COUNCIL SUPPORT FOR 130 BUS CONFIRMED

Following my announcement at a meeting of full council on 19th December that D&G intended to register the 130 as a commercial service, Monday to Friday, I am pleased to confirm that Cheshire East Council will be supplementing this service with a supported (subsidised) hourly service on Saturdays, starting from 1st February. The Saturday service, like the weekday service, will run from Macclesfield to Handforth (via Alderley Edge and Wilmslow) and back to Macclesfield.

The rationale for council intervention to ensure a Saturday service is in line with our stated intention to reduce the environmental impact of car journeys, whilst supporting the weekend economies of principal towns along the route and ensuring that vulnerable and elderly residents are able to access healthcare at Macclesfield Hospital more easily.

A small number of residents have asked why the service will now terminate at Handforth rather than at East Didsbury as it currently does; however, an analysis of existing passenger journeys has shown that 75% of journeys on the 130 are wholly within Cheshire East, whilst a further 9% are wholly within Greater Manchester. It logically follows that only 16% of passengers are using the 130 for cross-border journeys, which is insufficient to justify a public subsidy to the service.

Vulnerable residents who are adversely affected by the change in this commercial operation, may be able to use the council’s newly launched flexilink service as an alternative.