(17/02/2019 05:08)iMarkeh Wrote: [ -> ]I am not surprised. On the basis that as Walton has said, it was only introduced in September. It will take time for any route to get passengers. One definate reason will be the fact people look down on using buses. For some reason the overpriced, regularly late and overcrowded form of public transport is the preferred method of travel. Another part of it will be, as you say, people who would get an Arriva or Halton pass. They don't want to be paying twice.
Like it or not, the trains are definitely quicker and more direct. I tried going from Liverpool to Warrington on service 7 a couple of years ago. I never knew there were so many estates in Huyton ! It took 75 minutes, three times longer than the train.
I believe it does do well on weekdays and is improving all the time. I've personally only been on Saturday trips which are always going to be quiet but even they've all had a good few on them.
(17/02/2019 07:30)childwallblues Wrote: [ -> ]Perhaps the Enviro300 should work the X5 and use the deckers on the 17 and 19.
I fully agree. At least in the short term until the X5 proves it's got enough passengers for deckers.
(17/02/2019 07:35)EDB325 Wrote: [ -> ]Like it or not, the trains are definitely quicker and more direct. I tried going from Liverpool to Warrington on service 7 a couple of years ago. I never knew there were so many estates in Huyton ! It took 75 minutes, three times longer than the train.
Oh,I fully agree. People quite often look down on buses though and won't even consider it an option. I would be willing to put money on the fact people use the train for trips where the bus is quicker and possibly more frequent. The 7 is possibly a bad example given the length of it. The X5 is around 20 mins longer than the train (30 mins longer than the East Midlands Trains when they run) but it is more frequent. The bus is less than half the price though. Much cheaper, guaranteed seat (on the coaches anyway). For the sake of 20 minutes, the price difference is massive.
(17/02/2019 10:25)buses7675 Wrote: [ -> ]I believe it does do well on weekdays and is improving all the time. I've personally only been on Saturday trips which are always going to be quiet but even they've all had a good few on them.
I suppose the thing is, would you go all out and launch any new service with double deckers? Even the X8 started with Enviro 300s until that got busier and then it turned to a mix and now it is full deckers. When there are routes which suffer from peak overcrowding, wasting deckers on the X5 really isn't wise in the long run. Gold spec Enviro300s would be better I think as that is somewhat coach spec. You need to put buses on which suit the route. Fast kickdown Enviro300s should do it for on the expressway haha.
With Gold Spec Enviro300s effectively becoming spare and being wasted on some wirral routes due to the Kettering Gold Enviro400s then maybe a good idea would be to move a few gold Enviro300s for X5. Decker wise if it came to it, the Enviro400 Mmcs are well spec'd and comfortable enough to keep people happy.
The gold 300s at rockferry arnt spare, rockferry are struggling for buses at the moment, at least 6 ex Kettering scania's are still off the road, 4 are long term of the road because of the cost of repair.
Rockferry are that short at the moment they where pulling buses of the 41/42 last week telling the passengers the buses where needed for school's
Spare probably the wrong word as not what I meant. I should have said the golds could be swapped with normal Enviro300s from GM. That was really what I meant.
(17/02/2019 17:16)Busguy12 Wrote: [ -> ]The gold 300s at rockferry arnt spare, rockferry are struggling for buses at the moment, at least 6 ex Kettering scania's are still off the road, 4 are long term of the road because of the cost of repair.
Rockferry are that short at the moment they where pulling buses of the 41/42 last week telling the passengers the buses where needed for school's
Noting you said "pulling buses" plural off the same route, I wonder if any inconveniences passenger was savvy enough to report this to the Traffic Commissioner,s office?
(17/02/2019 18:27)Brickmill Wrote: [ -> ]Noting you said "pulling buses" plural off the same route, I wonder if any inconveniences passenger was savvy enough to report this to the Traffic Commissioner,s office?
Most passengers don’t know about reporting to the traffic commissioner. It would only end up being reported if Merseytravel find out and it becomes consistent.
As an aside, I have it on good authority that no more buses will be delivered to ‘Gold’ specification. Stagecoach want to do away with separate brands.
(18/02/2019 21:36)DEM777Y Wrote: [ -> ]As an aside, I have it on good authority that no more buses will be delivered to ‘Gold’ specification. Stagecoach want to do away with separate brands.
Nationwide or just for MCSL?