Merseyside Night Buses

[E400]

Merseyside Night Buses
So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I'm pretty convinced that there -must- be viable night bus routes throughout Merseyside, particularly on cross-river services given the greatly hiked price of taxis to get home when compared with city-based fares.

There is a call for later train services at weekends, which led to a series of articles in the Echo, but obviously the overheads for operating trains are much more than buses, and the disruption to residents living along the route is immensely greater; so buses are really the only viable option.

And that's what is bugging me: Arriva withdrew their nightbuses last year because they were no longer commercially viable, and Merseytravel axed the 500 because it was under used. But given the potential passenger volume, and the masses of taxis which empty Liverpool of Wirral residents on Friday and Saturday nights, surely there is some formula out there for an actual commercially worthwhile night bus route?

I have a couple of ideas, but I'd like to hear what the community thinks? Surely I'm not the only person with this going through my head.

First of all, I think that any operator should do what Arriva never did, and operate their services in both directions, rather than simply Wirral-bound. I also feel that the timetables should be displayed on all bus stops along the route in order to draw attention to the fact that a night bus service actually exists. I also think that if the nightbuses are to operate from Queen Square, that a notice should be displayed on the timetables in Sir Thomas St and Cook Street along the lines of "Cross river night buses operate from Stand 10 Queen Square on Friday and Saturday nights".

It's a shame that we find ourselves without a 24 hour bus operation, and I'd personally love to see that end sooner rather than later. Any ideas/discussion welcome, no matter how seemingly absurd or crazy!