Shaw Lib Dem Councillor Howard Sykes MBE and member of Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has sought to re-assure local residents who use the 408 bus that this vitally important route and service will continue, following the withdrawal of daytime journeys provided by First Manchester.
“Some citizens appear to have been told the day time service would be stopping,” claimed Councillor Sykes. “A significant number have been in touch with me about this. They have clearly been given the wrong information.”
“With effect from Monday 4 April 2016 there will be some changes to the Monday to Saturday daytime timetable on service 408,” stated Councillor Sykes. “Following the withdrawal of daytime journeys provided by First Manchester replacement journeys will be introduced, funded by TfGM and operated by Rosso.”
“These journeys will maintain an hourly daytime link between Buckstones, Shaw, Royton and Oldham. First Manchester will continue to provide weekday peak journeys between Stalybridge, Oldham and Buckstones and the evening and Sunday service will continue unchanged.”
“The weekday journeys will follow the same route and timetable as the current service with the exception of the 14:22 weekday departure from Oldham which will no longer operate. An alternative journey departs Oldham at 13:52. On Saturdays, Rosso will follow the same route and timetable as the existing service.
“Hopefully updated timetable leaflets will be available shortly and local people can continue to use this essential bus service,” said Councillor Sykes.
I think they have implemented the removal of the 1422 already. I waited half an hour for it yesterday with my toddler. Very unhappy.
Have checked it has not been removed yet and should have been there, will pursue this with TfGM.
30 March 2016
Dear Councillor Sykes
RE: 408 Bus Service
Thank you for your email regarding the 408 bus service. I was sorry to learn that the 2:44pm service did not operate on 18 March 2016.
Following your feedback, we contacted First Manchester who operates the 408 service to discuss this matter further. I can confirm that First Manchester has advised that on this occasion the service that you refer to did not operate as planned due to staff availability at short notice. However, as soon as this matter was brought to First Manchester’s attention they ensured arrangements were in place for the next journey to be made.
I can fully appreciate the inconvenience this caused and would like to apologise on behalf of First Manchester and I hope that this does not discourage you from using services for future journeys.
I hope that this information proves useful to you, and if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me or our Customer Services Manager, Sean Dyball at sean.dyball@tfgm.com.
Yours Sincerely
Howard Hartley
Head of Bus
As a student with a first bus pass this is useless. I was mad when I found that that evening isn’t a first no more now all day has made it worse. It’s the only bus stop close to my house and now I have to walk 15 mins on my own in the dark. I have noticed at night it’s mostly empty now but with First I noticed more people. It’s like your creating it for people over 60 with a free bus pass.
It is First Bus that has refused/withdrawn from the service. Appreciate those with First Bus passes (like my daughter) this increases their costs if they use this service when operated by Rosso. I am pleased TfGM has got another provider to do it. The alternative would be no service at all. Now if we had bus regulation like London (and like we used to have many years ago) we could make First provide the service. However this like many other things these days is subject to the free market and on many occasions that does not give the best solutions for local people.