Feeble Cheers For Bees Please (3)

Take A Drive With the 615.

By now, our readers will be thirsting for full details of Andy Burnham's gargantian effort to bring new and innovative bus services to the worthy burghers of Great Manchrester. From all the on-line and press "hype", we should expect something truly transformational.

It isn't.

It isn't really new, as in totally new; it is a comeback route.

And it isn't really transfomational.

The 615 runs fairly "normally" between Wigan and Aspull alongside the 575 ...

... which continues via Blackrod and Horwich to Bolton. Here is one doing it at Aspull!

The 815 skirts the hot spots of Aspull and takes the Bolton Road which, ultimately takes it to Middlebrook.

Bolton Road is not heavily populated ...

... but lost its bus service four years ago with the withdrawal of the predecessor of today's 615, of which more is to follow. But with just a little wiggle we are soon at Middlebrook.

The 615's first call is at Horwich Parkway station ...

... where minimal facilites (one shelter and one small seat) ensure waiting passengers can wait in discomfort whilst enjoying a view of the milti-named stadium.

Needless to say, taxi custoimers have a much better cover but have to share it with the bins!

The tour of the shopping areas reveals much the same as usual; a stop for the arena, then next Next ...

... and the massive retail park.

No buses here!

But there are no stops close to any of this, just a fast dual carriageway leading to a massive car park as we have seen before. The nexy stop is north of the arena adjacent to MacD!

Is it now truly wonderful that planners of retail parks seem oblivious to the needs of the bus passenger with those approving the plans adding to the poor infrastructire for the bus.

The final stop on the loop and the "terminus" for the 615, is at Tesco.

Once again, the bus stop is hardly close to the store entrance!

After grazing briefly at Tesco the 615 sets of back to Wigan via the main deHaviland Way, but some peak Monday to Friday journeys nip into the the "business park" section of Middlebrook, joining the 516 to service the few working "commuters" who don't come by car.

It is called "Parklands" because of the fairly obvious lack of any park!

When Streetview passed by, there were still plenty of posh business pads available. 

Here is the PTE network map extract for our readers' delectation.

And here is an extract from the 615 timetable to further whet the appetite for enjoying the new but not new effort from the Bee Network.

One piece of good news, however; the PTE does show the loop properly and emphasises the (lack of) buses to Paklands.

As a further bonus, you do appear to get shiny new(?) yellow buses ...

... so, all together now, you really can ...

... and offer a feeble cheer or two.

fbb looks forward to reporting on further Network developments in Manchester if he lives long enough!

But, keep it to yourself, fbb may have solved the mystery of the former bus route whuch was re-instated by the new 615. It is not as straightforward as some accounts (including previous mutterings by fbb) might suggest.

Of course fbb's detective work could be wrong.

 Next Detective OR Defective blog : Sat 30 Nov