(23/09/2022 14:40)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]The Altrincham to Warrington journey times do look poor when you consider the 47 Knutsford to Warrington times. The 47 may not have much slack in the timings and it may effectively be an express from Lymm to Knutsford, as it might not stop at a single bus stop on the way. But it does have a 45 minute journey time. I wonder whether the X5 should follow the same route as the 47 between Broomedge and Warrington?
As the X5 will now run Little Bollington-Broomedge-Lymm, does that mean the 191 Lymm Shopper will be deemed surplus to requirements?
I also think they'll need to review the 12:20 High Legh to Warrington 47 journey as it'll leave Broomedge 2 minutes after the X5 and the 47 doesn't always pick up or drop off anyone in High Legh. The 09:40 Knutsford to Warrington journey fits nicely between the X5 journeys and provides an additional journey at a time when a lot of bus pass holders want to travel.
The 47 only runs that way because it's a supported service though, so I doubt there will be any changes to the 47 to account for the X5.
The only thing I can see happening is people possibly getting confused between the two services if they run together or arrive in the wrong order, "Is this one the new bus service?" It probably won't matter anyway as people jumping on will probably want to go to either Lymm or Warrington, possibly Grappenhall, anyway, but there might be a little confusion at least initially.
I guess that type of thing always happens with service changes though.
When there was a 35 service (or indeed a previous 37 service run by another company), I think the Lymm Shopper also kept going, so I doubt there would be a change there either.
I think that shopping service goes to many other places too, such as around estates around Oughtrington.
Incidentally, it would be nice if there could be some kind of advertising showing where to alight from the X5 for Dunham Massey Park since that will be the closest service Warrington run, passing a few minutes' walk from the southern edge of the park.
The Lymm Shopper serving Little Bollington is a recent addition and was only implemented after both the Warrington Coachways service via High Legh and the 289 were withdrawn.
The 47 was originally a Cheshire County Council contract but when funding was withdrawn it became a WBC contract for Warrington to Lymm only. The Knutsford extensions and the additional High Legh only journey were then added after Cheshire East agreed to pay a subsidy towards it. Someone at Cheshire East should be looking at the X5 and 47 and saying, it is really a good use of funds for us to be funding that journey? But I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't even noticed the X5 change, especially if it's TfGM who have been pushing for it.
Some interesting things in the upcoming timetable change from next week:
It looks like the 20 and 21 will interwork with other services - perhaps 16(A)?
This might tie in with "The Pops" branding seemingly being phased out.
Since it's being retimed significantly, it looks like service 2 will probably no longer typically interwork with service 32, suggesting that possibly the "BlueLine" vehicles might return to being dedicated vehicles for service 32, at least possibly in theory.
Given the slight retiming, it looks like vehicles will typically do two trips on service 1 before then working off onto other services.
It seems a bit disappointing that service 25 will still only be hourly.
From 30 October service 590 will be operated by Hattons.
However Warrington gain the 594 from Tyrers, whilst existing evening and new Sunday & Bank holiday journeys switch from Diamond to Vision Bus.
The 594 includes an afternoon school journey which led to Tyrers always using deckers on the route so I wonder what Warrington will use?
(29/09/2022 19:39)Citibus Wrote: [ -> ]From 30 October service 590 will be operated by Hattons.
However Warrington gain the 594 from Tyrers, whilst existing evening and new Sunday & Bank holiday journeys switch from Diamond to Vision Bus.
The 594 includes an afternoon school journey which led to Tyrers always using deckers on the route so I wonder what Warrington will use?
I'm guessing it will be interworked with the Warrington to Leigh services, usually the 28 if its timings are shifted just slightly, meaning a variety of different vehicles throughout the day and decker operation for some journeys, including the school one. The current timings of the 28 could be kept though and the 596/19/28A might also get involved in those diagrams.
(03/10/2022 19:35)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]X5 operated by Enviro 200s today: https://bustimes.org/services/x5-warring...2022-10-03
Cat5 saw a Cadet this evening but no deckers: https://bustimes.org/services/cat5-warri...2022-10-03
Yeah, there was a decker on Cat5, but only on a short working.
Just the same vehicles seem to generally stick on X5 and Cat5 in the interpeak period.
In the interpeak, vehicles do generally follow the pattern 20 -> 21 -> 16(A).
It looks like 32 is also generally operated by "Blueline" vehicles again and not often interworking with other services during the day.
In northwich on monday saw that the cat service was run with an optare versa rather than the usual Enviro200.
Suppose versas are the only thing big enough to cover those duties.