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One pinch point that cant be helped is Leasowe Level Crossing to Arrowe Park Hospital , each little bit of that road is like a minefield to reliability.

(09/10/2015 13:35)Myllenium2453 Wrote: [ -> ]They are either 3 - 5 minutes early or up to 10 minutes late.

Has anybody noticed this lately.

Arriva birkenhead are very strict on early running, and if a driver leaves any designated timing point listed on the running board more than 1 minute early it is logged by the sophisticated GPS system,and the driver automatically issued a warning letter once triggered 3 times in a within a shift iirc. Therefore I highly doubt the majority of drivers are running any more than 1 minute early, perhaps your watch is slightly out? If as you say most are around 5 minutes early then the majority of drivers will be dismissed and we'll have no service. Are you sure it's not just the bus in front running 5 minutes late?

Late running is easy done, is hardly avoidable on a lot of routes throughout the day, especially those with poorly sequenced traffic lights, level crossings, heavy traffic areas and of course if a bus breaks down it leaves the bus behind with double the work, which as a result makes that bus later, and soon enough there's a 20 minute gap. As has been mentioned, leasowe level crossing can cause problems as do the traffic lights and traffic around birkenhead town, woodchurch asda and arrowe park hospital.

Keeping to time is a real task as a bus driver, and as enthusiasts we need to be understanding of the contributing factors to late running. Early running of more than 1 minute early is In excusable and is strictly dealt with at birkenhead.

I'm a tad confused by what you're getting at here 2453? You've said in the past on previous posts that you are a driver yourself, therefore you should understand, but please, allow me to explain. It is beyond impossible for any bus to run around a whole route '5 to 10 minutes early' as there are timing points on the route.

Birkenhead Bus Station, Arrowe Park Hospital, Moreton Cross and Wallasey Village Station are all timing points on the 413 (and 414 inc Liscard Crescent).

Laird St buses have GPS fitted like every other company on Merseyside. Late running is expected, early running is almost possible. If a timing point (see the list) is passed early, the depot is notified via the GPS. Depot management call in the driver and expect an explanation. There are notices up in the traffic office explain these rules.

Yes I noticed 6002 on 413/4 also no double deckers on there either.4531 on 410/1 with 2424 and 2432 on 409 so the cadets still hanging on.3004 was also on 409 but was running very late and must have empty from Wallasey Village to make it's time up.

All my clocks and watch are set using the bbc radio signal.

Come on Arriva sort it out.

Dont forget that the times in bus shelters are only estimates unless your at a timing point. Sometimes them estimates are stupid!!

(10/10/2015 02:13)PO59 MXJ Wrote: [ -> ]Dont forget that the times in bus shelters are only estimates unless your at a timing point. Sometimes them estimates are stupid!!

The only times that can be trusted are those on the running board itself. Merseytravels publicity department is notoriously useless, and quite often the Times in the shelter are completely different to those on the running board and even those in the merseytravel timetable booklets, so it's anybody's guess! Traveline is probably a more accurate method to find out times.

As long as a bus leaves the timing points on the running board between 1 minute early and 5 minutes late it is classed as ON TIME, yes even 1 early/5 late is considered as on time by the traffic commissioner. The time a bus reaches stops in between timing points is irrelevant. The times for stops in between is at best a guess.

If a 413/4 is in the traffic commissioners time window when departing Woodside, Birkenhead Bus Stn, Storeton rd, Arrowe park, Upton vill, Moreton Cross, wallasey village and liscard then it is on time. Can't remember if they're the points, its been a while since I've seen the boards for this route.

I think the 403/13/4 need a helping hand through various log jams .

Arrowe Park Gates notoriously bad as the bus bay is very hard to get out of going towards Moreton in the peak hour crossing the traffic to Heswall and beyond.

Sainsburys Roundabout , I think this was a design fault when Sainsbury's / Homebase was built the access should have been on and off the Upton bypass not the roundabout , there is so much traffic trying to get in and out of sainsburys its unreal at times and extremely bad at Christmas .

Upton Crossroads , particulary bad coming from Moreton with traffic sometimes back a quarter of the way to the moreton Spur (m53).

Moreton Cross , just plain awakward to get on to the roundabout and get round because of its shape.

Leasowe Level Crossing , this one your dependent that the train is on time and doesn't cross within a couple of minutes of each other , this level crossing also being notorious for failing in the down position.

One problem you could fidget with the times and then find your bus has to sit time when these problems don't happen , its a case of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I know from experience that it's nothing unusual for a 403/413/414 to depart the Wallasey Village station stops early as I used to use it from time to time so I can echo Myllennium2453's comments. Late running is unavoidable of course but still commonplace on the 413/414 services.

Generally speaking, the 409 is worth the walk from the station to the top of Leasowe Road as it's a lot more reliable.

4171 on the 2 this afternoon.