Oldham and Tameside Bus Service Changes Extra (24 April 2022)

Two more late additions to the Spring 2022 service changes

In the last 24 hours, we have learned of two more service changes affecting Oldham and Tameside bus routes.

Oldham and Saddleworth Bus Service Changes, 24 April 2022

End of an era for two iconic bus routes with cuts to Chadderton bus route

How many black cats have the great travelling public of Oldham and Saddleworth run over to effect this spring’s set of changes? The latest set of service changes have seen Oldham and Rochdale at the sharpest end of the cutbacks.

Tameside and Glossop Bus Service Changes, 24 April 2022

Mottram roadworks and operator revisions main factor behind service changes

More than not, the biggest changes to Tameside’s bus routes occur in springtime. For the last two decades, the biggest cuts and operator changes are made at around that time of year.

Manchester Piccadilly Station Gets Its 15th and 16th Platforms At Last!

New plan solves through platform nightmare in considerably less time than anticipated

After years of limbo and rejection, Manchester Piccadilly will be getting its 15th and 16th platforms earlier than you think. By the time HS2 opens, it will be getting another two platforms taking it up to 18.

Two Quid to Town! The Shape of Greater Manchester’s Bus Fares to Come in 2023

Forthcoming fare changes explained

After successfully fighting off a judicial review with Stagecoach Manchester and Diamond Bus North West, Greater Manchester’s bus fares will be cheaper in 2025 than in 2022. The court ruling, in favour of the office of The Mayor of Greater Manchester, means our City Region will be taking back control of its buses.

Can You Do a Pub Crawl on the 350 Bus Route? A Top Beer Special

Top Beer looks at the must-visit pubs along one of Greater Manchester’s most scenic bus routes

Since 2009, the Rail Ale Trail has highlighted the joys of drinking in Saddleworth’s finest pubs, and one or two in Stalybridge, Mossley, and the Colne Valley villages. One downside of its (pre-pandemic) success was that it became a pain in the proverbials to police. There had had been reports of Marsden and Stalybridge succumbing to Bacchanalian excess.

First Manchester Strike Starts Tomorrow

‘Reasonable offer’ not good enough for drivers set to strike

This coming Monday, First Manchester’s drivers are set to go on strike over pay and conditions. Over the last two years, Britain’s bus drivers have been at the sharp end of the pandemic through staff absences, sickness and deteriorating pay and conditions. This has been exacerbated by more favourable pay and conditions in the haulage industry.

Time for a Cross-Boundary Bus Strategy?

Could affordable cross-boundary express routes be a missing link in improving the attractiveness of our bus routes?

England’s deregulated bus network has a fair few cross-boundary routes. Many are conventional stage carriage services where the travel-to-work area happens to be a county or unitary authority away. One example is the 237 route from Ashton-under-Lyne to Glossop via Stalybridge. Another one is the 125, a Stagecoach Gold route between Preston and Bolton.

We Need to Talk About Flowery Field Station

Is Flowery Field railway station really as bad as the reviews make it out to be?

Firstly, here’s what The Great Travelling Public have said about Tameside’s second newest railway station:

“Absolutely horrible im [sic] from woodsmoor and this platform is absolutely ugly and scruffy”

“proper scally asbo style”

“Name does not reflect the dump”

Tameside and Glossop Bus Service Changes, 31 October 2021

A pithy set of changes for Halloween

If the latest set of service changes for Tameside and Glossop bus passengers were a horror film, it gives us great pleasure to say it is Andy Pandy Takes the Ghost Train instead of Night of the Living Dead or Threads. This autumn’s set of changes are minor one – mainly the retiming of existing routes.