394 bus service

[John Ellis]

Yes, I remember those clapped out old buses that clogged up our roads after deregulation!  But are any of those services really still running now?

I was living in Cheadle Heath back then, and I can't recall what new services might have been started round Marple at that time, or how they fared in the longer term. But in and around Cheadle Heath, the 11 (Stockport - Altrincham via Wythenshawe), the 23 (Stockport - Didsbury - Chorlton - Stretford - Trafford Centre) and the 309/310 (Cheadle Circular) all started immediately after deregulation, took off, were well used, and are running still. Though of course Stagecoach, which gradually carved for itself a near-monopoly, now operate all of them.

And while there were certainly some cowboyish companies running ancient buses - notoriously, later, on the Manchester - East Didsbury via Wilmslow Road routes - most that I recall in the early days of deregulation had pretty decent new or nearly new vehicles: Bee Line, "Little Gems", Crosville, Bullocks, Walls.

And I liked this bit: 
Express? Via Offerton???   

Point taken: I moved in the '90s from Cheadle Heath to Hawk Green, and then discovered for myself the peak hour reality of Dan Bank to Offerton Green!

I should really have just said "limited stop"; but as bus companies these days prefer the term "express" I naively followed suit.

[Russ]

How do they get away with pouring out thick black smoke while crawling up Brabyns?

[Dave]

When buses were deregulated in the mid-1980s, the result around Stockport was an immediate flowering of new, innovative and imaginative bus routes by a whole variety of operators, old and new - remember Bee Line, Little Gems, Glossopdale, Pennine Blue, Mayne, Bullocks? - and some of those new services were taken up enthusiastically by bus users and are running still, thirty years later.

Yes, I remember those clapped out old buses that clogged up our roads after deregulation!  But are any of those services really still running now?

And I liked this bit: 

.... operating the 394 from Glossop into Stockport using the shortest and most obvious route via Offerton, and perhaps running express/limited stop beween Marple and Stockport to speed up the journey.

Express? Via Offerton???   

[John Ellis]

I can well understand people using the service to go from Marple to Stepping Hill. I can also understand people wanting to travel between Marple and Glossop. I find it a bit harder to see many people travelling from Glossop to Stepping Hill. I wonder if a Marple - Stepping Hill service might be more viable than the existing route and with a greater frequency. This might still mean a subsidy for a Marple - Glossop service though.

The 394 has run along its present route for donkeys' years, at least since the 1970s, though at first it used to terminate at Hazel Grove railway station rather than Stepping Hill, and I think in very early days it had a different route number. Taken as a whole it does seem an unlikely route, and I too have long wondered why some bus company in the mists of time - probably the old "North Western" - thought linking Glossop with Hazel Grove rather than with Stockport was a good idea.

When High Peak Buses experimented last year with extending the route into Stockport in the hope of increasing patronage, as a frequent 394 user I thought they were on a hiding to nothing. I could see that linking Glossop and Stockport might attract custom - no other public transport service links the towns directly - but couldn't see people cheerfully using a service which diverted via High Lane and Hazel Grove and took an hour and a quarter to complete a journey that by the shortest route is only nine miles.

So when I wrote my initial lobbying letter to High Peak I asked them if they'd done any "thinking outside the box" before they'd settled on the decision to withdraw the service - perhaps extending the 62 Hayfield - New Mills - Marple service to Stepping Hill via the present 394 route - given that New Mills folk use Stepping Hill Hospital whereas Glossop folk tend not to - and operating the 394 from Glossop into Stockport using the shortest and most obvious route via Offerton, and perhaps running express/limited stop beween Marple and Stockport to speed up the journey to make it more attractive to shoppers and commuters. After all, there's no shortage of buses lonking Marple with Stockport.

High Peak chose not to respond to that particular question. Indeed, to judge from comments made on this forum and elsewhere, I suspect that everyone who contacted them via letter or e-mail got an identical, pre-prepared and standard response. When buses were deregulated in the mid-1980s, the result around Stockport was an immediate flowering of new, innovative and imaginative bus routes by a whole variety of operators, old and new - remember Bee Line, Little Gems, Glossopdale, Pennine Blue, Mayne, Bullocks? - and some of those new services were taken up enthusiastically by bus users and are running still, thirty years later. But unfortunately we seem to have drifted back into a situation in which one of the big player bus combines once again dominates the bus market in the majority of areas, and the small innovators prepared to try something new and imaginative have been driven out of the business

 

[My login is Henrietta]

I can well understand people using the service to go from Marple to Stepping Hill. I can also understand people wanting to travel between Marple and Glossop.  I find it a bit harder to see many people travelling from Glossop to Stepping Hill.  I wonder if a Marple - Stepping Hill service might be more viable than the existing route and with a greater frequency. This might still mean a subsidy for a Marple - Glossop service though.

I find it a bit harder to see many people travelling from Glossop to Stepping Hill

Technically, the hospital that covers Glossop is the Tameside Hospital. I know plenty of people, including me when I lived in Hyde, who would willingly be nursed and treated in a tent in a field than be referred to Tameside. Consequently, given a choice, many people of my acquaintance who live in the Glossop area prefer Stepping Hill Hospital.

There are also people working at S.Hill who live in the Glossop area and use the bus, students travelling from the Glossop area to College in Marple and from the Stockport area to the equine studies courses run by Kirklees (Huddersfield) College at Hargate Hill in Charlesworth.

[JMC]

I use it often as am sometimes based at Stepping Hill and parking is truly dreadful...
I mostly use the 7.14am early bus but use the daytimes ones too. I am rarely the only person on it but it can be quiet.

I often see many elderly people getting on in HG or High Lane to Marple. I know some college students who use it to get to Marple College from Glossop.

[Condate]

 

What time .

About 07:50, heading in the Glossop direction. Not perhaps the most typical service I admit.

[corium]

I can well understand people using the service to go from Marple to Stepping Hill.

I'm not sure if this is still true post the revised timetable but to take a "Marple Centric view" - the clues in the forum title - it's a pity there isn't more offset between the 394 & 375 which depart from Stepping Hill within a few minutes of each other a lot of the time, and the same was true getting there

[amazon]

I passed the largely empty 394 this morning. I wonder how many people actually use it. I also wonder what journeys people use it for. How many travel the full distance and if not, where do most people get on and off?

 

What time .

[wheels]

Well as far as I can judge from my use of the bus to Glossop it  always fills up from Charlesworth onward and as Derbyshire CC are providing half the required support for the service your comments do seem to have a Marple centric view of the world. I would have thought we would have learnt that this service was saved by communities working together not by seeking to devise them.

[Condate]

I can well understand people using the service to go from Marple to Stepping Hill. I can also understand people wanting to travel between Marple and Glossop. I find it a bit harder to see many people travelling from Glossop to Stepping Hill. I wonder if a Marple - Stepping Hill service might be more viable than the existing route and with a greater frequency. This might still mean a subsidy for a Marple - Glossop service though.

[Barbara]

I can only speak for myself, but I have used it to visit patients at Stepping Hill, travelling from Marple and return.  I have also occasionally gone to Glossop.  The hospital service is the one which will be most missed judging from my conversations with other (mainly elderly) residents in Marple.

[Condate]

I passed the largely empty 394 this morning. I wonder how many people actually use it. I also wonder what journeys people use it for. How many travel the full distance and if not, where do most people get on and off?

[ringi]

Calling a "two hourly service"  a "service" is not very truthful.

At best it is a short turn option for none car owners until they can move to an area with public transport.   I can't see a car driver using a bus if it is not at least a half hourly service.

[JohnBates]

Below is full details from Derbyshire Council. Also see re their consultation which may mean withdrawal of their support in Sept 2017.

Please find attached timetable for local bus service 394 from Tuesday 29 March 2016.  The timetable is also available on the Council’s local bus website www.derbysbus.info  The current Saturday service will remain the same until the end of April and will then be withdrawn unfortunately.  The last day of operation will be Saturday 30 April.
 
Glossop • Gamesley • Marple • Stepping Hill Hospital           394
                                       
Monday to Friday                                       
                                       
Glossop, Market Hall                   0640   0838   1038   1238   1438   1638   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Gamesley, Hollins Lane                0649   0848   1048   1248   1448   1648   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Charlesworth, George & Dragon   0653   0853   1053   1253   1453   1653   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Chisworth, Hunters Inn                 0656   0856   1056   1256   1456   1656   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Lane Ends Inn   0700                   0900   1100   1300   1500   1700   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Marple Bridge, Norfolk Arms          0704   0904   1104   1304   1504   1704   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Marple, Navigation                         0710   0910   1110   1310   1510   1710   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Hawk Green, Crown Hotel           0714   0914   1114   1314   1514   1714   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
High Lane, Horse Shoe Inn          0719   0919   1119   1319   1519   1719   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Hazel Grove, Rising Sun                 0725   0925   1125   1325   1525   1725   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Stepping Hill Hospital                   0730   0930   1130   1330   1530   1730   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
                                                    
Stepping Hill Hospital                   0730   0938   1138   1338   1538   1738   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Hazel Grove, Rising Sun                 0736   0944   1144   1344   1544   1744   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
High Lane, Horse Shoe Inn          0742   0950   1150   1350   1550   1750   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Hawk Green, Crown Hotel           0747   0955   1155   1355   1555   1755   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Marple, Navigation   0751           0959   1159   1359   1559   1759   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Marple Bridge, Norfolk Arms         0757   1005   1205   1405   1605   1805   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Lane Ends Inn                                0801   1009   1209   1409   1609   1809   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Chisworth, Bus Shelter                  0806   1014   1214   1414   1614   1814   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Charlesworth, George & Dragon   0809   1017   1217   1417   1617   1817   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Gamesley, Hollins Lane                  0813   1022   1222   1422   1622   1822   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
Glossop, Henry Street                   0825   1033   1233   1433   1633   1833   …   …   …   …   …   …   …
 
This service will operate until 29 September 2017 when all supported local bus services will be withdrawn. 
 
Please could you help draw attention to the local bus and community transport consultation that is currently taking place.  The Council would like to consult residents on proposals to end support for local bus services.  We currently support over 130 local bus services in the County and these would not exist without the financial support we provide.  We really need as many people as possible to complete the questionnaire and let us have their views on local buses.  The questionnaire is available online at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transportchanges .