Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

[Aaron's Transport Pictures]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
Enviro400's 19569 and 19570 will be used during the Parklife festival in Manchester this weekend.

[mrd97]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
Stagecoach are looking to alter/reduce service provision in the Wirral to keep commercial viability. As a result, they are running a consultation on Merseytravel’s website. One of their proposals is to have the 22 revert to its original route (before it was even ran by Stagecoach) between West Kirby and Chester only, via Greasby and Irby. This is welcome news to those in Irby but then West Kirby is left without a bus to Arrowe Park Hospital, and the 82 would be redundant between Irby and Greasby. How would merseytravel respond?

According to Eastham Councillor Phil Gilchrist, Stagecoach have also proposed shortening the 2 to run between Liverpool and Croft Retail Park only. The Liverpool - Chester bus corridor is rather complex in my opinion, as they no longer run to a combined 10 minute frequency as they did under the QBP, so this would certainly simplify the network. However, this would see large sections of Great Sutton in Ellesmere Port without a bus service at all. My hope is Stagecoach would then extend the 6 or 7 as a response as I doubt Cheshire West and Cheshire Council would plug the gap by funding a subsidised service.

[MTL0201]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
The 22 is quite long, & always seems to have reliability issues, i often see the 22 at least 10 minutes late, with no room for error on the timetable to pick up time either. The Sandbrook estate could be covered by extending the 17[that has 10 minute layover in Moreton] to loop the estate, & the 17 seems to be more reliable. Doesn't help the 22 West Kirby-Moreton is timed either just before or just after the 38, plus with the 407 as well now. that section of the 22 feels like a white elephant.

[iMarkeh]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(08/06/2019 07:00)mrd97 Wrote:  Stagecoach are looking to alter/reduce service provision in the Wirral to keep commercial viability. As a result, they are running a consultation on Merseytravel’s website. One of their proposals is to have the 22 revert to its original route (before it was even ran by Stagecoach) between West Kirby and Chester only, via Greasby and Irby. This is welcome news to those in Irby but then West Kirby is left without a bus to Arrowe Park Hospital, and the 82 would be redundant between Irby and Greasby. How would merseytravel respond?

According to Eastham Councillor Phil Gilchrist, Stagecoach have also proposed shortening the 2 to run between Liverpool and Croft Retail Park only. The Liverpool - Chester bus corridor is rather complex in my opinion, as they no longer run to a combined 10 minute frequency as they did under the QBP, so this would certainly simplify the network. However, this would see large sections of Great Sutton in Ellesmere Port without a bus service at all. My hope is Stagecoach would then extend the 6 or 7 as a response as I doubt Cheshire West and Cheshire Council would plug the gap by funding a subsidised service.

It’s a hard one really on the 22 as the Neston councillors want a link to Arrowe Park. It’s. shame they can’t shrink it to West Kirby as it would cause too much dead time. Could it work doing the 22 route to West Kirby and then as the 83A to West Kirby to restore the links lost. Sandbrook moved onto the 17 as was mentioned elsewhere. This routing would restore links and give more reason for people to use the 22.
Going back to the old 22 route will be good for the end to end journey. Maybe Stagecoach saw the demand for Avon’s 88 (and their current 82 and are looking to reroute on that basis.

Are you sure about the 2? I would understand Chester to Croft but not Liverpool to Croft. Liverpool to Birkenhead can be empty half the time and then to Bennington is done by the 38 so it’s basically as if Port Sunlight is good enough to keep the route going.

The 2 is a very busy route through to Chester as I am sure many will agree. The issue with the 2 now compared to the QBP is the route. The route goes round the world and back again so it’s become common knowledge, don’t get the 2 as it’s too long and it has contributed to the overcrowding on the 1. Another key issue is the fares for Ellesmere Port. It’s all dayrider plus tickets for returns which is costly if yours only going a few stops. If an EPort zone was introduced, passenger numbers would rise very quickly.

[L401CJF]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(08/06/2019 11:03)iMarkeh Wrote:  The 2 is a very busy route through to Chester as I am sure many will agree. The issue with the 2 now compared to the QBP is the route. The route goes round the world and back again so it’s become common knowledge, don’t get the 2 as it’s too long and it has contributed to the overcrowding on the 1. Another key issue is the fares for Ellesmere Port. It’s all dayrider plus tickets for returns which is costly if yours only going a few stops. If an EPort zone was introduced, passenger numbers would rise very quickly.

Couldn't agree more. I used to live in Bromborough when it was QBP and had a Liverpool bus every 10mins. Relatives still live in Bromborough so if we are going to Liverpool with them we will park there and catch the 1. If a 2 comes we always let it go knowing the 1 a few minutes behind will beat it to Liverpool. No need to run the 2 around the world in my opinion, its overkill having both a 2 and 38 running the same route.

[wirralbus]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
Wonder what is planned for the 38.

The service 1 to me always seems to suffer from reliability issues at Chester Zoo and Cheshire Oaks , this route needs to service one or the other but not both , i would prefer the 1 to make use of its present route and service Cheshire Oaks , and the service 2 to operate via Chester zoo and maybe appease the residents of Upton lane with a few less buses down it every hour. Earlier this week the service 1 had to be rerouted due to inconsiderately parked cars in it , so there is not much love lost between the residents and Stagecoach at this time.

[Turbostar]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
There would be some logic in dividing the 2 into two separate services. I suspect the idea would be to run a Liverpool-Croft Park service, and also a Chester to Little Sutton service, (maybe running via the northern part of route 6).

The bit between Little Sutton & Eastham is well enough served for the relatively low number of people living on the route, and services 41 & 42 are available between Eastham & Croft Retail Park.

Anyone have any idea what changes may be in store for the X8?

[Walton 46]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(08/06/2019 19:34)Turbostar Wrote:  There would be some logic in dividing the 2 into two separate services. I suspect the idea would be to run a Liverpool-Croft Park service, and also a Chester to Little Sutton service, (maybe running via the northern part of route 6).

The bit between Little Sutton & Eastham is well enough served for the relatively low number of people living on the route, and services 41 & 42 are available between Eastham & Croft Retail Park.

Anyone have any idea what changes may be in store for the X8?

Aside from the 22, there are no other proposed changes at the moment. Stagecoach are just consulting to see what passengers of their network on the Wirral and what the passengers think could be improved

[ls1911]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
Cheshire Oaks always seems to be a massive killer in terms of reliability for the Chester routes. How they get around that without either a) skipping it or b) having a radical redesign of the Cheshire Oaks road system I've no idea.

[Turbostar]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(09/06/2019 17:29)ls1911 Wrote:  Cheshire Oaks always seems to be a massive killer in terms of reliability for the Chester routes. How they get around that without either a) skipping it or b) having a radical redesign of the Cheshire Oaks road system I've no idea.

Very true. McArthur Glen have tinkered with the road layout a bit, but some dedicated bus lanes around there would be a good idea. Can’t see it happening any time soon though.