I agree I'd like to see at least a part replacement for the 319 in some way, but it's looking unlikely that anything will happen in the immediate future.
Whats the obsession with this 319 lark?!! How many operators have tried running it and all given up, even Merseytravel or LCC deem it suitable for a replacement so it cant be that important or vital! Plus Arriva/Strawberry have tried extending their own services to Ormskirk and packed in! Dont forget the 319 survived the best part of 20 years running just 3 journeys a day between Southport-St Helens and carried mostly fresh air it only survived as LCC part subsidised it as soon as that was cancelled the service fell apart.
There was a note above that Ace Travel introduction on the website over the weekend saying that the wasnt going to be introduced.
(09/03/2015 23:09)mr t Wrote: [ -> ]Whats the obsession with this 319 lark?!! How many operators have tried running it and all given up, even Merseytravel or LCC deem it suitable for a replacement so it cant be that important or vital! Plus Arriva/Strawberry have tried extending their own services to Ormskirk and packed in! Dont forget the 319 survived the best part of 20 years running just 3 journeys a day between Southport-St Helens and carried mostly fresh air it only survived as LCC part subsidised it as soon as that was cancelled the service fell apart.
There was a note above that Ace Travel introduction on the website over the weekend saying that the wasnt going to be introduced.
Thing is in its current form the 319 does pick up and pays, There was a Note on the Merseytravel Website saying that Ace Travel are now not introducing the Service but as i have already said a couple of posts ago the Notice has changed to this:
us number: 319
Run by: South Lancs
Going between: St Helens and Ormskirk
Well if it pays why is it being withdrawn? And why hasnt any other operator stepped in to cover it from SLT, even Ace were only going to run 1 journey each way, so clearly deemed it wasnt worthwhile in its current form and they even had drivers and vehicles spare they could have ran it with but werent interested. Point proven
(09/03/2015 23:45)mr t Wrote: [ -> ]Well if it pays why is it being withdrawn? And why hasnt any other operator stepped in to cover it from SLT, even Ace were only going to run 1 journey each way, so clearly deemed it wasnt worthwhile in its current form and they even had drivers and vehicles spare they could have ran it with but werent interested. Point proven
It was me who first sent an E.Mail into ACE regarding the 319 and they agreed to introduce 1 trip each way as a trial to see what the Service was like for themselves, they stated to me at least twice if the 2 trips did well they would introduce more trips
Going onto SLT Withdrawing the Service i think thats due to a number of reasons, Reliability of the Fleet was starting to affect the reliability of the Service, Buses buggering of to do Schools and then theres the distance the Service is from the Depot so thats added costs, Someone else more local could do it, Strawberry when they had it did a fantastic job for example!
Just a point that Arriva's extensions to Ormskirk only existed when Skem depot ran the 38 so as to reduce dead mileage at the end of the day.
My opinion is also that the 319 is done with now, as much a shame as that may be. The 38 just provides too much competition on the core section of the route and that's unlikely to change unless an operator were to come in and offer significantly cheaper prices on the St Helens - Rainford section, something SLT never did. The amount of students who use the route at its full length don't make it viable to run and the only other passengers who use it the full way are the elderly.
The only way I realistically see any sort of link to Ormskirk working would be for Arriva to extend the 38 out to there or for a 395 modification but then the extension would no doubt be very reliant on the other sections of either route bringing in the money. A change to the 38 would also require changes to the 37 because of the way the routes interwork making an extension even less likely.
I just wonder what might have been had there not been that bit of a tussle on the route between Stagecoach and Fairway. There were some journeys were both operators were running at identical times. Sadly it is another piece of the once mighty Ribble network that appears to be passing into history.