The Three Queens Visit

[Barney]

RE: The Three Queens Visit

(26/03/2015 00:21)bolton bus basher Wrote:  I hope Lime Street dont act the same way as they did when the Giant Event was on making people stand in stupid Lines in the car park like Cattle...

So you would not want a safe, orderly, properly policed queue but would prefer thousands of people engaged in a free-for-all to get access to the limited amount of platform space? That sounds really dangerous. You might not be aware of it but today there's an on-going Public Inquiry in Warrington on that very situation that ended rather badly.

Obviously, you are young but you will learn.

[ls1911]

RE: The Three Queens Visit

(25/03/2015 21:12)wirralbus Wrote:  Be aware Moorfields will not be able to be used for Wirral Line passengers due to station refurbishment .

Who planned that , im not really sure James street will be able to cope with the influx .

There's 2 other stations for the Wirral,it's not the end of the world. I'd be very surprised if James Street is open to be honest.
Don't forget you have to persuade staff to work later if you want later services. I for one am on rest day's during the event and won't be working any of them!!

[E400]

RE: The Three Queens Visit
Looks like the 500 and 501 might be a bit busier than usual then!

[wirralbus]

RE: The Three Queens Visit

(26/03/2015 13:56)ls1911 Wrote:  There's 2 other stations for the Wirral,it's not the end of the world. I'd be very surprised if James Street is open to be honest.
Don't forget you have to persuade staff to work later if you want later services. I for one am on rest day's during the event and won't be working any of them!!

I dont think they could possible operate a feasible Wirral Line service from Lime Street or Liverpool Central on there own , seriously they must have known about this event before the refurbishment dates where announced .

[SNL 824]

RE: The Three Queens Visit
It's simply pathetic that they haven't planned additional and extended services for this.

[wirralbus]

RE: The Three Queens Visit
Its a hard one to predict because not all the best vantage points for the River Mersey are on the Liverpool side of the river , there is some good vantage points over on the Wirral .

[ls1911]

RE: The Three Queens Visit

(28/03/2015 22:01)SNL 824 Wrote:  It's simply pathetic that they haven't planned additional and extended services for this.

And how do you know 'they' haven't?

[E400]

RE: The Three Queens Visit
Wirral Council must be expecting a lot of people as they're recruiting volunteers to help police the event and guide people around.

I should imagine the best approach would be to line a load of buses up at Woodside and Seacombe, which I would imagine would be popular places to head for and run them to key places such as Liscard, Birkenhead bus station and Whitechapel - not necessarily 'proper' bus services, just special ones to disperse the crowds. The same approach would probably be required in Liverpool - park buses up James Street, Victoria Street and Hanover Street (if that will be open by then), just to get rid of people. Once the main crowd has dispersed, roads reopen and normal service can resume. It could even be that to reduce the strain on Liverpool services, there are two special Wirral services which run to Birkenhead Bus Station and Liscard respectively and back, while usual cross-river services run only so far as Birkenhead before running back out from there- this would reduce crowding in both Liverpool City Centre and Birkenhead Bus Station.

I think Merseytravel and the transport operators have a lot of responsibility for the safety of the public here. Merseyrail can't really be blamed for the closure of James Street due to crowds - Moorfields is perhaps questionable, but it is in need of refurbishment, although this will inevitibly strain the rest of the central network - and Lime Street has no option but to deal with the deluge of out of towners that it will be 'blessed with'. Therefore, the bus companies offer the only really feasible way of moving people away from the city quickly enough and in any great capacity. Its not like it is financially straining to the likes of Arriva or Stagecoach to lay on some extra services which provide guarenteed custom. Even if they were paid for by Merseytravel, who would profit from the extra money brought in from fares, this would still see the crowd situation dealt with in the most efficient way possible.

[E400]

RE: The Three Queens Visit
Further to my last post, I'd also consider keeping a lane free on Scotland Road and Byrom Street for buses and emergency services to use, and the roundabout at the entrance to the Birkenhead tunnel should be policed to ensure traffic can flow out of the city centre and isn't cut off by a constant stream of vehicles off Scotland Road.

[E400]

RE: The Three Queens Visit

(29/03/2015 20:23)Dentonian Wrote:  I'm not sure how this would work. I don't think it would be lawful for Merseytravel as a public authority to "profit" from putting on extra buses. More to the point, the Operators would only run them if they, themselves kept the profits. There would then be the legal (and practical) ramifications of Merseytravel subsidising such services after the 2015/6 budget has been agreed. If money was spent on these, presumably other subsidised services would have to be cut over and above what would already be planned. They would also have to go out to competitive tender, so any such services would not necessarily be run by Arriva and/or Stagecoach.
Put simply, the only viable solution would be for Operators to run extra buses commercially.

Sadly that is most likely the case, but as I said in a previous post, the bus operators collectively are really the only option for moving people. If they want to continue with a 'business as usual' approach, they're going to cause issues for themselves, the public and the police.