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Speke are mega short so contracted the 699 to happily Al's untill staff levels are back up.

(14/10/2020 19:02)motormayhem1 Wrote: [ -> ]Speke are mega short so contracted the 699 to happily Al's untill staff levels are back up.

Seems to be the same at many big company depots at the minute, but at least the smaller companies are getting some business out of it!

MPT running the X1 and Happy Al’s running the 699 daytime. I wonder if any more routes will be sub contracted as we go through this second peak.

(14/10/2020 19:10)Liamkennedy2231 Wrote: [ -> ]Seems to be the same at many big company depots at the minute, but at least the smaller companies are getting some business out of it!

MPT running the X1 and Happy Al’s running the 699 daytime. I wonder if any more routes will be sub contracted as we go through this second peak.

Can much more be sub contracted? Many operators don't have huge amounts of buses available all day. Those which have spare buses and drivers have them outside of school bus times with those being the main focus. The lowest PVRs on routes is Runcorn locals and the 345. I think the next step for Arriva could be cutting back on very high frequency routes or working with Stagecoach to get them to run more on QBPs.

Keeping with Als and the 699 though, I am surprised to see such a drop in frequency.

(14/10/2020 22:08)iMarkeh Wrote: [ -> ]Can much more be sub contracted? Many operators don't have huge amounts of buses available all day. Those which have spare buses and drivers have them outside of school bus times with those being the main focus. The lowest PVRs on routes is Runcorn locals and the 345. I think the next step for Arriva could be cutting back on very high frequency routes or working with Stagecoach to get them to run more on QBPs.

Keeping with Als and the 699 though, I am surprised to see such a drop in frequency.

Yeah, considering it has temporarily shifted to being a Merseytravel tendered service during the day, they would have had to make some compromises due to financial constraints. I think that would be the main reason for the drop in frequency. Unless Arriva are giving money to Merseytravel to run the service, I don't know. However, it does say the service is provided by Merseytravel, unlike the X1, which is stated as 'run on behalf of Arriva by MP Travel'.

Is it worth the extra expenditure taking buses through the tunnel and the dead mileage to run all these services in Liverpool?

(16/10/2020 09:14)moreton407 Wrote: [ -> ]Is it worth the extra expenditure taking buses through the tunnel and the dead mileage to run all these services in Liverpool?

Someone at Happy Al's must see this as some money in the bank.

Dont forget that in this economic enviroment your not going to say no to this , would you ?

(16/10/2020 13:07)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]Someone at Happy Al's must see this as some money in the bank.

Dont forget that in this economic enviroment your not going to say no to this , would you ?

Agreed. Publicity may also be a factor, trying to get more contracts and trying to develop potential routes etc for the future

They had an ex Dublin Olympian on the 699 yesterday!

Happy Al's to take over the 22/X22 West Kirby to Chester service from April 4th.
https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.s...ls/573068/

(03/03/2021 18:00)Aarons Transport Pictures Wrote: [ -> ]Happy Al's to take over the 22/X22 West Kirby to Chester service from April 4th.
https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.s...ls/573068/

This will be fantastic to see the allocations. Scania thrash along the A540 haha.