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 In Chester - Introducing electronic ‘smartcards’ in the city as a swift pay-as-you-go facility for bus users to cut queue frustration and the fumble for small change. Thanks to this new technology, user pass details are recorded on the Travelcard - which can be topped up through payment according to need.
In Crewe and Ellesmere Port - Upgraded bus routes in a partnership initiative with district councils spells high-quality low-level buses - all the easier to access for parents and carers with buggies and small children and people with disability too. Also included in the £500,000 project are upgraded lit shelters for greater safety and clearer timetable information for travellers
Did you know?
  In Cheshire the Council maintains some 5120km (3200 miles) of road, 700 bridges, 70,000 traffic signs, 10,000km (6600 miles) of grass verges, 300 sets of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and 80,000 street lights and illuminated traffic signs.
 In Vale Royal and Nantwich - Providing more small buses as market town shuttles with new upgraded facilities.
In Macclesfield - Meeting the travel needs of young people creatively by exploiting the potential of the internet. A microbus weekend service operates on a flexible route in response to a regular ‘digital’ online youth vote.
Light Relief
Every two weeks in Winter and once a month during Summer Council contractors night inspect all street lights and illuminated traffic signs and once every two years inspect every lighting column and traffic sign for disrepair and then categorise them for up-grade.
 On average, it costs only £11.00 per lamp in energy charges to keep a street light lit all year on a residential road each night, from dusk till dawn.
Most lamps installed on residential roads are only rated at 50 watts but produce more than three times the light output of a household type 100 watt tungsten lamp and in addition last up to eight times longer.
All lamps used in street lighting will eventually be re-cycled to re-use important components and to safely dispose of some of the harmful elements used in the construction of discharge lamps. The Council is exploring the possibility of purchasing more sustainable energy for street lighting. In the future, more efficient low energy lamps will be installed on roads to help reduce greenhouse gases and the growing trend is moving towards ‘white’ light, which has less of a distorting effect on colours than the more widely-used ‘flat’ orange light.
Miles better!
 The upkeep of six of Cheshire’s main highways is a Council responsibility again - after almost 70 years. Their official “detrunking” reinstates nearly 200 miles of key links.
The Government’s Highways Agency will continue to maintain motorways and five remaining trunk roads - the A55, the A500 east of Nantwich’s Manor House roundabout, the A550, the A556 east of the M6 and the A5117 west of M56.
Fact File - Did you know?
- 85 per cent of all Cheshire households have at least one car and 43 per cent own two or more (Quality of Life Survey 2000)
- the car is the most chosen means of travel to work by Cheshire residents - 78 per cent of drivers or passengers
- four per cent opt for public transport
- five per cent cycle
- 56 per cent of Cheshire people live and work in the county - with most (35 per cent) working less than ten miles from home but
- 54 per cent agree that they could be persuaded to use their car less, with 50 per cent citing improving public transport in their top three priority actions for dealing with transport and traffic problems.
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