The Bus Chronicles: A reminder of why I don't miss commuting on the 192

The 192 opposite the old Debenhams store in Stockport

Yesterday after work I caught the 192 to Hazel Grove to post the remainder of my nephew's birthday present: A computer game soundtrack that was only available on download and which, as such, had to be burned to CD's then painstakingly track listed. All 101 songs of it. 

We did once have a Post Office that was a five minute walk away from the house, only it closed for good in January 2024. I presume that this was due to the Post Office being arseholes and, post Horizon scandal, no one wanting to work for them if they could avoid it, but no official explanation for the closure was ever provided so I have no idea. 

Anyway, this sorry state of affairs did at least give me the opportunity to get the infamous 192 to Hazel Grove, go to the Post Office, then walk the rest of the way home. While not fun, it did at least offer me the opportunity to test a theory that I've been pondering since the beginning of January: Would it actually be quicker to get home via the 192 as opposed to the 385 or 383?

The reasoning goes like this: 

I am currently doing a 30 minute walk to my superstop on Marple Road. I'm then on the bus for about 5-10 minutes. I am usually home just before 5pm.

If I get the 192 to Hazel Grove, it's a 30 minute walk from Hazel Grove to the house, but am I on a bus quickly enough for it to cancel out the 30 minute walk at the end and get me home just before 5pm?

The answer, it turns out, is a bit more complicated than that:

In theory, there is a 192 about every 5 minutes.

In practice, as I was reminded yesterday, there are less 192's to Hazel Grove than there are to Stepping Hill Hospital. This meant the wait time yesterday was 15 minutes.

Then the bus got stuck in gridlock on the A6 for 20 minutes.

Add on the 15 minutes queueing at the Post Office, and you're at an arrival home time of 20 past 5.

So, in reality, we are looking at about 10-15 minutes longer to get home that it would have taken travelling down Marple Road on either the 383 or 385. 

The 385 remains the quickest way home, but only if it actually turns up. Which is where the whole problem started.

Incidentally, the post 4pm 192's largely suffer from the same issue that the 25 past 4pm 383 has: They are far too full. And, in the case of the 192, stop at loads more stops. That and the usual A6 traffic make the journey speed on Marple Road look like a round on the track with Lewis Hamilton in comparison. Which is a long way of saying that the 383 is slightly more crowded than the 192 during the post College rush, but that you move slightly faster along the route and it's moderately less boring. 

I commuted by 192 for years, and I really don't miss it, though I have heard anecdotally that it's pretty good now that it's part of the Bee Network. Stagecoach, who ruthlessly destroyed all competition for the route through a series of bus wars in the 1990s and 2000's, are still running it but apparently there are regular patrols to see that people are behaving themselves. This sort of monitoring was promised under the Bee Network, so it's nice to hear that someone is benefitting from it, and given the 192's colourful reputation, it is sensible that this is a route where they would prioritise that kind of intervention.