North bound or south bound?

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have agreed to review the location of the Market Street stop for the 403 in Shaw, and the direction display on the buses, after numerous passengers have ended up heading in the wrong direction because the service uses the same stop, with the same end destination, in both directions of the circular route. 

Crompton Liberal Democrat Councillor Louie Hamblett wrote to TfGM after receiving a number of complaints regarding the 403 circular serving Shaw, Crompton and High Crompton.

Cllr Hamblett said “It is very confusing, and I know a number of elderly and disabled residents have ended up heading in the wrong direction. I have used this service many times and witnessed passengers asking the bus driver which direction they were heading, either towards High Crompton or Oldham. This was really poor especially for a now wholly publicly owned service.”

A representative from the Bee Network replied: “As the service from Oldham reaches Shaw, it operates in a loop through Shaw, Rushcroft, High Crompton, and returns via Shaw before continuing to Oldham. Consequently, the service vehicle generally displays “Oldham Circular” as its destination, irrespective of where the bus is in terms of the circular loop.

”I can appreciate that the display, and the fact that the service serves Market Street and High Street using stops in the northbound direction for journeys traveling into as well as out of Oldham, would lead to confusion for passengers. I’m sorry for the experience that they’ve been having on the network as a result.

”My team has been reviewing service 403 in light of this feedback and are currently looking into improvements they can make to the journey. The goal is to ensure that the Market Street stop is served on opposite sides of the road depending on the direction of the journey, as this is where much of the confusion comes from. We’re also looking into the possibility of changing the destination display at a halfway point on the route to potentially clear up this confusion too.”

Cllr Hamblett said: “Hopefully this change will happen and the Bee Network will stick to their word to make this change for passengers so it makes sense for everyone.”