Cheshire East proposed funding cuts

[knutstransport]

RE: Cheshire East proposed funding cuts

(14/07/2017 19:48)Dentonian Wrote:  Er, I would very much doubt it. The vast majority of the route is in East Cheshire, and the bit that's in GM has very high car ownership and already has heavily subsidised routes.

TfGM do provide a subsidy for the 88 route currently but Cheshire East provide a higher subsidy and make the decision about who gets the contract. I think the Cheshire East section is around 2/3rd of the total route but the majority of the Altrincham-Wilmslow section is within TfGM area so if the route was to be split at Wilmslow it would make more sense for the Altrincham section to be a TfGM contract even if it's not re-routed to include stops currently only served by the 288 or 200 services. If was a TfGM contract and the 288 remained TfGM would be able to do something about inconsistent fares and lack of integrated ticketing between the 88 and 288 services within GM - it's currently cheaper to do Manchester Airport to Altrincham on the 288 than Hale Barnes to Altrincham on the 88! I also wonder if there would be more competition for the 88 route if TfGM put it out to tender.