Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

Timetable available here:
https://www.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk/se...n=outbound

Some Cat5 journeys are still shown as omitting Warburton in the peaks.
There is a short Cat5 just as far as Sale in the evening and some journeys in the morning just start from Sale too. On Saturday mornings, some morning journeys just go as far as Sale.
There are shorts on the Cat5 in the morning between Lymm and Warrington, as well as shorts on the X5 between Bowdon and Manchester Airport in the morning.

Nice to have early morning journeys on both services.
It's a bit of a shame there is a change of service number at Lymm on evening and Sunday journeys between Warrington and Manchester Airport though.
Hopefully it will be very clearly indicated on paper timetables that there is a guaranteed connection, you can stay on the same vehicle, through tickets are available, etc.
Could have just called it the "5"?

The Sunday timetable could do with some reformatting to make it easier to read.
There are various shorts on Sundays, including a Sunday evening round trip between Manchester Airport and Lymm on the X5.

(07/07/2023 23:51)Valandil Wrote: [ -> ]It's a bit of a shame there is a change of service number at Lymm on evening and Sunday journeys between Warrington and Manchester Airport though.

I think it's a bit strange for the Lymm to Manchester Airport part of the route to be called X5 in the evening anyway. It's not direct - it goes via the cargo park and you can flag it down at any bus stop en route.

Also interesting 06:32 from the airport turns around at Bowdon Vale, rather then terminating at Altrincham.

On an unrelated point the WOB timetable page for the 47 is showing no service on weekdays from 24 July. That's possibly an error, as there's not been any mention of the route being withdrawn.

There is the creation of a co-ordinated "every 15" minutes frequency to Stockton Heath in the recast of the Cheshire Cat timetables.
It's a shame that the Cat6 is being reduced yet further, with only 7 return trips per day Monday to Friday.
First arrival of the day into Warrington at 10:35 and last departure at 16:20.

In addition to the 47, many other timetables seem also not to be available on the website then.

On this month's Warrington's Own Buses Fleet News, it said that Warrington's are to get 17 plate Enviro200s to replace older buses and also some newer deckers to replace older deckers

(10/07/2023 19:16)North West Bus Spotter Wrote: [ -> ]On this month's Warrington's Own Buses Fleet News, it said that Warrington's are to get 17 plate Enviro200s to replace older buses and also some newer deckers to replace older deckers

Good news, but surprising they aren't just making do for the time being given there isn't long until the new buses are scheduled to arrive.

Talking of which, some articles about the new buses:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-66158853
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/new...bus-fleet/

And a fare cap of £2 for adults and £1 for those up to age 19 until 31st March 2025:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-66069517

(11/07/2023 02:41)Valandil Wrote: [ -> ]Good news, but surprising they aren't just making do for the time being given there isn't long until the new buses are scheduled to arrive.

Talking of which, some articles about the new buses:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-66158853
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/new...bus-fleet/

And a fare cap of £2 for adults and £1 for those up to age 19 until 31st March 2025:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-66069517

Possibly extra vehicles for the increased PVR

Timetable details for the Cat5/X5 changes in Altrincham now on the Warrington's Own Buses website.

Journey times on the Cat5 will take around 90 minutes between Altrincham and Warrington via Sale, while the X5 will take around an hour (80-90 minutes between Airport and Warrington).

https://www.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk/ta...er-airport
https://images.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk...%20WEB.pdf

Notably, it will often be quicker overall to wait for the next X5 rather than catching the Cat5 for passengers travelling to Altrincham, as they will often still arrive earlier by doing that.
In theory, this might boost patronage on the X5 by quite a bit, but in reality there will probably be some passengers who just jump on whatever comes first.

There are some small mistakes in the timetable, including some journeys terminating short at Lymm or Stockton Heath having a mark indicating they operate direct between Green Dragon and Saracens Head around Warburton.

One odd thing is the three Cat5s arriving into Warrington between 20:04 and 20:32.
Only the middle one of the three, arriving at 20:21, takes the evening route through the Cobbs Estate.
But why not just run this as X5 through to Warrington instead of it starting as X5 and changing service number to Cat5 at Lymm, since there are already so many vehicles on the Cat5 at that time - then perhaps route one of the others through the Cobbs if that is considered necessary.
Note that there is already a Cat8 operating through the Cobbs Estate around that time though, arriving into Warrington at 20:04.

(13/07/2023 07:30)Valandil Wrote: [ -> ]Notably, it will often be quicker overall to wait for the next X5 rather than catching the Cat5 for passengers travelling to Altrincham, as they will often still arrive earlier by doing that.
In theory, this might boost patronage on the X5 by quite a bit, but in reality there will probably be some passengers who just jump on whatever comes first.

I think over time some regular passengers will start to realise one service is faster than another. It used to be the 2 daily 47 departures from Warrington didn't carry any Latchford passengers but now some have wised up to it being a fast (albeit occasional) service to Latchford.

TfGM have produced separate timetables for Cat5 and X5, rather than a combined timetable:
https://assets.ctfassets.net/nv7y93idf4j...C-0324.pdf
https://assets.ctfassets.net/nv7y93idf4j...C-0348.pdf

It's good to be able to confirm the exact routes that they will take.