MP Travel

[knutstransport]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 10:26)Mrboo Wrote:  Does not matter as you count weekly tickets as 10 trips a week. so say a bus at 10pm has 10 people on board you count that as 10 returns a week.

Weekly tickets are valid for an unlimited number of trips in a week. It might be many people make 5 return journeys but someone will make an additional return journey e.g. for a Saturday night out, in addition to their weekly commute and some may make fewer journeys e.g. if they are ill after purchasing a weekly ticket or someone offers them a lift one morning/evening.

[knutstransport]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 06:42)Mrboo Wrote:  If the X1 had people standing often Arriva would not of let it go. if a bus is not making about a good £20ph / £25ph it not worth bus running.

Arriva's definition of viable is different to other operators. Operators like D&G Bus run a lot of routes that Arriva used to run and either decided they don't want to operate commercially, or that Arriva lost the contract for by requiring a higher subsidy than other bidders.

[Barney]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 12:38)knutstransport Wrote:  Arriva's definition of viable is different to other operators. Operators like D&G Bus run a lot of routes that Arriva used to run and either decided they don't want to operate commercially, or that Arriva lost the contract for by requiring a higher subsidy than other bidders.

This is true. Each operator decides what is profitable and therefore viable. An annual profit margin of 2-3% may well acceptable to a small operator but a larger operator may well want a lot more in order to pay a dividend to its shareholders.

[iMarkeh]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 12:38)knutstransport Wrote:  Arriva's definition of viable is different to other operators. Operators like D&G Bus run a lot of routes that Arriva used to run and either decided they don't want to operate commercially, or that Arriva lost the contract for by requiring a higher subsidy than other bidders.

As I've said before, Arriva seem to judge their viability based off how much money that trip makes. A full standing double decker means nothing, just how much money is taken on that trip. I say this based off when you look at most Arriva networks, they tend to not run evenings or much on Sundays. These are the times when people use their pre paid tickets (returns, days, weeklies etc) so a lot less revenue is taken.

I know that side of it is OT but the point being that if an operator takes the weekly ticket revenue and uses that to cross subsidise the return trips which are busy but not actually money making, that could open up more trips to run. It's all down to how each operator distributes the revenue from the tickets.

We will have to wait and see what MP has up their sleeves. Hopefully it gets worked out that 35 minutes layover every 2 hours is quite excessive and really reduces the viability of the service overall.

[wirralbus]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 18:54)iMarkeh Wrote:  As I've said before, Arriva seem to judge their viability based off how much money that trip makes. A full standing double decker means nothing, just how much money is taken on that trip. I say this based off when you look at most Arriva networks, they tend to not run evenings or much on Sundays. These are the times when people use their pre paid tickets (returns, days, weeklies etc) so a lot less revenue is taken.

I know that side of it is OT but the point being that if an operator takes the weekly ticket revenue and uses that to cross subsidise the return trips which are busy but not actually money making, that could open up more trips to run. It's all down to how each operator distributes the revenue from the tickets.

We will have to wait and see what MP has up their sleeves. Hopefully it gets worked out that 35 minutes layover every 2 hours is quite excessive and really reduces the viability of the service overall.

With a route like that you will find that 35 minutes will get eaten into quite a few times and the rest is just contingency.

Unreliability will just send the customers looking elsewhere so yes i agree it may long excessive but you have to look at the advantages and disadvantages .

[Liamkennedy2231]

RE: MP Travel
The problem with Arriva’s situation was that a £16 weekly is such a good deal as it would get you as far as Southport, St Helens, Wigan, Warrington, Runcorn and the Wirral. So the revenue of a Merseyside Plus ticket would be spread across quite a large number of services, as I’m sure there would be a number of passengers using not just the X1.

Meanwhile, when MP sell their tickets, customers will be confined to using just the X1, meaning revenue raised is solely from this service. Not to mention the revenue from Merseytravel pass users, who can still use the service between Liverpool ONE and Speke.

[iMarkeh]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 19:15)wirralbus Wrote:  With a route like that you will find that 35 minutes will get eaten into quite a few times and the rest is just contingency.

Unreliability will just send the customers looking elsewhere so yes i agree it may long excessive but you have to look at the advantages and disadvantages .

I mean, there are much longer routes with much less layover and not much buffer time. I am not saying scrap layover or anything like that as I do agree it's needed. 35 minutes is excessive though. I worked it out very roughly yesterday and it worked out that over the day the amount spend on driver wages for the layover worked out that you were essentially paying a driver to sit around doing nothing all day.

[wirralbus]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 19:31)Liamkennedy2231 Wrote:  The problem with Arriva’s situation was that a £16 weekly is such a good deal as it would get you as far as Southport, St Helens, Wigan, Warrington, Runcorn and the Wirral. So the revenue of a Merseyside Plus ticket would be spread across quite a large number of services, as I’m sure there would be a number of passengers using not just the X1.

Meanwhile, when MP sell their tickets, customers will be confined to using just the X1, meaning revenue raised is solely from this service. Not to mention the revenue from Merseytravel pass users, who can still use the service between Liverpool ONE and Speke.

It seems MP Travel where in the right place at the right time , lets all just hope that the service does well .

[Liamkennedy2231]

RE: MP Travel

(16/01/2021 20:16)wirralbus Wrote:  It seems MP Travel where in the right place at the right time , lets all just hope that the service does well .

Here’s hoping! I’m sure it will.

Will be interesting to see if the X1 gets any timetable changes in the future, maybe seeing the return of Sunday services (post-lockdown of course).

[Liamkennedy2231]

RE: MP Travel
I assume it was F18 HOW which broke down at Speke Retail the other day.

Noticed it parked at South Liverpool Commercials on Woodend Avenue in Speke, round the corner from the Arriva Depot