Warrington's Own Buses

[knutstransport]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
Sounds disappointing.

I also note TfGM are reviving an old route number from a withdrawn route for a different service. From the 90s until around 5 years ago the 289 was Altrincham-Northwich via Little Bollington and Knutsford. It was also re-routed via High Legh after the Warrington Coachways service was withdrawn.

[Metroline1511]

 RE: Warrington's Own Buses

(30/10/2024 11:51)Valandil Wrote:  Electric double deckers are starting to arrive slowly, with a couple already in service this week.

I'm glad they are arriving now. I may ride an electric single-deck when I go to Altrincham before the year end, but shall probably wait for the double-decks for now. As I associate October 26th with Warrington I may come that same weekend next year.

[North West Bus Spotter]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
Single deck BZLs 1033, 1035 and 1038 have now entered service

[knutstransport]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
I notice it seems they're happy sending one out to run the N4 for the day, which suggests they're confident in the battery life and reliability.

[knutstransport]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses

(30/10/2024 11:54)Valandil Wrote:  Significant changes to the X5 and CAT5, with a new 5A service from January 2025:
https://www.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk/ch...at5-and-x5
It's a shame but was probably going to happen sooner or later with the "Bee network" coming in.

It follows the current disruption to the CAT5, with a shuttle bus linking Sale and Warburton (a couple of shorts just as far as Partington).

Just looking at the X5 times that's going to create an awkward timetable/allocation.

Trying to run an hourly 5A using 1 vehicle is going to be tight, with the journey time being close to 30 minutes each way. Same with an hourly 289.

Why don't TfGM run retain the through running from Lymm to Manchester Airport as a single route using 2 vehicles?

I also think Cheshire East council could look at whether it's viable to work with Warrington council on extending the 5A into their patch, given there's currently no bus service on any of the roads between Broomedge and Knutsford town centre, whether it's via High Legh, Rostherne or Bucklow Hill. After all Tatton Park is one of the most visited attractions in the North West, but then Cheshire East council do benefit from parking revenue there.

[MTL0201]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
One infuriating thing, Warrington interwork a lot of their routes, the 22 Warrington-Ashton being one of them, & they become unreliable because of it, the 15.29 Warrington-Ashton is often late as the bus comes from the 1 Westy Circular, [the 14.58 departure], which is regularly held up, today that arrived 15 minutes late in Warrington, which meant the bus left just under 15 minutes late on the 22.

The daft thing is the 22 arrives in Warrington around xx20 then departs around xx30 or xx35, why does that need interworking when it takes about 3 hours to do a round trip?

[Valandil]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
With the 5A, I'm guessing it would be interworked with other CAT routes, possibly among others.
Just have to wait and see the route too, as it might go through Stockton Heath, even perhaps the Cobbs Estate.
I do agree that it's a massive step backwards having to change buses and pay again (in both directions), especially on an hourly frequency.
The X5 has been too good to be true in the long term.

I also agree that it's got to the stage where lots of routes would probably be best not usually interworking, like 13, 14, 15, 19, 22, 25, 32.
CAT routes can interwork with each other, but it remains to be seen what will happen with them anyway once all the yellow electric buses are here, as perhaps there will be no new dedicated CAT livery etc.
19 and 28 might be able to just interwork with each other if the timetable is revised, but if not the 19 could be standalone and only the 28 interwork (as often happens currently).

For the 22 though, it might be too long for a driver to drive for about 6 hours doing back-to-back 22s, but just one 3-hour run might be too short before taking a break, and so having a couple of short routes before/after a long 22 run might be to help with that.
Incidentally, I wish the frequency of the 22 could be increased, with hourly shorts as far as Earlestown.
Higher frequencies would be very welcome for other routes too, like 25.

Interworking has been good for enthusiasts, who can get unusual vehicles cropping up on all kinds of different routes, but with all vehicles being standardized yellow soon, even that won't matter anyway.