(09/07/2014 21:08)FC Pictures Wrote:  True about Manchester,but Arriva isnt the major operator there and it`s more about cost than anything,where is the 6 million quid for these deckers coming from,the pulsars on the 10/10A are young and don`t need replacing, there is a need for newer stock at St Helens,if they buy new then it`s likely to be Enviro200s as that`s what is being ordered for elsewhere by Arriva now, Pulsars can carry 70 people ,for the handful of journeys they might be full in a day standing room is fine, i doubt the fares taken on that corridor is even paying for the pulsars let alone deckers, and i`m sure drivers would be looking for pay rises if they suddenly had a larger bus, like Green Lane drivers refused the bendys without more pay.

(09/07/2014 21:14)V671 DVU Wrote:  I do agree to an extent about it being a waste replacing virtually new Pulsars but they did it on the Wirral with the Hybrids replacing 5 year old Enviro 400s which is what age the Pulsars at St Helens are! They'd do an ideal job at replacing the X and Y reg vehicles all over the North West, thus it's a win win isn't it? Oh, trust me, they definitely take enough to take a Pulsar! Packed buses every morning, even the lates are quite full. Whilst I agree deckers aren't needed on lates, but does the 79 need deckers on lates too? I'd be amazed if they did. Plus, think of the extra passengers who'd use the bus if they seen a decker too rather then a packed single decker. Bendys are different though aren't they? Deckers are even shorter then a Pulsar. What would you rather be driving? A decker with everyone sitting or a packed single having to face angry passengers who can't get on? I'm sure a 10/A driver'd back me up here!

(09/07/2014 21:41)FC Pictures Wrote:  To be fair of all the Speke routes the 79 was ok with single deckers before the route was extended to Halewood, they are full on most 79 lates because the number of routes serving Halewood has been reduced and it only runs every 20 minutes at night, during the day Commanders would be often good enough.

(09/07/2014 19:16)FC Pictures Wrote:  I did point out that there are no parallel trains with the 432/433 and 437 they take a totally different route to Liverpool, so you would have to add a bus fare on top to connect to any train from Wallasey, and Saveaway Tickets for cross river cost about the same anyway.

(09/07/2014 21:41)FC Pictures Wrote:  Arriva got a sizeable grant towards the cost of the Wirral Hybrids, and the welsh assembly paid for the sapphire conversions on the Enviro400s that came from Birkenhead.The rest that ended up at Bootle have had zero work done to them. Arriva seems to want some deckers at Bootle in case of any rail replacement work they get, mainly on sundays. Older Passengers don`t like deckers as a rule and won`t go upstairs.
A full bus doesn`t always mean the ticket sales are good,i`m sure given the areas that service runs through the amount of forged and out of date tickets would be considerable,how many of those darling school kids are paying to travel ?,one saveaway chucked out of the window to get their friend on etc.
To be fair of all the Speke routes the 79 was ok with single deckers before the route was extended to Halewood, they are full on most 79 lates because the number of routes serving Halewood has been reduced and it only runs every 20 minutes at night, during the day Commanders would be often good enough.
The 79C needs larger buses and has done for years even before the Cadets that are the current standard, Occasionally a Pulsar sneaks on rather than a cadet .The story goes that somebody at Arriva made a clerical error when ordering those buses which should have been Commanders,several Arriva Runcorn people have said this on seperate occasions.

(10/07/2014 08:09)tinytears87 Wrote:  Great debate going on people, keep it up, always good to read constructive comments.

Those of you who know me, know that i'm a driver based in SH, and have been since Merseybus days.

Deckers ? Why did Arriva ever let them go ? They prefered the single deck, high frequency corridor. But this 'mindset' is changing again now. Deckers have slowly re-appeared on routes over the last few years as you all know, why the 10/10A's have not been considered defies belief. I don't deal with rumours, deckers were never ordered for SH, it was just a rumour 'we might' get them. Got us all excited, then sadly let down. Deckers in the future ? It's still being talked about, but nothing concrete as yet. I do late shifts every week on the 10/10A's, some journeys are quiet, some you get standing loads. For eg, 2325 10A from Mann Island last night, standing load by the time i got to London Road. It had been said by a previous manager of our depot a few years back, that no-one in this day and age should need to stand up for a journey, there are enough buses and seats available. I'd like to know his thoughts now. If deckers come back, expect frequencies to drop to ensure ' fuller buses' per journey. As a driver this worries me, as this would result in us losing work. I'd rather have 6 buses an hour for eg, than 4. More jobs. What would i prefer to drive ? Deckers, but not at the expense of jobs. Remember the 10'10A route is not Liverpool to an 'outer point', its a city to a town route, and it gets busy any time of the day, no two journeys are the same. Eg, Monday night, a late shift, i did one 10A, then two 10's, last night, one 10, then 2 10A's, result, £200 difference in takings, thats how changeable Prescot Rd can be. You cannot predict it. I'd love to see deckers back in our depot, but not at the expense of losing work. As for vandalism, it rarely happens, and i would say we suffer as a city, a lot less than other cities do. I'll leave it here for now :-)

TT