From 25 October, Diamond Bus North West (DBNW) has improved local routes serving Bolton, Eccles, Swinton, Farnworth and intu Trafford Centre with an additional four buses. Following the award of Better Deal for Bus Users funding from the Government, via Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), service 68 will be extended from Little Hulton to Bolton, via the fast-expanding Logistics North employment area.
This service partially replaces the Local Link service, which has operated in the area since the construction of the site, and DBNW said considerable work has taken place with local employers, Bolton Council and TfGM to ensure the timetable is suitable for shift workers in the area.
As such, journeys start as early as 0400hrs and the service continues until around midnight. As part of the overall package of changes, the service is renumbered 20, and buses will generally operate every 30 minutes during the daytime.
The operator has also doubled the frequency on the busier southern section of route 2 between Pendlebury and intu Trafford Centre on a commercial basis to every 15 minutes. The new short journeys will be extended to serve Clifton and Agecroft, areas which have in recent years only been served by indirect and infrequent tendered services. DBNW said the new routes will improve the overall attractiveness of services in the area and will supplement the well-established high-frequency corridors in the area focussed on Manchester City Centre. The 2 will become the 22, with the short journeys numbered 21, combining to form six buses an hour between intu Trafford Centre, Eccles and Monton across services 20, 21 and 22.
DBNW has worked with TfGM to adjust tendered services in the local area to supplement, rather than duplicate, the improved commercial network.
“Following our significant expansion and our enormous investment in vehicles in the area in August 2019, we have been looking at ways of further growing the business and making our services more attractive to customers. Significant work has gone into identifying, and then acting on these opportunities and I am pleased to see this now come to fruition. We are responding to changes in demand and changes in the market, Logistics North and intu Trafford Centre are constantly growing, so we need to be there to meet that demand.”
Bob Dunn, Managing Director, DBNW
“A critical part of Logistics North’s offer is the ease with which its 6,000 staff get to work and we’re delighted by Diamond’s investment. It also supports the build-out of the final commercial space across the site, thereby driving further investment into Bolton and Greater Manchester.”
Matt Whiteley, Development Manager, Harworth Group plc