Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

[iMarkeh]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
Interworking is a fantastic way of running bus services. The issues arise when you interwork buses which run to different areas. If buses are delayed in New Brighton for example, the 432 and 433 will be delayed regardless of them being on their own or interworking. In Warringtons case, they interworked things like the 25 and the 3 so buses in Martinscroft risked being delayed by something happening in Birchwood. In Chester, the 1/1A interwork but that is ok because they both run to the exact same area so regardless of where the delay is, both routes would be affected anyway. Plus, it means buses aren't say around for 12 minutes after every trip.

Those are three examples of interworking. two where interworking can help and one where interworking can be a major disadvantage.

The 407 and 472 are a bit daft as they run to completely different areas so when something happens, it affects a lot more than just the 407 or 472. I can see the advantage of off peak interworking but between 3pm and 7pm, theses should be kept as standalone routes or interwork but with a good 10-15 min layover (at which point, you have to look at which would cost more, the extra buses for the extra layover on interworking or shuttle cars for what would essentially be just a few drivers (as you could just time drivers to start and finish when the interworking happens).