The X8 services I have seen recently seem to be seriously struggling for passengers , by now I would have thought at least half full buses should be the norm but the services I have seen have been carrying between 5 and 10 passengers.
Is there a reason why Bromborough Cross is omitted as a stop on all but the peak journeys Monday to Friday , I think if the bus stopped at Bromborough Cross but then omitted the other stop in Bromborough it may generate more passengers .
I suspect there will be alterations soon for this service .
Lots of GM buses now have the purple leaflets onboard for the X8 so I would assume that potential passengers are well aware of it bus choose not to get it for whatever reason (or there's no demand).
I think it may pick up soon in the run up to Christmas with people going to/from Cheshire oaks.
Regarding the X8, it's clear there needs some changes, perhaps run it through birkenhead , it would add a few minutes into the journey but it could make the crucial difference in passenger numbers
Its a case of its going down the A41 so it may as well stop at a few places. As for loadings, it depends on the time of day. The past few weekends, and this week with it being school holidays, there has been full buses with people going to Cheshire Oaks and Chester. If you look at the early morning trips as well, there are full standing loads from Chester/Chester Railway Station, with these people going to work or college in Ellesmere Port. The X8 is also taking money off Arriva on the Quality Partnership routes in Liverpool with people now opting to wait for the Stagecoach bus to buy day/week tickets.
When will Rock Ferry get new buses to replace the B10BLE buses as they have about a year left in service I presume, I'm guessing Enviro 300's will replace them
Probably have longer than that, this is stagecoach remember who keep their buses going longer than arriva.
Stagecoach seem to be able sweat there assets more , also they do have a lot more special events to have to deal with over the year as well compared to the other bus groups .
Fair enough then, at least I know now
I think you'll find the Arriva fleet generally is older than Stagecoach.
I would imagine the B10BLEs will be replaced next year ahead of the impending DDA deadline - probably by the 53 reg B7RLEs being cascaded down.
Ive heard that Gilmoss will be getting more new Enviro300s and older ones will be passed to Rock Ferry, but as we know, plans constantly change. Obviouslythe fuel trial with the MAN Enviro300s never went well as Chester ended up with the ADL Enviro300s for the X8, so cant see MANs going to Rock Ferry either.