As the title says, there are 5 First Leeds Electroliners in Liverpool this week for use on shuttles between Lime Street station and the Labour Party Conference at the Echo Arena....the 5 are 36592, 36607, 36611, 36612....36611 at least is tracking as well. 36648 is the 5th to also come over but is within the venue with tables fitted.
English Heritage website gives the following info for getting to Beeston Castle by bus:
GHA service 83 (Tue) to Beeston; Otherwise GHA service 56 (Thu & Sat) to Bunbury Heath (then 1 mile walk) or Arriva service 84 to Tarporley (2 1⁄2 miles)
I have just read an on-line report in the Manchester Evening News about the Bee Network cost and income and expenditure. It shows that only 47% of income (£183m out of £390m) comes from fares. It has been hailed as a great success with cheaper fares and more buses but one wonders whether the private (strangely nearly all foreign owned) companies would have done better. Given the level of subsidy required it doesn't seem so wonderful to me and there must be serious doubts that this level of local, and national, taxpayer contributions can continue in the longer term given the downward spiral of public finances. Is it really money well spent? Also, interesting that it is foreign owned companies who have benefitted rather than UK ones.
£1.6bn for Liverpool city region for a Bus Rapid System, similar to the Belfast Glider, serving the airport and the football stadia. Plus a new bus fleet in St Helens and the Wirral.
£2.5bn for Greater Manchester including 1000 new electric buses and Metrolink expansion, with the intention of "Bee Network" being 100% electric by 2030.
Outside the region it also includes a West Yorkshire Mass Transit and trams to Birmingham's new sports quarter.
I've noticed some unbranded modern coaches have been operating the Radbrooke Hall (Barclays) work shuttles recently. The other day I saw one was carrying the legal lettering for Travel Master (MCR) and had a LED destination display fitted showing Radbrooke Hall.
At one point I was wondering whether there was some arrangement with D&G, given the new 87/88 timetable only needs the 4th bus from the 08:57 to Macclesfield, and the 87s being routed via Radbrooke, but it seems that's additional to the workers only shuttles.
Stand nos. 1-3 in St. Helens Bus tation have been closed from 10 March 2025 - the first stage of the rebuilding process. Services (mostly Arriva) formerly using stands 1-3 are mostly using an alternative stop in Bickerstaffe Street, just outside the bus station.
The remainder of the bus station is expected to close soon, pending replacement by a new bus station. In the interim, most services are due to transfer to a temporary terminal in Chalon Way.
Posted by: knutstransport - 25/02/2025 19:06
- No Replies
Cheshire East Council have been passing assets to town councils for a while now. It seems a potential transfer of Knutsford bus station to the town council is now being explored.
KNUTSFORD BUS STATION
The Town Centre Committee had resolved to recommend that the asset transfer of this area be
explored. The working group agreed that transfer of the bus station should be considered.
The proposed transfer area would include the taxi office, covered waiting area and the paved service
road. There would be the potential to generate some income from the taxi office to contribute to the
operational costs of maintaining the bus station itself. In preparing a business case, it would be
recommended that the council commissions a structural survey of the bus station itself to understand
future maintenance costs.
The current bus station was constructed in 1990 as part of the Booths supermarket development, using S106 funding (or whatever the equivalent was then). I don't think much money has been spent on maintaining it since.
Probably worth doing a thread on the Pulsars which have departed the Arriva NW/Merseyside/Wales fleets, given that they've been a huge part of the local bus scene since 2008....for completeness, I've included the large amount that left several years ago when the 45/46** Enviro400's arrived.
TfW Rail are advertising a replacement bus service is running between Newton-le-Willows and Manchester operated by "Northwich and Keanes". Is there such an operator, or has something got miscommunicated e.g. perhaps Keanes Coaches and tickets being accepted on rail services via Northwich?
Due to a burst water pipe in the roof near the entrance to the Bus Station from Winwick Street Warrington Bus Station has been closed since last night and it has been announced that it will be shut tomorrow, services are going from various different stops scattered round the town centre.
