End of the road for Red Express
ADIRECT bus link from Accrington to Manchester has been scrapped due to a lack of passengers and a £300,000 annual loss.
Bus operator Transdev said the Red Express X41 and Red 4 routes will be axed from January 26 as part of a wider service restructure across East Lancashire.
Commuters will instead have to take the 464 service to Rawtenstall and then board the Witchway bus to Manchester.
Transdev are also providing a new Irwell Line branch (482 bus) extending from Rawtenstall to Helmshore, Haslingden and Accrington which will run every hour.
Company bosses say as part of the changes, and in response to customer feedback, Accrington will get its direct link back to Bury without the need to change buses.
An extra 464 journey from Accrington will also be added at 5.32am to connect to Witchway at Rawtenstall, giving a 7am arrival into Manchester Monday to Friday.
Explaining their decision, a Transdev spokesperson said: “The current Red 4 and Red Express routes were created in good faith on the back of customer feedback and consultation, but we’re not seeing enough people using them which means they are incurring losses by around £300,000 per year.
“We have done extensive research, both using our own data and exploring external factors, to understand why these routes are not performing well when many of our others are.
“Red 4, between Ramsbottom and Bury, simply isn’t sustainable given that we have two bus companies both running every 15 minutes.
“Fewer people are using Red Express since people have the option to use the same ticket to connect from the 464 from Accrington and Haslington to Witchway at Rawtenstall to Manchester.
“As both Witchway and 464 are every 15 minutes, this is more convenient for many customers and so less people are using Red Express.
“Unpredictable congestion in Manchester is also making the whole service unreliable, and the Ramsbottom-Manchester link has not been as popular as we’d have hoped.”
The spokesperson added: “We have worked hard to minimise the impact of these changes which mean that all roads served by buses continue to do so, journeys remain possible via a direct bus or one change at a secure and comfortable bus station, and at no increase to price for the vast majority of journeys.”
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