
Believe me, there's plenty of commuter traffic in Manchester. I don't use the buses much but commute regularly in on train and tram, and at rush hour in the morning, they're always busy. My local train is regularly standing room only. I doubt the buses are any different.
Deangate in particular always seems very busy with car traffic when I visit that area.
Only if they actually ran the full timetable!
Every weekday evening and Saturday evening my local bus route goes to pot because of city centre traffic. Take this as a recent example. Not uncommon to get 3-4 135s snarled up in the city centre at a time all evening, then running in a pack all the way to Bury. The X43 experienced the same.
Adding extra buses into the cycle and more layover time to make the service more reliable should surely be applauded?
Indeed. I doubt the cost increase is significant as the 29 mins at Burnley won’t incur any more paid time than the 12 minutes did as the driver will always need a break after a round trip. The mileage will be slightly less too as the extra bus doesn’t mean more trips.
People in Burnley (X43) and Accrington (X41) have railway stations with services to Preston railway station, where West Coast main line trains call at.
