Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot

[iMarkeh]

RE: Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot

(Yesterday 07:23)MTL0201 Wrote:  Took a ride on the X4 yesterday but only from Widnes to Liverpool, & from observations, it does need a frequency increace to every 30 minutes, the bus was full on arriving at Green Oaks, were half the passengers got off, & this was lunchtime.

Also i wonder if its worth rerouting the X4 in Widnes with an extra stop introduced at Vicarage Road given the convoluted route it takes from Green Oaks to Speke Boulevard, felt like it took an age to get from Green Oaks to Speke Boulevard because of the traffic lights on the route.

If the X4 were to be changed, I'd probably run an hourly fast X1 type service and then have an hourly Runcorn - Widnes (via Gateway bridge) - Liverpool run to complement it. It makes little sense having the X4 duplicate over so many other routes, between Runcorn and Widnes (people should use the many other buses) and so having it used the Gateway bridges means it does something unique and speeds up journeys from the Busway to Widnes (which is currently stupidly slow given the distance).

Runcorn gets a faster bus, More uniqueness to the route. Widnes pax should have more room as the bus won't be as full from Runcorn. Existing buses all get busier as the X4 wont be full of local demand but more the distance demand which is the point of the route.