(25/08/2012 17:55)Nicholas Wrote: [ -> ]With the 130, the route could be cut back to Netherton, after all the 55 covers the Netherton to Old Roan section and that would allow for running time to be redistributed or for more recovery time at either end.
Absolutely not! The 55 doesn't cover the 130 between Netherton and Old Roan - the 55 serves the outskirts of Netherton on its way to Old Roan and it doesn't serve the main area, Glovers Lane, of Netherton. That would be, to be fair, a stupid and unnecessary change and it'd certainly result in lower passengers numbers.
Not being familiar with the area, I wouldn't have known that. However, looking on the Merseytravel website, the 209/259 provide the same evening and Sunday link between Netherton centre and Old Roan, albeit on an hourly frequency. But there appears to be no equivalent M-S daytime service! So now I don't understand the point of having three buses per hour where there is no M-S daytime equivalent?
(25/08/2012 19:51)Nicholas Wrote: [ -> ]Not being familiar with the area, I wouldn't have known that. However, looking on the Merseytravel website, the 209/259 provide the same evening and Sunday link between Netherton centre and Old Roan, albeit on an hourly frequency. But there appears to be no equivalent M-S daytime service! So now I don't understand the point of having three buses per hour where there is no M-S daytime equivalent?
Yeah... I've never understood that myself! I'd love to have a daytime link between Netherton and Old Roan - maybe even a daytime 130 - because it'd definitely be a service that I'd regularly utilise and I'm sure that many other people would utilise it, too. I know that people walk to ASDA in Old Roan (it's about a 20-30-minute walk from Glovers Lane) and I know that people walk to "Nice Netherton" and get on the 55 to there (the bus-stop on Chapel Lane is about a 10-20-minute walk away from Glovers Lane), so I should think that a service between the areas would be well-utilised.
As for the very, very, very, very unreliable and poorly-timed 209/259 - enough said about them!
(25/08/2012 17:38)CX06 EBK Wrote: [ -> ]It's easy to say "lay off" them but when you use these routes with regularity it's hard to find sympathy for late (over 15 minutes) running or no showing at all. Fair enough there are going to be issues but how long do you give until these issues become unacceptable? It's been at least two weeks now and fair enough this weekend is an exception but other weekends where there have been no such issues such as last weekend it's unacceptable for buses to be running up to 15 minutes late. This is from a regular user of the 130 and not being looked at as an "enthusiast", I couldn't care who ran it as long as they ran it to timetable and with the correct buses.
May I add that two weeks ago Copy Lane, Old Roan and Aintree Road had road works on causing severe delays as the roads around were gridlock.
I would just like to add i have driven theses routes myself and i can see some problems between certain areas, take one for eg Liverpool One Bus Station to Queen Square 5 mis running time. On sunday i left the stand on time only to be stuck at a red light bus station/the strand for nealy 5 mins, i know this because i clocked on the wayfarer i arrrived at Queen Square 5 min late. i managed to pull some of this time back on route only to loose it again between Walton Church and Aintree race Course. I will Monitor these routes closely and drivers are all intructed to fill out a report if they are more than 5 mins late so we can build a database of problem areas. I can then go to merseytravel with proper feedback and request a timetable change if ness. These things take time. I was on the 250/210 tonite and had some positive feedback from customers all buses run to time tonite except one 130 because of a Orange Lodge Parade near Dingle. But some people forget this and sl*g us off for being late, That driver worked hard and tried to pull his time back during the nite without loosing mileage.
If any driver is found no reporting lateness or lost mileage they will be delt with accordingly. Maybe one we open our new garage in liverpool we may add a day service based on the 130. We are currently looking at land near liverpool city centre of leeds street.
Before we take any other routes on i want to get right what we currently have and go from there.
3426 on 203's this morning.
Before the topic gets even more out of hand I am going to close it for a time being until the mod team can decide what action is appropriate.
Thanks Chris - I was just about to do the same, this thread will remain closed for the foreseeable future.