Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

Full Version: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764
(22/05/2014 12:27)MPTE1955 Wrote: [ -> ]This is not CMT/GTL days so that point really is irrevelant, I do get that a solo is better than no bus at all, but this is a busy route and with people thinking these routes need deckers a solo's are a step in the wrong direction. If you used this route you would see why the solo's are unacceptable as it is always busy, don't forget as well that it is not just seating but standing room on a solo is quite minimal.

It isn't CMT/GTL days but the point is that buses with around 28 seats were more commonly used in years previous with no problem, without the quality bus partnership ticketing arrangements and without a service up to every 3 minutes. More people may use the service nowhere days but there is an increased frequency, increased operators to travel with on day and weekly tickets, and increased buses (that are also low floor) on the service so the impact will be minimal. Stick an optare solo on a less frequent but just as busy route such as the 352 and then you'll have problems.

I do use the 10/A frequently, I used to live on the route, and still use it nowhere days when travelling to my partners, doctors, dentist, friends and work. I know exactly what the loadings are like, and I know that even during peak time you can still get an empty bus, despite the 3 in-front being full standing loads, just like the 79.
I wonder if a London-style 'maintenance of headway' approach would bring improvements to the 10(A), if it is the case that bunching is common with buses at the back of the queue being near-empty while already-full buses at the top of the pack continue to try to pick up.
It may be too resource-intensive though, as I know that TfL has staff who just work on maintaining headway and also rely on software and driver communication frequently.
(22/05/2014 13:37)Raawwwrrr! Wrote: [ -> ]It isn't CMT/GTL days but the point is that buses with around 28 seats were more commonly used in years previous with no problem, without the quality bus partnership ticketing arrangements and without a service up to every 3 minutes. More people may use the service nowhere days but there is an increased frequency, increased operators to travel with on day and weekly tickets, and increased buses (that are also low floor) on the service so the impact will be minimal. Stick an optare solo on a less frequent but just as busy route such as the 352 and then you'll have problems.

I do use the 10/A frequently, I used to live on the route, and still use it nowhere days when travelling to my partners, doctors, dentist, friends and work. I know exactly what the loadings are like, and I know that even during peak time you can still get an empty bus, despite the 3 in-front being full standing loads, just like the 79.

I can't comment on what the route was like back in CMT/GTL days as I didn't live along the route as I do now and certainly hardly ever got 10/10A back then and also wasn't on a bus forum back then, but with GTL it wouldn't surprise me, however, that was many years ago anyway and not present day so not particularly relevant. Yes you can get 3 full buses along the route and then one almost empty but that still doesn't make the use of 2 solos acceptable, just like it wouldn't be on the 79's. It is poor work from JS to be using these on this route, and like St Helens Rider said they probably shouldn't be here at all.
Personally I think that the Solo's and SR's are ok for certain local routes only, certainly NOT 10/A, 89 or 320 or 352. The biggest problem is that whenever full size cascades become available they more often than not end up at a garage based in Liverpool instead of being deployed where they would be most beneficial.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong but are 2504-13 and 2670-75 on loan to Bolton after being cascaded from their respective depots? I would say that once Bolton receive their pulsar's back, 2504-13 will end up in based in Liverpool & 2670-75 will head back to Liverpool.
It seems like whatever JS do they're going to be in the firing line to me. If they dont run a service they will get moaned at and when they try their best to run one they still get moaned at.

I see why people say that a solo is unacceptable but surely its better than nothing.
(22/05/2014 15:06)Daniel Anderton Wrote: [ -> ]It seems like whatever JS do they're going to be in the firing line to me. If they dont run a service they will get moaned at and when they try their best to run one they still get moaned at.

I see why people say that a solo is unacceptable but surely its better than nothing.

JS are only in firing line for the use of solo's, if it was 2 darts it would be mentioned but the criticism wouldn't come. So to say whatever they do they would be in the firing line is wrong, we have already done the solo is better than no bus thing. Anyway, I'm done with this matter now as we will all start going round in circles soon.
It's not like it's happening every single day, ok it happened twice yesterday but it's once every blue moon that one gets on there, especially the smaller CX58 examples. Lay off a bit, there's still another 20 odd full size buses with the next one a few minutes behind.
The rumour was they got brought in for the tenders etc mainly but as they arrived the tenders was lost so they stayed but i think there not suited for the busy town routes st helens operate.
What tenders did St Helens have then?
Nearly all the late tenders was operated by arriva st helens but the ones that was here around the time we got them was
121/122 Gillars green-clockface/bold
147 st helens-st helens junction
156 st helens-ashton
196 st helens-thomas drive(prescot)
602 ashton-bradleigh rd (earlstown)

At one spell a few years ago they ran basically all the tenders that are operated in the town centre on a night.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764
Reference URL's