(27/04/2014 22:33)Mayneway Wrote:  Interesting that Hyde Road were operating the evening 217 service, given that it was the first official night of Stagecoach operating the evening 217's I wonder whether it will be permanently operated by HE.
Maybe its somehow interworked with 219's?

Im guessing HE also did the 169 journeys tonight as well.

(28/04/2014 20:32)SF07 Wrote:  If Stagecoach were to take on First on another corridor in/out of Manchester, the four main options would be:
a) Cheetham Hill Road to retaliate against First's expansion of the 42 and add to recently gained 88/88A/89/89A
b) Rochdale Road against the 17/18/163
c) Oldham Road, which is all First routes (24, 83, 180, 181, 182, 184).
d) Eccles-Manchester on either the 67/100 route or the 33.

Could be interesting to see which route First would try to take on next against Stagecoach if they decide to follow in the footsteps of Stagecoach's 38 service, as there are the Chorlton routes, the 192 route (the most ambitious), the Hyde Road corridor, Chester Road or either of the two Ashton routes (added competition in the Metrolink).

I would probably say Stagecoach up Rochdale Road and First along to Ashton to connect the Tameside routes with Manchester without having to go via Oldham.

(28/04/2014 19:04)Polo Mint Wrote:  Saw numerous ALX300's on the 118, one driver went the wrong way this morning when going from the Hospital across Rochdale Road towards Moston.

That is an interesting suggestion Rod, I was thinking of Cheetham Hill Road or Rochdale Road (up to Middleton) personally. I would like to see a route such as 86 extend to NMGH replacing the 118 or the 85 going up to Middleton replacing the 112, alternatively routes 250, 216, 219 could be extended. I know there are operated from different depots, but maybe things could be shuffled around.

(28/04/2014 23:14)Wright Eclipse Wrote:  Cheetham Hill: Too Risky for Stagecoach,First could flood that corridor if they wanted to
without using too many extra buses (same if First went onto Hyde Rd)

17: Too many operators have tried & failed on this route before (JPT,Rossendalebus &
Others).Stagecoach should know better than to try 17

18: Like i said on anther post i could see them sending all 156s up langley or maybe
cut 156 To middleton & send all 112s up langley to make it a better frequency against
first?.

163: Never thought of this route,if they was i dont think they would go all the way
into Bury but maybe to Harwood?,Could be a possibility

Oldham Rd: Now i could see this!,Also With First Makeing 350 Single Decker again
how about 184 Route into Uppermill,Then 350 Route to Ashton Under Lyne,Every
10 Mins To Uppermill with Half Hourly Extentions to Ashton using Enviro400s & i think
they could be onto a Winner.

Eccles: Currently got both Arriva & First on this corridor (think i`d say Arriva are winning) so dont think stagecoach would make a move,but for against 100 maybe the could extend one of the X50s an Hour from Trafford Centre into Warrington,Stagecoach have got a track record for making Long Distance services work & if they use X50 they could market the fact its limited stop against the normal stopping First service

(29/04/2014 13:04)Benzo Wrote:  They should bring back the Manchester -Glossop 236/7s, more ideally the evening/night journeys. Half of the passengers alight off the post peak time 216s and dash over to E stand with 2 or less minutes until the 236/7 departs.