Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot

[Gillmoss 0324]

RE: Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot

(31/12/2020 02:56)Raawwwrrr! Wrote:  The issue with the X1 is that it’s no longer profitable in each direction. Passengers travel to Liverpool in the morning and to Runcorn in the evening, very few make the trip in the opposite direction or during day, and quite simply it’s not cheap to run a limited stop service.

You could probably do what other operators do like Go North West and run the occasional X1 in each direction during peak hours (such as their x39) but the issue then becomes what does that bus do during the day? Does it just sit in the depot? Does it come off the 79c or 82a for example?

I thought the same about the X1. The only thing that might save it is if it became a M-F peak service, the thing with that is it's got to be 100% reliable if not you'll kill any passenger loyalty for the route. That won't be easy when it's coming in/out of gridlock especially at those peak times as/when we get over this Covid problem.

Making it peak only will also put costs on an operator like Arriva/MP Travel or anyone else looking to take that on as it will need a fair bit of resources to ensure it remains reliable, I think some of Arriva's Liverpool services have had to have things like extra recovery time and changeover vehicles on standby to ensure the routes keep to time as let's say over the last 15-20 or so years the city has become very gridlocked whether or not the initiatives during these years have tried to have the best intentions not to lead to this.

Could another solution be introducing a 82X which runs like the X1 (Limited Stop) from Runcorn to Speke Boulevard then becomes a stopping service from there to the city.

Just out of interest do many passengers use the 79C/82A's from Runcorn to Liverpool? I can see them being used to Widnes but beyond to Runcorn wouldn't it be quicker to bus it to Runcorn station and use the train from Lime Street. Also has the train had a impact on how successful a express like the X1 can be?

Again as things stand bus operation is all on profit and demand and if these are low or impacted by things like Covid services will be cut/withdrawn. Sadly I think it's all over for the X1 even the X30's can't be that safe either?