D&G Buses

[em81]

Any need for it to be a W7 why not kust give its old Arriva route number

Same with the N series Northwich Circulars
Just seems rather pointless

Bus operators don't tend to like duplication of numbers on their network. D&G originally took on the Weaverham to Rudheath route on a commercial basis. Arriva had been running it as route 1. For D&G route 1 is Audley to Newcastle, so D&G made it number 49. They probably decided that because there's a bit of duplication between the 48 and the Weaverham local and they weren't using the 49 number already.

As the Winsford town service and Barnton local went out to tender Cheshire West probably decided to add a letter at the front so it the number would remain consistent, regardless of who won the tender.

 

[theshillito]

I assume the plan for the route number is to change from 37 to W7 on arrival into Winsford a-la 87 and 88 changing over at Knutsford but providing through services on most buses which are advertised in timetables.

 

[SeanM1997]

More D&G changes on VOSA from 1 September 2026. It appears the 8 in Crewe will be split into 2 separate services which could be interesting how that occurs.

New:
8 Crewe - Wistaston Green Road
15 Crewe - Crewe
19 (19A) - Macclesfield - Parkhouse Drive, Prestbury

Cancellation:
8 Wistaston - Crewe - Sydney & Elm Drive
19 (19A) - Macclesfield - Prestbury

Variation:
8A Hanley - Endon
31 Crewe - Northwich
34 Newcastle - Riceyman Road, Newcastle
37 (37A) Crewe - Northwich (I presume 37A will be Sandbach - Winsford)
38 Crewe - Macclesfield
41 Chester - Cross O' Th' Hill, No Mans Heath
41 Cross O' Th' Hill, No Mans Heath - Whitchurch
49 Rudheath - Northwich - Weaverham
94 Newcastle - Congleton
95 Biddulph - Audley
104 Hanley - Newcastle
130 Macclesfield - Wythenshawe

 

[markymark2000]

According to VOSA, the following changes are happening from 1 September 2026 (I don't have more details than this at present):

Variation to Services:
1(1A) Wood Lane - Meir The Square
7(7A) Hanley - Kidsgrove/Biddulph
24 Adderley Green - Newstead
32(32A/32X) Hanley - Uttoxeter
43 Hanley - Baddeley Green
82 Northwich - Chester
89 Northwich - Knutsford
102(102A) Stone - Norton Bridge/Walton

1/1A timetable change
7/7A timetable change
24 route change
32/32A/32X timetable change
35 will no longer run up Audley Road (as current to Beasley Road, right up London Road, spin around at The Roebuck. Back down London Road then serve Brutus Road and back into Newcastle via Wolstanton and normal route from McDonalds)
43 route and timetable change
82 timetable changes
89 timetable changes
102/102A route and timetable change

 

[Simon75]

Bus operators don't tend to like duplication of numbers on their network. D&G originally took on the Weaverham to Rudheath route on a commercial basis. Arriva had been running it as route 1. For D&G route 1 is Audley to Newcastle, so D&G made it number 49. They probably decided that because there's a bit of duplication between the 48 and the Weaverham local and they weren't using the 49 number already.

As the Winsford town service and Barnton local went out to tender Cheshire West probably decided to add a letter at the front so it the number would remain consistent, regardless of who won the tender.

They could do what Crosville used to , different letters for different areas (N I wouldnt use as most people would think its a night bus)
Eg C for Cheshire S for Staffordshire

 

[boyaloud]

1/1A timetable change
7/7A timetable change
24 route change
32/32A/32X timetable change
35 will no longer run up Audley Road (as current to Beasley Road, right up London Road, spin around at The Roebuck. Back down London Road then serve Brutus Road and back into Newcastle via Wolstanton and normal route from McDonalds)
43 route and timetable change
82 timetable changes
89 timetable changes
102/102A route and timetable change

Do you know what's happening with the 1/1A?

 

[em81]

They could do what Crosville used to , different letters for different areas (N I wouldnt use as most people would think its a night bus)
Eg C for Cheshire S for Staffordshire

Unless we get a Cheshire & Warrington Combined Authority simply saying C for Cheshire won't work, as we could get duplicate numbers between different council tenders, if new routes get introduced, even if it's just a replacement for a withdrawn section on a commercial route. While in the case of S don't forget D&G serve Stoke, Staffordshire and Shropshire.

I doubt anyone in Northwich will think see a route number mentioning N and associate it with nightbus. Evening buses are rare in Cheshire towns, never mind night buses.

 

[sonic2009]

Chaserider to operate the new Shrewsbury/Market Drayton services, post in the Centrebus thread.

 

[SeanM1997]

Chaserider to operate the new Shrewsbury/Market Drayton services, post in the Centrebus thread.

We're delighted to announce that we have been awarded a number of contracts by Shropshire Council, with services commencing from 1st September.

The services we'll be operating are:

20 – Shrewsbury – Radbrook Green
23 – Shrewsbury – Monkmoor
26 – Shrewsbury – Meole Village
64 – Shrewsbury – Market Drayton – Newcastle – Hanley
301 – Market Drayton Town Service
558 – Shrewsbury – Montgomery

The bus company will be titled ‘Hotspur’, with buses in a red and blue livery, and will be based at a new depot in Shrewsbury. Hotspur will be part of the Centrebus Group, a locally owned bus operator running 400 buses throughout the Midlands

We're looking forward to working in partnership with Shropshire Council to provide reliable, high-quality bus services for local communities across the county.

We'd like to thank the Council for placing their confidence in us, and we look forward to welcoming both new and existing customers on board from 1 September. Further information, including timetables, will be available soon.

#CentrebusGroup #HotSpur #Shrewsbury

Chaserider

We're delighted to announce that we have been awarded a number of contracts by Shropshire Council, with services commencing from 1st September. The services we'll be operating are: 20 –...

www.facebook.com

 

[Simon75]

Unless we get a Cheshire & Warrington Combined Authority simply saying C for Cheshire won't work, as we could get duplicate numbers between different council tenders, if new routes get introduced, even if it's just a replacement for a withdrawn section on a commercial route. While in the case of S don't forget D&G serve Stoke, Staffordshire and Shropshire.

I doubt anyone in Northwich will think see a route number mentioning N and associate it with nightbus. Evening buses are rare in Cheshire towns, never mind night buses.

The point i was getting at was Crosvile had different letters for different area's.
My example were just spur of the moment. With night buses the same N prefix is often used other areas that have night buses

 

[Statto]

Hotspur was the old branding Midland Red had for buses in that area in the 80s pre de-reg wasn't it?

 

[Mollman]

Chaserider

We're delighted to announce that we have been awarded a number of contracts by Shropshire Council, with services commencing from 1st September. The services we'll be operating are: 20 –...

www.facebook.com

Thanks. Also confirms 64 still going into Hanley

 

[semppec]

Hotspur was the old branding Midland Red had for buses in that area in the 80s pre de-reg wasn't it?

That would be correct, nice to see the name revived. I think it sounds cool

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Hotspur was the old branding Midland Red had for buses in that area in the 80s pre de-reg wasn't it?

I'd spotted that too.

Midland Red was engaged in the Market Analysis Projects of the late 70s/early 80s and applied those local names to depot e.g. Swadlincote was Lancer, Nuneaton was Hunter.

Midland Red North (as it became) retained the use of those names for longer than the other MR firms, lasting into the 1990s. Only with the all red livery did they disappear. Hotspur was used for Shrewsbury/Ludlow, Chaserider for Stafford/Cannock, Mercian at Tamworth, and Tellus at Wellington.

 

[33117]

1/1A timetable change
7/7A timetable change
24 route change
32/32A/32X timetable change
35 will no longer run up Audley Road (as current to Beasley Road, right up London Road, spin around at The Roebuck. Back down London Road then serve Brutus Road and back into Newcastle via Wolstanton and normal route from McDonalds)
43 route and timetable change
82 timetable changes
89 timetable changes
102/102A route and timetable change

Don't a load of operators do timetable changes at the start of september just before schools/colleges go back?

It'll just be the usual tweaks here & there. Still do think even if it only ran a few trips a day that a sunday #82 could work. If its there & people know so they'll use it.

 

[SeanM1997]

Don't a load of operators do timetable changes at the start of september just before schools/colleges go back?

It'll just be the usual tweaks here & there. Still do think even if it only ran a few trips a day that a sunday #82 could work. If its there & people know so they'll use it.

The 82 requires a subsidy just to operate on a Saturday (noted here: https://www.cheshirewestandchester....ire-west-and-chester/bus-service-enhancements) so a Sunday service would be even more expensive

 

[markymark2000]

Don't a load of operators do timetable changes at the start of september just before schools/colleges go back?

It'll just be the usual tweaks here & there.

It's just a case of waiting to find out the finer details for some of the changes, and how they will affect people as the descriptions provided in the traffic commissioners database give very little info. Changes to timetable can mean anything from cuts, enhancements, to amending the time on an intermediate timing point by 1 minute.

Still do think even if it only ran a few trips a day that a sunday #82 could work. If its there & people know so they'll use it.

Not a hope anymore sadly. The corridor is a million miles away from it's heyday under GHA and Sundays would sadly be a complete waste of time, money and effort. You'd need a far more proactive operator and local authority if there was even the smallest chance of Sundays working again.

 

[CN12 AWU]

It's just a case of waiting to find out the finer details for some of the changes, and how they will affect people as the descriptions provided in the traffic commissioners database give very little info. Changes to timetable can mean anything from cuts, enhancements, to amending the time on an intermediate timing point by 1 minute.


Not a hope anymore sadly. The corridor is a million miles away from it's heyday under GHA and Sundays would sadly be a complete waste of time, money and effort. You'd need a far more proactive operator and local authority if there was even the smallest chance of Sundays working again.

I used to drive the Sunday 82 for GHA occasionally back in 2014
it didnt run oftern from memory every 2 or 3 hours but it was always a fully loaded Solo

usually my old pet bus T314 UOX & a Mini dart and we used to interwork it with 21 Chester - Frodsham

 

[33117]

I used to drive the Sunday 82 for GHA occasionally back in 2014
it didnt run oftern from memory every 2 or 3 hours but it was always a fully loaded Solo

usually my old pet bus T314 UOX & a Mini dart and we used to interwork it with 21 Chester - Frodsham

To be fair GHA were a bit more proactive than DG are now.

 

[SW Buses]

With D&G’s gains in Shrewsbury, does anyone know the PVR required?

 

[em81]

I wonder why D&G continue to operate the Winsford to Sandbach services from Macclesfield depot, and all the daytime 38 runs from Crewe. The only plausible reason seems to be they want the 38 daytime to be exclusively Evoras and don't want to allocate any of them to the Macclesfield depot.

 

[Cesarcollie]

I wonder why D&G continue to operate the Winsford to Sandbach services from Macclesfield depot, and all the daytime 38 runs from Crewe. The only plausible reason seems to be they want the 38 daytime to be exclusively Evoras and don't want to allocate any of them to the Macclesfield depot.

Why is that the ‘only plausible reason’? There could be any number of factors behind the scenes!

 

[CN12 AWU]

I wonder why D&G continue to operate the Winsford to Sandbach services from Macclesfield depot, and all the daytime 38 runs from Crewe. The only plausible reason seems to be they want the 38 daytime to be exclusively Evoras and don't want to allocate any of them to the Macclesfield depot.

Prob similar reason they dont operate the 82 from wincham (if depot still open) and moved it to crewe ....more staff at other depots

 

[markymark2000]

To be fair GHA were a bit more proactive than DG are now.

As well as more proactive, they also had a substantially better core Mon-Sat timetable and this is one of the things that can help get people out on Sundays too. Having a bus on Sundays at times/places when people need it is useless if people refuse to consider the bus an option because the Mon-Fri timetable is poor.

With D&G’s gains in Shrewsbury, does anyone know the PVR required?

Based on there current timetables for the routes that they are due to take over, these are the PVRs.
2/12/37 is 1 bus
20 is 1 bus
23/23A is 1 bus
26/26A is 1 bus
64 on the current timetable, is 4 PVR all day, plus a 5th bus for the 18:20 Market Drayton return (which can work off another duty)
301 (Market Drayton) is 1 bus.
588 is 1 bus
That gives you 10 buses.

This said, I think it'd be pretty short sighted of D&G to not be including the 340 in this operation to support more efficient duties around Market Drayton. I'd also say it'd be a bit silly if they didn't outstation a Hotspur bus at Longton to help reduce dead mileage between the depots to reduce the amount of dead mileage on the 64, and hopefully improve links to/from Newcastle Under Lyme.

 

[33117]

Prob similar reason they dont operate the 82 from wincham (if depot still open) and moved it to crewe ....more staff at other depots

Errr ya do know wincham shut like 2+yrs ago

Evora's rarely stray off #38s, only when off for maintenance & repairs or MOT etc.

 

[em81]

Prob similar reason they dont operate the 82 from wincham (if depot still open) and moved it to crewe ....more staff at other depots

That was before they took over Arriva's Macclesfield outstation and turned it into one of their main depots.

More recently they've been transferring work out of Crewe and allocating new routes to alternative depots, due to Crewe having insufficient drivers and D&G not finding it possible to recruit new ones.

The Congleton locals could have gone to any depot, but they were allocated to Macc. The 42 used to be exclusively Crewe, now it's 1/3rd Crewe and 2/3rd Macclesfield. They didn't use to open Macclesfield on Sundays, now they do.

The 37 has always been a Crewe route since they took it over from Arriva. However, recently the new 37 shorts (a PVR of 2) have been allocated to Macc, despite being much closer to Crewe.

With the 38 they're sending a Crewe driver out to drive an Evora empty to Macclesfield at 5am, and a different Crewe driver is taking one back empty from Congleton at around 7.45pm. That's a very strange way of doing things, for an operator that's got a depot in Macclesfield, when the driver shortage is supposed to be in Crewe, not Macclesfield.

 

[markymark2000]

More recently they've been transferring work out of Crewe and allocating new routes to alternative depots, due to Crewe having insufficient drivers and D&G not finding it possible to recruit new ones.

85 has just moved back to a full Crewe operation after previously being part Crewe, part Longton.

 

[Martin1988]

Does anyone have any idea as to what is happening with the 31, 37 and 38? I know its been a couple of years since the funding for the Sunday journeys on the 38 got introduced. Can anyone remember how long that was meant to last for?

 

[SeanM1997]

More D&G changes on VOSA from 1 September 2026:

New:
64 - Hanley - Market Drayton

Variation:
K - Keele - Chesterton

Cancelled
A - Stone Circular

 

[capitalpotter]

More D&G changes on VOSA from 1 September 2026:

New:
64 - Hanley - Market Drayton

Variation:
K - Keele - Chesterton

Cancelled
A - Stone Circular

Isn't route 102/102A having it's route amended? I wonder if this will incorporate route A