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(23/08/2016 14:59)bus401 Wrote: [ -> ]I forgot mention yesterday 3010 has a full length rear advert celebrating an arriva employee's 50 years of service.

On route 2 heading to Chester this morning just left at Holm Oaks Road.

2989 is still at Birkenhead on the 2 today.4496 on 437 as well as4499 and 4501 ,4497 on 464.

6005 on 218 this morning,nice change a newish bus

218 on a sunday morning ?

Usually only see the 218 and 219 on a saturday morning as they operate longer into the morning before the commercial service kicks in.

4494 is now here

(29/08/2016 15:50)SL64 JDZ Wrote: [ -> ]4494 is now here

And 4500 was on the 432 this morning (29 August)

The very last Arriva worked 2 (1845 ex Chester) seen at New Ferry heading back to Birkenhead this evening, Pulsar 3009 doing the honours.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmc1947/28810026623

HTH

(03/09/2016 19:12)gka472l Wrote: [ -> ]The very last Arriva worked 2 (1845 ex Chester) seen at New Ferry heading back to Birkenhead this evening, Pulsar 3009 doing the honours.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmc1947/28810026623

HTH

End of an era as LS has operated routes to Chester since D-Reg when Merseybus as they were, won the Sunday contracts on the Birkenhead/Hooton-Chester routes.

Arriva's offering really didn't cut it in the end. Even before Stagecoach went Gold, Arriva had too little presence on the route to make people associate them with it. They really should have had a greater share in the 2, and possibly the 1 also, and should have made it Sapphire as soon as they got the faintest whiff of Stagecoach considering Gold.

The truth is though, that the 1/2 are 2 of only 4 routes that Stagecoach operate in Wirral (minus route variants and schools), so they were always going to throw everything they had at maintaining and ultimately taking control over these services. And to be fair to them, the Gold buses offer a very good service. It will be interesting to see how the new 2 route fares now that it serves a much larger population going through Tranmere and Bebington.

Will we see Arriva on Birkenhead to Chester services again? I doubt it, but they gave it a good shot. I just can't understand how they went from filling Palatine 2s on the old 411 and 412 to just a handful of passengers rattling around in Pulsars. Their last real shot at retaining a slice of the Birkenhead-Chester corridor was lost when the X8 was introduced - had Arriva taken the leap to reintroduce the X11 then maybe things would be different, but it is clear why this didn't happen.

(04/09/2016 11:14)Enviro400 Wrote: [ -> ]I just can't understand how they went from filling Palatine 2s on the old 411 and 412 to just a handful of passengers rattling around in Pulsars. Their last real shot at retaining a slice of the Birkenhead-Chester corridor was lost when the X8 was introduced - had Arriva taken the leap to reintroduce the X11 then maybe things would be different, but it is clear why this didn't happen.

I agree -- the decline has been a real shame.
I think one of the major contributors has been the design of the routes and the sheer length of time it takes to get anywhere on those services.
Incidentally, the X8 has always been packed whenever I've seen it, though maybe I've just been lucky.