Consultation for a Merseyside Bus Review is now live, Consultation is Live for 2 weeks with changes coming in on the 4th September, The Cuts put forward are brutal.
https://lcrbusreview.commonplace.is/
(27/06/2022 15:51)T42 PVM Wrote: [ -> ]Consultation for a Merseyside Bus Review is now live, Consultation is Live for 2 weeks with changes coming in on the 4th September, The Cuts put forward are brutal.
https://lcrbusreview.commonplace.is/
Just had a quick look, I think they are having a laugh with the cuts.
As far as Wirral is concerned they’re hardly ground breaking changes, one or two very minor route changes and frequency changes.
418 dying a slow death, 16/17 basically unchanged and more meddling with the 216/217. Just sort them all out and have a uniform service for Beechwood, bin the 418 and re route 16/17 in Tranmere/Bebington, send one of the many Woodchurch Rd routes via The Dell or alter the 91?
So to go from St Helens to Widnes, you'll have to go through Four Acre estate and do a double run along Forest Road - that's really going to attract people to public transport. Surely the 32 (which goes through to the Manor Evenings/Sundays) could be extended in the Daytime to give the new 30 a straight run along Jubits Lane or would that be too sensible! Be interested to see if there is any improvement to Evening/Sunday frequency (presently 90 Minutes Eves/2 hourly Sunday Daytimes).
Here's my take on it all. Some good, some bad. Cuts are never good but generally, there are alternative buses for people or the frequency remains high enough.
Wirral:
Interesting proposals in many cases. Not huge cuts, I'd probably say fair cuts here. 106/107 is a mess, can't see that being of much use to anyone. All the grannys going around the houses. I'm not a big DRT fan but surely that has to be more appropriate for this area rather than the 106/107 going here, there and everywhere.
41/42 very interesting that they are going to throw that to Arrowe Park. Wasn't expecting that.
St Helens:
I feel like the 17 route number should be kept. I think the 17 means more to people than the 30 does and that bit of familiarity would be good rather than changing the route number which 80% of the passengers feel is their core service. A small detail perhaps but oh well, my opinion. Double run in Sutton Manor is daft too. As St Helens Rider says, should be on the 32 service.
37/38 is a big cut. Not sure how justified this is. Could the 37 and 38 be better with a lower cost operator. Arriva isn't exactly low cost and that has to make a big difference.
352, big cut. Would it be fair to assume that it could/should be dropped to every 20 but every 20 doesn't work out for the 395 interworking?
Knowsley:
17 extensions being cut to half hourly evenings and Sundays. For some reason, they forgot to mention that, I presume in the hope no one notices. One area of growth is industrial workers. Yet Merseyside doesn't seem to agree.
79 - That's a laugh. Every 16 minutes to Halewood with Belle Vale shorts. Eh? Surely Netherley is better? where do they plan on turning the 79s around? Terminate in the bus station, plod around Morrisons then start outside McDonalds? More questions than answers on that one.
97/98 - Undecided as they haven't put any route map or timetables underneath. I presume making it difficult for people to make a judgement so they can push it through easier.
121 - Shouldn't even be a route. Should be trips on the 'core'
217/227 - Looks interesting but the timetable and descriptions don't match so need to await further details.
Liverpool:
204 - shame to see it cut back but kind of understandable. Otherwise, seems fair, nothing major. Still good levels of service and areas where there is a fair cut, there is generally alternatives.
Sefton:
I'd like to know what the fascination is with Millers Bridge. Every time tenders change, there is an insistance on serving Millers Bridge. Is this where all the invisible people board? Must be!.
135 - shouldn't be a route. Should focus on the core network, not gimmicky evening routes which not only provide a service to areas which have no core route but also cover over areas which are hardly used in the daytime, let alone night. Waste of money.
41, 42, 44, 45 - What a complete and utter mess. I'd love to try and make sense of it but it's just 4 routes which go here, there and everywhere. Some bits combine to make a frequent service in some areas. you could ask a baby to throw their spaghetti all over a map and it'd make a simpler network.
159 - Interesting that they are going to make this all day to Walton Park. Good move in my opinion. Will be interesting to see if the demand is there.
300 - bit of a shame. Perhaps if Sefton Council sorted their sh** out and forced the David Wilson Homes into sorting the bus gate for the development in Kew, maybe the 300 would have usage as it would be going through a development.
310, there isn't the demand there for 4bph Ormskirk to Skem all going the same way. Does no one have the brains to reroute a service, give the 310 and 375/385 a bit of a USP? That's what is needed. With a good bit of route branding. Lancashire is one of those areas which needs the extra attention to get people onto buses and running bare basics following corporate line doesn't work (and isn't working in general, not specifically aimed at Arriva)
Once again, Merseytravel are making a botched job of the bus network,
The Wirral changes are on the majority are awful; full list of changes can be seen here
https://lcrbusreview.commonplace.is/prop...nges/step1 or down below.
The full changes include:
16/17 - Rerouted through Arrowe Park Hospital Grounds
38 - returns to pre covid times of every 30 minutes
41/42 - Extended to Arrowe Park, but route is changed in Woodchruch, serving the estate in both directions and obmitting Home Farm Road. This will just cause confusion more than anything. Proposed timetable:
https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-d...ptu8f5.pdf
81 - Rerouted to somewhere called "Greendale Road" I think Merseytravel mixed this up with Greenbank Road, therefore no longer serving Black Horse Hill
106/107 - Route heavily changed in Wallasey to serve Mount Road, after having no service since Avon's 10/10A was withdrawn. Proposed timetable:
https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-d...gpzzhi.pdf
216/217 - Reduced to hourly. proposed timetable:
https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-d...efsxcx.pdf
410 - Journeys after 22:00 reduced to every hour.
418 - Reduced to hourly
432/433 - Frequency dropped to 40 minutes from 18:30 and hourly from 22:00, but evening 433 journeys introduced to give combined 20-minute frequency on common sections.
437 - Journeys after 22:00 reduced to every 30 minutes.
471/472 - Service returns to pre-covid times
492/495 - Monday to Saturday Daytime reduced to every 40 minutes
as well as this bus review it says in the FAQ's that 1st August it be anounced who operating what tenders as operators have changed on a lot of merseytravel work
Be intresting to see who is doing what ... obviously there are rumours doing the rounds (none can be proven) but be good to see who gets what and see if any unusual operators get some contracts
I don't mind the 41/42 change, at least there's some layover time at Arrowe Park Hospital, reliability can dreadful at the mo, because of the circular nature at both ends of the current route, with hardly any layover time in the timetable
Beechwood & Noctorum will be badly hit with these proposals, with the 418 to every hour & 492/492 to every 40.
I love how the 418 change mentions this,
Frequency reduction on Hoylake Road – Birkenhead alternative provision 407 and 38/38A,
but fails to mention the frequency reduction affecting Beechwood, with the alternatives 492/495 being reduced to every 40 minutes as well.
(27/06/2022 18:08)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]So to go from St Helens to Widnes, you'll have to go through Four Acre estate and do a double run along Forest Road - that's really going to attract people to public transport. Surely the 32 (which goes through to the Manor Evenings/Sundays) could be extended in the Daytime to give the new 30 a straight run along Jubits Lane or would that be too sensible! Be interested to see if there is any improvement to Evening/Sunday frequency (presently 90 Minutes Eves/2 hourly Sunday Daytimes).
Totally agree about the 17.
There are loads of routes that pass nearby (17, 30, 32, 32A).
Why not get one enhanced, fast service running St Helens - Widnes direct and even brand it as a fast connection etc. then have another route or two doing the other / all round the houses stuff.
I've never liked the route number 17 because it's such a random number, so don't mind the service number changing so much.