Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

[MTL0201]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
I've been on the 22 a few times & most of the time Chester-Neston is the busiest section, you might get a few staying on until Parkgate & Heswall, but not many after Heswall, & half of the passengers are using ENCTS passes to boot too

Evening services have never really been viable commercially, the old 22/33 going back to C22/C23 have had evening services tendered by mostly the old Cheshire County Council, under Cheshire Bus & Merseytravel, & mostly going Chester-Heswall, the old 186 took over Heswall-West Kirby section

[wirralbus]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(28/01/2020 22:29)MTL0201 Wrote:  I've been on the 22 a few times & most of the time Chester-Neston is the busiest section, you might get a few staying on until Parkgate & Heswall, but not many after Heswall, & half of the passengers are using ENCTS passes to boot too

Evening services have never really been viable commercially, the old 22/33 going back to C22/C23 have had evening services tendered by mostly the old Cheshire County Council, under Cheshire Bus & Merseytravel, & mostly going Chester-Heswall, the old 186 took over Heswall-West Kirby section

Chester to neston has always been the busiest section as there is no other real way of getting to chester otherwise. Chester to Heswall i would say is the next busiest corridor on this route . The section that could be vulnerable if the tendering authorities wanted to save money would be Heswall - West kirby.

[Harryn9000]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
ye neston is a pain to get to without a car. i wish there was a quicker way to get there from liverpool end.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(28/01/2020 02:07)N271CKB Wrote:  Been mentioned on the Stagecoach MCSL facebook group that the 7 and 22, both operated by Chester garage, are to go out to tender in March.
Looking back over the operators history of the 22 in recent years, its seems the 22 just isnt commercially viable

Quick update for this, Routes today cancelled on VOSA from 15th March.

[L401CJF]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(30/01/2020 21:05)Harryn9000 Wrote:  ye neston is a pain to get to without a car. i wish there was a quicker way to get there from liverpool end.

Try commuting there from Laird Street at various times of day, useless train service particularly in the evenings and hourly bus of a night!

[Jw88]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(03/02/2020 12:01)T42 PVM Wrote:  Quick update for this, Routes today cancelled on VOSA from 15th March.

If this is the case, there will be big gaps in bus network.
West Kirby - Heswall
Heswall - Neston
Neston - Chester

What didn’t help was when the 22 went from Rock Ferry Depot to the Chester Depot. as the 22 didn’t come at the same time each hour, with 50 - 75 minute intervals between each service.

This confused many passengers as they were used to an hourly service, during this switch I did notice a massive drop in passenger numbers in the Merseytravel areas particularly as bus stops hadn’t been updated for months after this change, leaving passengers waiting and wondering if the bus will arrive or not.

Another issue with the Wirral end of the route was the fact that the first 22 didn’t get to West Kirby until around 10:00 before the change at the start of the month, which isn’t good for workers as most shops open around 08:30 in West Kirby and Heswall.

I wonder now if the Cheshire West Council could fund from Chester to Heswall and Merseytravel fund for a reintroduction of the 88 previously run by Avon Buses between Heswall and West Kirby.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots
While Stagecoach have cancelled them on VOSA it is still possible they will win them as a contract and re-register them, Or someone else will win the contract for them services

[chester285]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(03/02/2020 22:17)T42 PVM Wrote:  While Stagecoach have cancelled them on VOSA it is still possible they will win them as a contract and re-register them, Or someone else will win the contract for them services

When are the contracts announced?

[wirralbus]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(03/02/2020 19:23)L401CJF Wrote:  Try commuting there from Laird Street at various times of day, useless train service particularly in the evenings and hourly bus of a night!

Neston is like a dormitory town at night , if you dont have a car unfortunately your not going to get out easily , but that is rural life for you in this day and age .

The problem is the West Wirral between Chester , Neston , Heswall and West Kirby is as rural as your going to get.

Another subject that keeps coming up is the ENCTS that makes some of these routes uneconomic as off peak the vast majority of these passengers are travelling with little commercial fares sold .

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

(03/02/2020 23:03)chester285 Wrote:  When are the contracts announced?

With a Cancelled date in mid March i would expect it to be some point in the next couple of weeks