Greater Manchester Tenders

[knutstransport]

RE: Greater Manchester Tenders

(17/01/2022 11:41)djb Wrote:  The 18 is prime example of how to lose passengers forever by tinkering with a service too much before people have chance to adapt. What started as a commercial service, now seems to have eroded to nothing at times.

I think that's really the issue. Obviously TfGM thought a service was needed between Altrincham and the airport so it went out-to-tender. As Arriva only withdrew part of the service, only the withdrawn part went out-to-tender. As MCT were initially the preferred bidder initially it meant it had to be a separate service and couldn't continue as a through service. If Arriva had placed a bid on the basis it would remain as a through service it might have scored extra quality points but usually cost outranks quality.

Not sure if it was originally D&G's or TfGM's idea to join up the airport-Altrincham with Altrincham-East Didsbury but that made reinstating the 18 as it was more unlikely.

It was similar with the 130 going to Manchester. When Arriva truncated at East Didsbury there didn't seem any point in anything going out-to-tender, due to the high number of services between East Didsbury and Manchester. However, cutting back to Handforth under D&G (which started as commercial) led to a 42C route. The problem then is one service terminates in Handforth town and the other at Handforth retail park so it's not possible to change from one service to the other.