Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I'm pretty convinced that there -must- be viable night bus routes throughout Merseyside, particularly on cross-river services given the greatly hiked price of taxis to get home when compared with city-based fares.

There is a call for later train services at weekends, which led to a series of articles in the Echo, but obviously the overheads for operating trains are much more than buses, and the disruption to residents living along the route is immensely greater; so buses are really the only viable option.

And that's what is bugging me: Arriva withdrew their nightbuses last year because they were no longer commercially viable, and Merseytravel axed the 500 because it was under used. But given the potential passenger volume, and the masses of taxis which empty Liverpool of Wirral residents on Friday and Saturday nights, surely there is some formula out there for an actual commercially worthwhile night bus route?

I have a couple of ideas, but I'd like to hear what the community thinks? Surely I'm not the only person with this going through my head.

First of all, I think that any operator should do what Arriva never did, and operate their services in both directions, rather than simply Wirral-bound. I also feel that the timetables should be displayed on all bus stops along the route in order to draw attention to the fact that a night bus service actually exists. I also think that if the nightbuses are to operate from Queen Square, that a notice should be displayed on the timetables in Sir Thomas St and Cook Street along the lines of "Cross river night buses operate from Stand 10 Queen Square on Friday and Saturday nights".

It's a shame that we find ourselves without a 24 hour bus operation, and I'd personally love to see that end sooner rather than later. Any ideas/discussion welcome, no matter how seemingly absurd or crazy!

Worth pointing out that ACE where really happy with how their 500/501 Services where doing so i would bet if ACE had not gone under these Services would still operate

Apart from these i dont think any other night services would work, a few was tried over crimbo 2014 and they was under used even tho they was advertised very well

(28/08/2015 00:26)T42 PVM Wrote: [ -> ]Worth pointing out that ACE where really happy with how their 500/501 Services where doing so i would bet if ACE had not gone under these Services would still operate

Apart from these i dont think any other night services would work, a few was tried over crimbo 2014 and they was under used even tho they was advertised very well

It makes sense, because they wouldn't have introduced the 501 if the 500 wasn't doing well. I always used the 500 and it generally had a decent load, sometimes was totally full.

As for the Christmas 2014 night buses, I don't think it is a case of lay on a service suddenly for a few weeks and expect it to be an overnight success. Had they given it say, 3 months, I wonder how different the evaluation loadings would have been?

A network of night buses was tried in Southport in the MTL North days but it was quickly abandoned. I can't imagine that things have changed that much. I know that, if Arriva were to try them again then there is no way at all that I'd volunteer to work them.

Night buses were on some routes in the late 90's/early 2000's ish on Friday/Saturday nights so they have been tried before, obviously bus companies in merseyside do not see them as being worth the effort and in times when it is all about profit you can't really blame them.

I think there is a market for slightly later Buses on some routes than the current finish time but not proper night Buses, Plus a lot of Unions would expect their Drivers to be paid a premium rate due to the hours their working

As reported on other threads, two night bus services are to be introduced from the 4th September, the 1 (Chester - Liverpool ) and the 86/86A (LJL - Penny lane/Liverpool One).

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/live...t-11792717

Where these services differ from previous ones is that they will be stopping services in both directions AND pre-paid tickets will be accepted. Surely these will be well used and be a template for night services on all major routes (10, 12/13, 14, 20, 52, 53, 75, 79, 82, 432, 437) on Merseyside in the near future.

(24/08/2016 16:56)Barney Wrote: [ -> ]As reported on other threads, two night bus services are to be introduced from the 4th September, the 1 (Chester - Liverpool ) and the 86/86A (LJL - Penny lane/Liverpool One).

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/live...t-11792717

Where these services differ from previous ones is that they will be stopping services in both directions AND pre-paid tickets will be accepted. Surely these will be well used and be a template for night services on all major routes (10, 12/13, 14, 20, 52, 53, 75, 79, 82, 432, 437) on Merseyside in the near future.

Accepting pre-paid tickets and running in both directions is the absolute logical thing to do. I am glad that both Arriva and Stagecoach are trying this out for a sensible period of time, and made up that the Echo are backing it.

Fingers crossed that people see the benefit and start to use them, I know I certainly will be.

I would not say 3 months is acceptable, It's to short of a time for Passengers to get used to the service running

(24/08/2016 17:41)T42 PVM Wrote: [ -> ]I would not say 3 months is acceptable, It's to short of a time for Passengers to get used to the service running

It's just as uni students, including Freshers, come back to the city though. With a good presence at the various events run throughout freshers week, I think it's a perfectly acceptable period to judge demand over and for passengers (the majority of which will be the aforementioned university students) to get used to it.