Belle Vue Coaches

Belle Vue to reduce its Stockport - Macclesfield route from every 90 minutes to every 2 hours from 25 February 2024.

391, 392 and 393 to serve Poynton and Bollington (nr Cotton Tree). 391 to also serve Kerridge and Tytherington.

Badger Road, Tytherington Drive and Marlborough Drive in Tytherington as well as Bollington Cross will lose their bus service

393 no longer operates on a Saturday.

Monday-Friday
Stockport-Macclesfield 0630 (393), 0715 (391), 0915 (391), 1115 (391), 1315 (391), 1515 (391) and 1715 (392)
Macclesfield-Stockport 0725 (392), 0925 (391), 1125 (391), 1325 (391), 1525 (391), 1725 (391) and 1840 (393)

Saturday
Stockport-Macclesfield 0715 (391), 0915 (391), 1115 (391), 1315 (391), 1515 (391) and 1715 (391 - ends at Middlewood)
Macclesfield-Stockport 0804 (391 - starts at Middlewood), 0925 (391), 1125 (391), 1325 (391), 1525 (391) and 1725 (391)

Timings taken from Bus Times website when changing the dates. Belle Vue also registered with VOSA to vary their timetable.
Link to source

No mention of it on Cheshire East website. I suspect it'll become another instance where a 'temporary driver shortage' means a permanent reduction in service.

northwichcat said:

No mention of it on Cheshire East website. I suspect it'll become another instance where a 'temporary driver shortage' means a permanent reduction in service.

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Could be the council cutting its subsidies. Cheshire East is hardly in the best financial position.

mangad said:

Could be the council cutting its subsidies. Cheshire East is hardly in the best financial position.

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As part of the BSIP+ funding (even the small amount Cheshire East received), CEC are not allowed go cut its overall subsidy for buses

However, since the bid, they've had to increase their subsidies on the 12, 37 and 38 routes as well as the 84 now having subsidy. So some trimmings will now happen

Also CEC are to reduce subsidy for bus services in the most affluent areas of the borough which no doubt the 391/392 covers

Thinking it through, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but it looks like to fulfil that new timetable, you'd still need two buses as now. The journey time currently from start to end is 1 hour 21 mins. There's a 9 minute gap at each end of the service before the return journey begins - so a bus to Stockport leaves Macclesfield 1 hour 30 after it had left Stockport initially. Hence the 90 minute frequency.

Assuming this still holds, the 9:15 from Stockport would get to Macclesfield at 10:46. It would then leave Macclesfield at 11:25. Which is a bit of a wait. This would then get back to Stockport at 12:46, and leave again at 13:15. So unless the bus is doing something extra at Macclesfield, what's benefit? Just seems to be adding a lot of padding to the timetable?

SeanM1997 said:

Also CEC are to reduce subsidy for bus services in the most affluent areas of the borough which no doubt the 391/392 covers

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The most affluent parts of the borough have already lost bus services or never had them in the first place!

Both the 88 and 130 serve some of the most deprived areas of Cheshire East, in the form of the overspill Manchester social housing and also provide an essential service to the hospital, so I hope none of the councillors in the south start thinking they are routes which can be reduced.

The 312 is funded by developer funding and the Handforth Dean Free Bus is funded by the retailers. Although, I can't see the 312 surviving long term, once the developer funding expires.

SeanM1997 said:

Timings taken from Bus Times website when changing the dates.

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Bus times only goes up to 21 Feb.

mangad said:

Assuming this still holds, the 9:15 from Stockport would get to Macclesfield at 10:46. It would then leave Macclesfield at 11:25. Which is a bit of a wait. This would then get back to Stockport at 12:46, and leave again at 13:15. So unless the bus is doing something extra at Macclesfield, what's benefit? Just seems to be adding a lot of padding to the timetable?

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Refer back to my post from November. A missing driver meant the following journeys were missed:
391 08:50 Stockport to Macclesfield
392 10:25 Macclesfield to Stockport
392 13:20 Stockport to Macclesfield
391 14:50 Macclesfield to Stockport

This suggests they use 3 drivers, so maybe the new timetable is supposed to need 2 with long enough breaks between journeys to not need the relief driver?

northwichcat said:

The most affluent parts of the borough have already lost bus services or never had them in the first place!

The 312 is funded by developer funding and the Handforth Dean Free Bus is funded by the retailers. Although, I can't see the 312 surviving long term, once the developer funding expires.

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Could the well known local council in Handforth not help fund the service? Or will they not have the authority there?

SeanM1997 said:

Belle Vue to reduce its Stockport - Macclesfield route from every 90 minutes to every 2 hours from 25 February 2024.

391, 392 and 393 to serve Poynton and Bollington (nr Cotton Tree). 391 to also serve Kerridge and Tytherington.

Badger Road, Tytherington Drive and Marlborough Drive in Tytherington as well as Bollington Cross will lose their bus service

393 no longer operates on a Saturday.

Monday-Friday
Stockport-Macclesfield 0630 (393), 0715 (391), 0915 (391), 1115 (391), 1315 (391), 1515 (391) and 1715 (392)
Macclesfield-Stockport 0725 (392), 0925 (391), 1125 (391), 1325 (391), 1525 (391), 1725 (391) and 1840 (393)

Saturday
Stockport-Macclesfield 0715 (391), 0915 (391), 1115 (391), 1315 (391), 1515 (391) and 1715 (391 - ends at Middlewood)
Macclesfield-Stockport 0804 (391 - starts at Middlewood), 0925 (391), 1125 (391), 1325 (391), 1525 (391) and 1725 (391)

Timings taken from Bus Times website when changing the dates. Belle Vue also registered with VOSA to vary their timetable.
Link to source

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I can’t get the Bus Times website to go past 23rd February?

323235 said:

I can’t get the Bus Times website to go past 23rd February?

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I posted a similiar observation 2 days ago. However, I found that changing the date in the URL returns future dates. Whether the data is accurate though is another question.

Belle Vue have posted it on their X feed too.

323235 said:

Belle Vue have posted it on their X feed too.

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Service 391/392: From 25th February 2024 we regret to inform that services 391/392 will operate to a 2 hourly frequency due to low passenger numbers. We hope that the increased layover time will improve reliability.

Unfortunately this service has only recovered 51% of its pre-covid passenger numbers compared to other services at around the 65% mark in the Cheshire East borough. Change needs to be made in order to future-proof and also ensure the viability of the service.

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