Quote:Again as things stand bus operation is all on profit and demand and if these are low or impacted by things like Covid services will be cut/withdrawn. Sadly I think it's all over for the X1 even the X30's can't be that safe either?

(31/12/2020 11:32)iMarkeh Wrote:  Just to inform everyone, Merseytravel has put the X1 out to tender (starting 22nd Feb until 3rd April) on the same timetable as current. Let's wait and see if it gets awarded.
https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=1296778c-b53f-eb11-8106-005056b64545&p=e0cc5631-4690-e511-80fb-000c29c9ba21


Buses are being subsidised by the government though to keep vehicles running at 100% and to basically support operators until the revenue returns. Surely cutting services goes against the whole point of the funding.

For the X30, surely that can't be on it's way out? It's quite busy and has a decent amount of people paying on the bus (as well as passes topping that up). Fares are extortionate as well so they must get a decent reimbursement off passes. Unless demand has dropped off massively, I don't think the X30 will be going anywhere and if it does (and providing Stagecoach see sense), it will be replaced quickly since it has potential. It's the sort of route which if given the sort of love and attention which Transdev give some of their routes, you could see massive growth.

(31/12/2020 11:35)T42 PVM Wrote:  Unless i am looking in the wrong place the end date i see is 22/08/21

(31/12/2020 11:35)T42 PVM Wrote:  Unless i am looking in the wrong place the end date i see is 22/08/21

(31/12/2020 07:26)Gillmoss 0324 Wrote:  I thought the same about the X1. The only thing that might save it is if it became a M-F peak service, the thing with that is it's got to be 100% reliable if not you'll kill any passenger loyalty for the route. That won't be easy when it's coming in/out of gridlock especially at those peak times as/when we get over this Covid problem.

Making it peak only will also put costs on an operator like Arriva/MP Travel or anyone else looking to take that on as it will need a fair bit of resources to ensure it remains reliable, I think some of Arriva's Liverpool services have had to have things like extra recovery time and changeover vehicles on standby to ensure the routes keep to time as let's say over the last 15-20 or so years the city has become very gridlocked whether or not the initiatives during these years have tried to have the best intentions not to lead to this.

Could another solution be introducing a 82X which runs like the X1 (Limited Stop) from Runcorn to Speke Boulevard then becomes a stopping service from there to the city.

Just out of interest do many passengers use the 79C/82A's from Runcorn to Liverpool? I can see them being used to Widnes but beyond to Runcorn wouldn't it be quicker to bus it to Runcorn station and use the train from Lime Street. Also has the train had a impact on how successful a express like the X1 can be?

Again as things stand bus operation is all on profit and demand and if these are low or impacted by things like Covid services will be cut/withdrawn. Sadly I think it's all over for the X1 even the X30's can't be that safe either?

(31/12/2020 17:07)MTL0201 Wrote:  I often caught the X1 before covid, loadings could be heaving towards Liverpool well into the morning/lunchtime off peak, then flips in the afternoon, even then quite a few passengers on the X1 going the reverse of the traffic flow, main issue is reliability, even early afternoon buses could often be 15-20 minutes late & later, didn't help there was so little layover time, about 5 minutes either end.