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Im led to believe the two bus stops outside Arrowe Park Hospital are to be removed

(12/08/2022 17:37)mrd97 Wrote: [ -> ]Totally get where you’re coming from (as the 16/16A/17 will now also enter the hospital grounds) but 5/6 years ago we also had
10/10A 2 buses per hour
12/93 2 buses per hour
83/83A 8 buses per hour

So there are some gaps to fill and by some routes no longer existing, there are now others that can take their place.

The 41A/41B was strange, buses doing various routes around the Woodchurch into the hospital, struggling to keep to the timetable but at least the new route is the same way in, same way out.

Sunday daytimes there appears to be a 15 minute or so layover at Arrowe Park so there is clearly a PVR increase here which should help reliability.

Agreed, i've said the 41/42 to Arrowe Park Hospital, is not a bad idea, plus buses get layover time too, the big problem with the 41/42 is, currently it's a circular at both ends, with not so much layover time, that buses can often be well late, & running in 2s or sometimes 3s

(13/08/2022 00:38)CX06 EBK Wrote: [ -> ]Chain Lane estate that includes Bosworth Road and Hinckley Road will be without an evening service with these changes too. The reason the HTL service will terminate at St Helens rather than Chain Lane too might have something to do with the fact that there would be no driver facilities at either end otherwise. Merseytravel ultimately seem uninterested in reinstating hourly services though.

Thanks for the insight. It really is rediculous that a service that links two towns is reduced to this frequency. There is also now a longer gap in the early evening between Arriva finishing and HTL starting as Arriva have withdrawn the 1825 journey from St Helens. Taken with the withdrawal of the 30 which ran half hourly with last departure from St Helens towards Sutton Manor being 1845, there really will be a lack of journeys at this time on this corridor.

What hasn't been mentioned in the Merseytravel changes yet is that there is also timetable changes on the 32/32A & 35 from the same date. Hopefully these will better co-ordinate with the revised 17 but given that are presently so close to each other towards St Helens (and have done for years), I'm not holding out much hope for better co-ordination.

I do wonder if any other operator (e.g. Link Network) might have a go at a fast St Helens - Widnes service in time, especially if this trend of decline continues. PVR of 2 for a half-hourly service, and the Arriva passengers who live around the estates in South St Helens would also be thankful because their small buses won't be so rammed full especially in the peaks.

(13/08/2022 07:38)Valandil Wrote: [ -> ]I do wonder if any other operator (e.g. Link Network) might have a go at a fast St Helens - Widnes service in time, especially if this trend of decline continues. PVR of 2 for a half-hourly service, and the Arriva passengers who live around the estates in South St Helens would also be thankful because their small buses won't be so rammed full especially in the peaks.

Hopefully Arriva will send the Solo's to other depots to cover their newly gained contracts and ideally Pulsars (or any single decker with similar capacity) will be used on the 17.

(13/08/2022 09:43)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]Hopefully Arriva will send the Solo's to other depots to cover their newly gained contracts and ideally Pulsars (or any single decker with similar capacity) will be used on the 17.

Can see the 17 being Solo SR operated as Paisley Ave in Chain Lane is a nightmare to get a midibus around at the best of times, Its clearly not been well thought out

(13/08/2022 10:32)T42 PVM Wrote: [ -> ]Can see the 17 being Solo SR operated as Paisley Ave in Chain Lane is a nightmare to get a midibus around at the best of times, Its clearly not been well thought out

Then surely the solution should be to split the Chain Lane section off. Would only require 1 vehicle for a half hourly service and the 17 would still use 3 vehicles and could then be full sized vehicles. They wouldn't be using any extra resources. Also going from what I have seen, there aren't that many through passengers, so doubt it would inconvenience too many people.

Merseytravel aren't interested in providing a transport network that is in any way useful. There should have been a push to get at least the 17 and 38A back to hourly from September and maybe even the 156/602 - it could have been done but they have decided not to.

(14/08/2022 16:09)CX06 EBK Wrote: [ -> ]Merseytravel aren't interested in providing a transport network that is in any way useful. There should have been a push to get at least the 17 and 38A back to hourly from September and maybe even the 156/602 - it could have been done but they have decided not to.

I have contacted Merseytravel enquiring as to when the 17 will revert back to Hourly and the response I got was they don't have enough funding but apparently there is an upcoming review into supported services in St Helens where this route and others will be looked at. Surely these routes could have been included in the review we've just had.