Warrington's Own Buses

[ant17612]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
One of the 14 Plates from Jim Stones was on the 715 yesterday along with one of the older ex Panther Travel Enviro200s.

[knutstransport]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses

(30/05/2020 09:21)knutstransport Wrote:  The same could be said about the 47 journeys which only go to High Legh (even on the normal timetable) you'd think that allowing people from Lymm/High Legh/Mere to travel to Knutsford without spending half the day there would attract more passengers, especially considering the Lymm-Knutsford journey quite often arrives in Knutsford empty and the Knutsford-Lymm journey quite often leaves Knutsford empty. Although, as the operator is owned by Warrington BC, perhaps they don't really want people from Lymm and High Legh shopping in Knutsford.

I think some people may have read my post and decided to try to prove me wrong. The Lymm-Knutsford journey this morning arrived in Knutsford with 6 passengers on board. It was operated by a Cheshire CAT Enviro.

[AlexBus12]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
Warrington Borough Council have placed a bid to become the first all electric bus town. The council are currently in discussions with WOB and other operators..
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/new...-bus-town/

Quote:
WARRINGTON Borough Council has launched an ambitious bid to become the UK’s first all-electric bus town.

In an expression of interest to the Department for Transport, the Labour-run authority has stressed that having the UK’s first all-electric bus fleet would be a vital scheme in raising both the profile of Warrington as a place to live and work, along with supporting its ambitions for greener and cleaner transport options throughout the borough.

Warrington’s air quality is something the council is working hard to improve and it believes an all-electric bus fleet would provide a real boost and a unique opportunity to make a significant, positive change.

With municipal operator, Warrington’s Own Buses, covering 80 per cent of the bus mileage in the borough there is also a distinct opportunity for the company to invest in an electric fleet, which can be maintained and overseen in partnership with the council.

Meanwhile, the expression of interest also makes clear that all operators in the borough would have provision to go electric.

Cllr Hans Mundry, cabinet member responsible for transport, said: “We have been actively working on ensuring that our transport plans are made cleaner and greener and contribute to our ambitions to make Warrington a more sustainable place.

“The opportunity to bid to have the UK’s first all-electric bus fleet was too good an opportunity to miss and would substantially support our commitment to tackling the climate emergency.

“Our local transport plan (LTP4), which was adopted in December last year, notes our twin priorities of reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality.

“With the support of all of our local bus operators, who can see the benefits for themselves, we can work together to be part of a game-changing transport offering for the people of Warrington.

“This isn’t a pipe dream. This is something I am absolutely convinced we have the combined energy, knowledge and partnership-oriented approach to make our vision to be the UK’s first fully electric bus town a reality.”

[Valandil]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
One odd thing is how the Cat9 is a lot more frequent than normal.
Anyone know why the Cat9A isn't running and all journeys are running as Cat9 - I'm guessing it's due to council funding being pulled?
It seems odd, particularly with the extra shorts on the Cat9 running between Northwich and Wincham too, often not that long before/after the full-length Cat9.

One other interesting thing is how the new short 25s go around Cinnamon Brow in the opposite direction to the old route of the 23.

[knutstransport]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
Could be the extra Cat9 is in response to the 89 not currently running, as well as around 60% of Lostock Graham to Northwich trains not running.

The only pre-9am time train arrival at Lostock Graham from the Chester direction is 07:30, not good for anyone working at Lostock Business Park who can't start at 8 or earlier!

[M60lad]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
I wonder what's going to happen from next week when D&Gs 89 service is back running?

[knutstransport]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
It seems the Cat9/Cat9a claim by Valandil is actually out-of-date. According to the Warrington's Own Buses site that route has returned to normal with the 9 operating one hour and the 9a the following hour.

Although, it doesn't help when they say 'Page last updated 23 March' on their COVID-19 page when in fact the page has been updated multiple times since then: https://www.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk/ne...9-pandemic

[Valandil]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses
This page says last updated 8th June 2020:
https://www.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk/em...timetables
"Service 9A is not operating."

[K10K11]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses

(08/06/2020 23:55)Valandil Wrote:  One odd thing is how the Cat9 is a lot more frequent than normal.
Anyone know why the Cat9A isn't running and all journeys are running as Cat9 - I'm guessing it's due to council funding being pulled?
It seems odd, particularly with the extra shorts on the Cat9 running between Northwich and Wincham too, often not that long before/after the full-length Cat9.

One other interesting thing is how the new short 25s go around Cinnamon Brow in the opposite direction to the old route of the 23.

I'm assuming the Cat9 shorts are so the bus on the 48 isn't waiting at Northwich for a couple of hours. As you say though, the timing on most of the shorts is within 15 minutes of the journeys to and from Warrington. And with the 89 restarting, Lostock Gralam and Wincham will have its best service for a while.

[knutstransport]

RE: Warrington's Own Buses

(09/06/2020 09:00)Valandil Wrote:  This page says last updated 8th June 2020:
https://www.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk/em...timetables
"Service 9A is not operating."

So WOB have multiple timetables on their website and the actual downloads don't have 'valid from' dates on them!

The limited Northwich bound short CAT9 services run ahead of the full CAT9s, so perhaps that is to encourage Wincham & Lostock passengers to get on an almost empty bus, instead of one that already has a fair few passengers on board. The morning shorts are also the hours that Northern are not running a Lostock-Northwich train.

Although, leaving Northwich the reverse is true, with the exception of one journey, so unless the idea is that if a lot of people attempt to board the Warrington bound bus, the driver will ask those for Lostock & Wincham to instead get the slightly later service, I don't how that would work?