Manchester 24 hour Public Transport

[Solo40336]

RE: Manchester 24 hour Public Transport

(29/01/2019 15:55)Brickmill Wrote:  On top of the variable costs quoted, it would be very expensive to keep a large depot like Queens Road open overnight with just a handful of buses running. The overheads would include extra lighting and depot staff as well as a few drivers. Further, apart from All Night markets being a different clientele, you have picked two corridors that there is evidence to suggest are overbussed. Although historically highly profitable, I've heard that Bus Reform studies of peak loadings on Rochdale Road corridor revealed surprisingly low numbers. As for the 36/37/38, that proves that Stagecoach DO cross the county to compete with First, and anecdotal evidence suggests that it is probably THE most overbussed corridor in the county, despite the 38 having the lowest (on bus) fares in the county. Yes, cheaper than MagicBus with a tiny fraction of the genuine demand.

Most Depots in Manchester are open 24 hours a day anyway, with Staff buses only getting a short gap between taking the last driver home and picking the first one up. Even when night buses were running more regularly, Engineering aren't usually in, and a case of if it breaks down, get it recovered is enforced. There is normally a router in overnight arranging the next days allocations and previous day's defect cards and in the past the vehicles on the night buses are usually in for scheduledaintananve the next day that allows for the fuelling/cleaning. The only added cost is diesel and the drivers wages. I used to use the 17 night bus regularly, a decker was never full but there was rarely more than a few seats spare, with a flat rate of £3 I can't see how it was loosing money, but then again First have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to cutting services then wondering why it doesn't make money....