Christmas Night Bus Services

[Barney]

Christmas Night Bus Services
According to the Merseytravel site there will be a number of Saturday night bus services (N10, N14, N53, N82 and N86) in the lead-up to Christmas operating from Queen Square. Both Stagecoach and Arriva have registered services but not all of the former night bus services (N5, N20, N55, N75, N79, N350 and Wirrals) will operate.

As it must be three years since the Liverpool night bus services were withdrawn, I am curious to know why there has been a change of policy. My own recollections of night bus operation between 1997-2010 in the lead-up to Christmas was that they extremely popular and well-used.

It has been suggested that Merseytravel has possibly received some funding (possibly from Liverpool City Council) to run these services for some reason. If this is the case is it because a) the city centre night life has suffered since the withdrawal of night buses or b) the problems of getting a taxi home is having an adverse effect on the whole late-night experience? Either way, unless these services are well publicised, I cannot see them being a success.

Personally, as my night bus will not run (N55) I shall have to rely on others to report how successful or otherwise this venture has been.

[Valandil]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services

(06/11/2014 16:42)Barney Wrote:  According to the Merseytravel site there will be a number of Saturday night bus services (N10, N14, N53, N82 and N86) in the lead-up to Christmas operating from Queen Square. Both Stagecoach and Arriva have registered services but not all of the former night bus services (N5, N20, N55, N75, N79, N350 and Wirrals) will operate.

As it must be three years since the Liverpool night bus services were withdrawn, I am curious to know why there has been a change of policy. My own recollections of night bus operation between 1997-2010 in the lead-up to Christmas was that they extremely popular and well-used.

It has been suggested that Merseytravel has possibly received some funding (possibly from Liverpool City Council) to run these services for some reason. If this is the case is it because a) the city centre night life has suffered since the withdrawal of night buses or b) the problems of getting a taxi home is having an adverse effect on the whole late-night experience? Either way, unless these services are well publicised, I cannot see them being a success.

Personally, as my night bus will not run (N55) I shall have to rely on others to report how successful or otherwise this venture has been.

These will begin on 30th November.
Some further details:

N10 (Arriva)
Liverpool - Page Moss​
Pity this doesn't go all the way to St Helens!

​N14 (Arriva​ and Stagecoach)
​Liverpool - Croxteth

​N53 (Arriva​)
​Liverpool - Waterloo

​N82 (​Stagecoach)
​Liverpool - Garston

​N86 (​Stagecoach)
​Liverpool - Allerton

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services
Flat fare price for the seasonal N10, N14, N53, N82 and N86 services is confirmed at £2. Much better value than Arriva's former services which I seem to remember were charging £4 a go. Also cheaper than Merseyrail's late night services to Southport and Chester which are charging a £3 flat fare.

http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/about-us/...duced.aspx

If this is a success, I hope there's a possibility a year-round night service can be introduced on these routes. Then perhaps the "Quality" Bus Partnership routes might seem a bit more worthwhile.

[Barney]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services

(14/11/2014 16:08)507009 Wrote:  Flat fare price for the seasonal N10, N14, N53, N82 and N86 services is confirmed at £2. Much better value than Arriva's former services which I seem to remember were charging £4 a go. Also cheaper than Merseyrail's late night services to Southport and Chester which are charging a £3 flat fare.

http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/about-us/...duced.aspx

If this is a success, I hope there's a possibility a year-round night service can be introduced on these routes. Then perhaps the "Quality" Bus Partnership routes might seem a bit more worthwhile.

As this flat fare is 50% cheaper than that charged by Arriva three years ago before it withdrew its Liverpool night buses can we assume that Merseytravel has provided some financial support? If so, why haven't all of the former night bus routes been reintroduced?

As I have said before, unless Arriva and Stagecoach allow holders of their weekly, monthly and annual tickets tickets to use these services at a reduced fare then they will always struggle.

[wirralbus]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services
I can not see Merseytravel paying for this beyond the weeks on the run up to Christmas .

Think we will be a bit away from a 24/7 night bus service dont forget that was trialled on the 86 route , but didnt survive .

[Barney]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services

(15/11/2014 11:49)wirralbus Wrote:  I can not see Merseytravel paying for this beyond the weeks on the run up to Christmas .

Think we will be a bit away from a 24/7 night bus service dont forget that was trialled on the 86 route , but didnt survive .

Tonight is the first night of the Christmas night bus services and as my route isn't running I won't be out to see how many late-night revellers make use of them. I did ride on the 55N on its first night of operation in 1997 when it originally terminated at Seaforth Station and it had surprisingly good loadings then. Perhaps somebody on this forum could let me know how the first night went.

[M113 YKC]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services
I used the 02:00 N53 (unintentionally!) to get halfway home this morning (Queen Square to Litherland), bus being Green Lane's 3147. Had 8 passengers in total, more than half still being on when I got off. Staff who helped-out with loading were friendly.

There were a few people waiting for the N10 and one or two on the N14 and N86 at around 01:30 (IIRC!) - nothing into double figures though. Not bad for poorly-advertised services with incorrect information on the boards at the stands (saying that the last journeys were well earlier than they actually are).

Once again (typically for this industry), an example of potential ruined by poor advertisement...

[Barney]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services

(14/12/2014 13:33)YJ59 AZA Wrote:  I used the 02:00 N53 (unintentionally!) to get halfway home this morning (Queen Square to Litherland), bus being Green Lane's 3147. Had 8 passengers in total, more than half still being on when I got off. Staff who helped-out with loading were friendly.

There were a few people waiting for the N10 and one or two on the N14 and N86 at around 01:30 (IIRC!) - nothing into double figures though. Not bad for poorly-advertised services with incorrect information on the boards at the stands (saying that the last journeys were well earlier than they actually are).

Once again (typically for this industry), an example of potential ruined by poor advertisement...

Thanks for that. It is quite ironic that there has been a big debate recently on local radio and the Echo site over which is the better option, Delta or the black hackneys. At no point have the Christmas night buses been mentioned. If, and it's never going to happen, a comprehensive weekend night bus service operated there wouldn't be much demand for either.

[E400]

RE: Christmas Night Bus Services

(14/12/2014 15:44)Dentonian Wrote:  I'm not sure about that! In terms of normal daytime demand, I always got the impression that taxis were more of an everyday form of transport in Liverpool than in Manchester, despite historically lower bus fares. As regards night time journeys, we've seen how Manchester's (and especially Wigan's) Night buses were a short term, politically correct solution, allowing GMP to pass on the responsibility of Night crime to TFGM and First/Stagecoach. Consequence; low patronage and big bill for tax-payer. The classic, though, was in Bolton, when the 36 (I think) Night Bus was stopped on Mon-Thu nights. We had Councillors complaining that SCHOOL kids couldn't get home from the Disco in the early hours of Friday (ie. a School night) mornings.

I finished work at 0230 last night/this morning and drove past an N86 which had at least 10-12 people on it inbound by Lewis's. I also passed the 500 which was Ace's red double decker and that looked packed. I tell you now that after a 16 hour shift I would get the night buses home if they still did proper cross river services. Unfortunately I live too far from the 500 route to make it a viable option other than after 0430 as I can get one of the first 41's on Argyle Street.