St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)

[M60lad]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)
Out of interest is there anyway that a St Helens-Liverpool Express service (maybe an X10 or similar) could work? Maybe picking up in St Helens and then running Express or Limited Stop down East Lancs Road.

[MPTE1955]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)
I wouldn't have thought so, no money in it.

[RedPanda]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)

(13/02/2019 06:54)M60lad Wrote:  Out of interest is there anyway that a St Helens-Liverpool Express service (maybe an X10 or similar) could work? Maybe picking up in St Helens and then running Express or Limited Stop down East Lancs Road.

I guess East Lancs, M57 J3 or J2 and then stop at key stops along the normal 10 route though consider it more once Windle Island is finished for the unteampth time.

With regards to the 22 how busy doe it get? Currently the 603 is M780 Solos and it works fine. I don’t think they’d work well at rush hour. Not in Warrington.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)

(13/02/2019 06:54)M60lad Wrote:  Out of interest is there anyway that a St Helens-Liverpool Express service (maybe an X10 or similar) could work? Maybe picking up in St Helens and then running Express or Limited Stop down East Lancs Road.

Think a better option would be something like the way the 34 used to be when ran Liverpool - Manchester. The Liverpool - St Helens section was a very fast version of the 10 apart from running via Edge Lane between Old Swan and Liverpool. I think operators these days are too worried about missing custom from intermediate stops as there are generally now very few Express/Limited Stop services in this area these days.

[MPTE1955]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)
The days of the express are gone in this area, companies do not want to be passing people at stops especially when the competition will pick them up. Days gone by PTEs were running services so it didn't matter much.

[Brickmill]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)

(13/02/2019 08:42)MPTE1955 Wrote:  The days of the express are gone in this area, companies do not want to be passing people at stops especially when the competition will pick them up. Days gone by PTEs were running services so it didn't matter much.

I n PTE days, Express/LS services were as well as, rather than instead of, local services. The other factor is that extra demand is/was at peak times when congestion means you'd be crawling past the passengers you couldn't pick up.

[MPTE1955]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)
True they were in most cases, back in the days when you would pay peak hours fares as well.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)

(13/02/2019 08:42)MPTE1955 Wrote:  The days of the express are gone in this area, companies do not want to be passing people at stops especially when the competition will pick them up. Days gone by PTEs were running services so it didn't matter much.

Even in the 90s, there was so much competition on the 10 corridor that the 34/320 could still make money as being Limited Stop/Express.

[MTL0201]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)

(13/02/2019 08:59)Brickmill Wrote:  I n PTE days, Express/LS services were as well as, rather than instead of, local services. The other factor is that extra demand is/was at peak times when congestion means you'd be crawling past the passengers you couldn't pick up.

Yep express often get held up in the traffic especially in the peaks, probably end up taking the same amount of time as the stopping service so be useless. The old 34 was timed to take 45 minutes Liverpool-St Helens often arrived early, hate to think what that would take now, at times can take 15-20 minutes getting through Old Swan alone.

West Midlands is an area with expresses, most now only operate part express, think only X51 Birmingham-Walsall extending to Cannock in the peak, maybe the only true express left, that has the advantage of diving through the underpasses & overpasses on the route.

[Bevan Price]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review (2018)
There are two main problems with possible express buses between St. Helens & Liverpool.
1. Trains are fairly frequent and much faster. The heyday of express buses was when the trains were infrequent and had some long gaps in the services.
2. The A58 & A57 have been blighted with so many traffic lights at minor junctions that, even outside peak hours, they probably add about 10 to 15 minutes to every trip between St. Helens and Liverpool; even with a handful of intermediate stops for passengers, you would be lucky to get journey times to around 45 - 50 minutes. But, due to the silly way the Traffic Commissioners' punctuality rules work, timetables tend to be timed for slow running, and you would probably find your bus "waiting for time" several times.