Arriva Buses Wales - Chester Depot

[Valandil]

RE: Arriva Buses Wales - Chester Depot

(19/10/2018 08:31)CTL45 Wrote:  I hate to break it to you but there is already a Mold - Buckley - Ewloe service 5 to Cheshire Oaks and its never overly busy. There's also the 1, X2 & X8 from Chester. I don't know what gives you the impression that people all over north Wales & Cheshire will all of a sudden jump to use the X4 when there have been alternatives in place for years. They may get some pre-Christmas trade but it shouldn't take them long to realise their mistake. That said the 10A carries fresh air to Holywell all day and that still operates. Maybe that's their business model

Yes, the 5 is a much better option for anyone going from North Wales (Mold, Buckley, Ewloe) to Cheshire Oaks, as it takes 55 minutes from Mold to Cheshire Oaks, compared with 1hr25mins on the X4 when it is changed (a huge difference). Something similar would be true for travelling to Ellesmere Port too.
Clearly the market isn't huge though, as these are villages and a small town, so extra services wouldn't be needed for these particular passengers - I guess the X4 extension is more that they wanted to operate Chester to Ellesmere Port and so tacked it on to this existing route, as well as potentially offering a higher quality of service on these routes if the deckers/Sapphire thing is true.