Wirral Bus Network Review

[wirralbus]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review
Another route possibly needing some reforming is the 418 , dont think chopping it at New Ferry was a good idea , also it had the unwelcome feel that Arriva doesnt want to serve South of New Ferry leaving it to a Stagecoach Monopoly.

[mrd97]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review

(16/01/2020 21:20)wirralbus Wrote:  Another route possibly needing some reforming is the 418 , dont think chopping it at New Ferry was a good idea , also it had the unwelcome feel that Arriva doesnt want to serve South of New Ferry leaving it to a Stagecoach Monopoly.

I agree, see the thing is, the 38 is a bit useless south of the Croft. The areas is serves are well served by railway stations. But what I mean is it goes past Bebington Station, near Rock Ferry Station and into Birkenhead - similar route to the railway line. The 418/419 went off towards Prenton, Arrowe Park and Upton - offering residents in Mill Park and Bromborough more links than the 38 which was little more use than the railway is.

[wirralbus]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review

(16/01/2020 22:46)mrd97 Wrote:  I agree, see the thing is, the 38 is a bit useless south of the Croft. The areas is serves are well served by railway stations. But what I mean is it goes past Bebington Station, near Rock Ferry Station and into Birkenhead - similar route to the railway line. The 418/419 went off towards Prenton, Arrowe Park and Upton - offering residents in Mill Park and Bromborough more links than the 38 which was little more use than the railway is.

i do think the 418/419 was a good idea , but they should have picked one of the two routes and i would have plumped for the 419 over the overbussed New Chester Road served 418

[Jw88]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review
Just seen online the respones from the wirral bus review, Merseytravel got quite a bit of criticism this time. frequent routes that were mentioned included the 16/16A/17, 22, 38/38A, 81, 91 and the 492/495 There was also mention of the lost links e.g. Heswall to Clatterbridge, evenings and sundays between Heswall and West Kirby, etc.

Link: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/6...sthrough=1

[wirralbus]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review
A lot of the changes where brought about in the last review because the pool of money was getting smaller and the amount of operators for these contracts was diminishing faster than the sunset on a winters day.

Unfortunately each area will have priorities and Merseytravel , Arriva and Stagecoach had to step up when Avon went bust , but not everything that they had was commercially viable and not all workable from the resources they had available.

22 , needs a lot of money from both Merseytravel and Cheshire West and Chester to keep this route going , Stagecoach can see no future in this route commercially , they themselves have tried a few things , the chopping and changing from routing via Arrowe Park Hospital to Irby Mill Hill , doesnt help .

38/38A , now the main part of the route to New Fewrry , no problem , but if you want to get to Bromborough dont bother , it runs round the block that many times you could get off it on New Chester Road and save yourself a considerable amount of time , im sure this was supposed to be a standalone route 39 in the original plans between New Ferry and Eastham Ferry .

492/5 , Oh this one is a hot topic , think arriva introduced this evening and sunday service as a political measure , if they could come up with a reason to withdraw it they would .

[Jw88]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review

(28/06/2020 22:51)wirralbus Wrote:  A lot of the changes where brought about in the last review because the pool of money was getting smaller and the amount of operators for these contracts was diminishing faster than the sunset on a winters day.

Unfortunately each area will have priorities and Merseytravel , Arriva and Stagecoach had to step up when Avon went bust , but not everything that they had was commercially viable and not all workable from the resources they had available.

22 , needs a lot of money from both Merseytravel and Cheshire West and Chester to keep this route going , Stagecoach can see no future in this route commercially , they themselves have tried a few things , the chopping and changing from routing via Arrowe Park Hospital to Irby Mill Hill , doesnt help .

38/38A , now the main part of the route to New Fewrry , no problem , but if you want to get to Bromborough dont bother , it runs round the block that many times you could get off it on New Chester Road and save yourself a considerable amount of time , im sure this was supposed to be a standalone route 39 in the original plans between New Ferry and Eastham Ferry .

492/5 , Oh this one is a hot topic , think arriva introduced this evening and sunday service as a political measure , if they could come up with a reason to withdraw it they would .

I completely agree, but i think that Merseytravel didnt spend what money it had very wisely , for instance why does the 129 need to even run, its passenger numbers are so low.

The 73 is also another odd one in the bunch, it does not connect with the 17 at Spital, so many have to go to Arrowe park and then Heswall, also it cuts off Raby all together as well as Thornton Hough's link with Heswall.

Moreton Circulars, why take something that worked like the 901 and turn it into the confusing 1/1A/1B/1C. This annoys me becuase Merseytravel say they have no money for evening services, clearly they do, the links at night or sunday are horriffic, it takes 4 buses from Hoylake to Heswall, surely that cant be right. I would also withdraw the 216/217, it is basicaly the same route as the 418, but also serves Woodchurch and Woodside which are also served by the 41 at that time in the morning.

You're also right about the 38, its too long and is useless south of the croft unless you are going to Bromborough Rake or Eastham Ferry, prehaps that money could be used to bring back the 145/146 or the 84/85.

Arrowe Park also has very poor connections of an evening, for Wirrals main hospital it sure is hard to get to unless you live on the 423 or 471/472 routes.

[wirralbus]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review

(28/06/2020 23:14)Jw88 Wrote:  I completely agree, but i think that Merseytravel didnt spend what money it had very wisely , for instance why does the 129 need to even run, its passenger numbers are so low.

The 73 is also another odd one in the bunch, it does not connect with the 17 at Spital, so many have to go to Arrowe park and then Heswall, also it cuts off Raby all together as well as Thornton Hough's link with Heswall.

Moreton Circulars, why take something that worked like the 901 and turn it into the confusing 1/1A/1B/1C. This annoys me becuase Merseytravel say they have no money for evening services, clearly they do, the links at night or sunday are horriffic, it takes 4 buses from Hoylake to Heswall, surely that cant be right. I would also withdraw the 216/217, it is basicaly the same route as the 418, but also serves Woodchurch and Woodside which are also served by the 41 at that time in the morning.

You're also right about the 38, its too long and is useless south of the croft unless you are going to Bromborough Rake or Eastham Ferry, prehaps that money could be used to bring back the 145/146 or the 84/85.

Arrowe Park also has very poor connections of an evening, for Wirrals main hospital it sure is hard to get to unless you live on the 423 or 471/472 routes.

Seems like the 129 must also be a political decision , is there someone secretly famous buried in that graveyard at Frankby.

73 is one of my pet hates , why have another route running via Heath Road and Wirral Grammar School , why not operate via Bebington Station (for Aldi) and Town Lane .

To be honest the route between Heswall and Clatterbridge has always been a fresh air carrier carrying a couple of people at most , think most people having given up travelling that way , travelling via birkenhead instead.

Moreton circulars stinks of some one saying in merseytravel we wont vote for a project unless you improve our public transport network , because there just isnt a logical idea for anything beyond the 901.

216/217 routes could be withdrawn as there is no equivalent commercial service any more and tinker with other routes to cover the holes from existing services whether they be contracted journeys or de minimus journeys on coimmercial services.

One thing i would do again is but introduce it all day is extended the 41/42 from the Woodchurch Estate to Arrowe Park Hospital , the Woodchurch estate has always suffered from its location to not being able to get to arrowe park hospital easily , also dont forget Arrowe park Hospitaal sits on the top of a hill and most of the Woodchurch Estate is at the bottom of the said hill.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review
There’s some really odd comments in the review as well such as someone being annoyed that the 410 doesn’t connect with train services at Hamilton Square, despite the fact it passes Birkenhead Central and very closely to Conway Park amongst others

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review
I fully agree that it is painful to see how pared down the Wirral's bus network has become, as indeed it has across Merseyside.

As for further scaling back, I can't help but feel the 409 has led a charmed life for a while. It always was a quiet route, despite outliving others such as the 403 and 405. Will it ever go back to half-hourly post-Covid or even survive the bus review?

Out of interest, when did the 418 curtailment to New Ferry occur? That seems a surprising move and a virtual concession to Stagecoach as far as buses in South Wirral go.

[wirralbus]

RE: Wirral Bus Network Review

(29/06/2020 13:16)Raawwwrrr! Wrote:  There’s some really odd comments in the review as well such as someone being annoyed that the 410 doesn’t connect with train services at Hamilton Square, despite the fact it passes Birkenhead Central and very closely to Conway Park amongst others

Think Woodside and Hamilton Square Station are slowly becoming irrelevant , as a good majority of buses now dont operate down there any more , the centre of bus operations being Birkenhead Bus Station now.