Nantwich residents are making good use of a new lifeline bus service linking the town to Leighton Hospital.
The new direct bus service hit the road last week for the first time.
The link has been added to the re-introduced 51, 52 and 53 Nantwich rural services, which means Nantwich, Wrenbury and Audlem will all have a direct bus connection to Leighton.
The bus service is funded by Cheshire East Council and comes after a campaign led by Nantwich town councillor Anna Burton.
Nantwich resident and regular bus user Jill Crawford even got the chance to sit in the driver’s cab!
She said: “I’m delighted.
“I am not a driver and not having a link to Leighton has left me reliant on friends and neighbours giving me lifts, which is very inconvenient for them and me This put me back in control of my life.”
Jean Wingfield, from Willaston, said she used the bus even though she had a car in her drive.
“I don’t want to drive the car if I don’t have to.
“I use the bus every week to go into town and I am delighted that the direct hospital link is back. It is much less stressful.”
Margaret Bosworth, from Nantwich, agreed and said she would definitely use it for her hospital appointments.
She said: “If you drive you have to find a parking space and just end up driving round and round.
“That’s frustrating and is expensive. The bus is much easier and straight forward. And its better for the health service too.”
Sustainable Nantwich, who campaign to improve the environment for the local community, have also welcomed the new service.
Transport campaigner Richard Senior said with the town’s growing population the streets were often log-jammed
He added: “Good integrated public transport and walking and cycling facilities are critical to the good health of our society.
“Total dependence on the car is blocking the economic arteries of our economy.
“And it isolates those who have a car, cutting them off from vital public services like the hospital.
“Other European countries manage to regulate and integrate public transport ensuring its easy to use and affordable.
“It’s time we rejected the ideological dead end of deregulation and got Britain moving again.”
Town councillor Anna Burton said she was working hard to make the links to better transport.
She added: “Good bus services are vital to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
“Without them they are cut off from health care, the shops, their friends and their community.
“They are also a corner stone of an efficient and effective economy.
“Since the 1980s bus services have been falling apart because of the ideological obsession with privatisation and deregulation.
“Rural bus services are either extinct or an endangered species.
“But now Government is giving powers back to local communities to regulate the system. There’s a real opportunity to cut congestion, pollution, poverty and isolation.
“We need to be able to co-ordinate rail and bus services, set standards and timetables that meet people’s needs.
“Travelling by public transport must be the natural choice, not the last resort it is today.”
Very useful to have the Leighton bus service back direct from Nantwich but guess you will only use the service if you have appointments at the hospital or visiting others. Probably is useful for other journeys to outlaying areas for people. Thankyou to the campaigners getting this service reinstated.
Need to make some minor changes which could help increase passenger numbers.
Reroute the 52/53 via Manor Road and Davenport Avenue, replacing 39. Would give this part of Nantwich more services and mean all passengers to Sainsburys can use 52/53/85. Having 4 routes to Sainsburys is excessive and leads to low usage across all routes. The 39 could terminate at Nantwich and revert back to Crewe, serving Jack Mills Way too to allow that housing estate a regular bus service – given bus stops are already in place.
All 52/53 should operate via Wistaston Green instead of Middlewich Road. Yes this increases journey times by 5 minutes each way – but allows Willaston a service to Leighton, and Wistaston Green a regular service to Nantwich, increasing overall usage. A bus stops should also be installed on Wistaston Green Road/Church Lane near the new housing estates to promote usage as current distance to bus stops is poor.
Ensuring maximum coverage, reducing overlap and enhancing the existing provision without requiring additional buses/drivers could improve usage and reduce the overall subsidy required to be sustainable.
I travelled on the 14.55 no 53 bus back from hospital to Nantwich yesterday. Only 1 other person on the bus – not enough to keep the service running. Come on folks – USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Timetables for the 52 & 53. Great to have the services back.
https://www.dgbus.co.uk/bus-services/51-52/52/
https://www.dgbus.co.uk/bus-services/53/