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Looks like the X3 with be the first service to operate under franchising in the Liverpool City Region with the 0359 service from St Helens - JLA Airport.

From a post on FB, one of the short E200MMC's for Go Ahead at Birkenhead has been pictured with number 5218, which assumes they are 5211-5218 (Bee Network ones go to 5210).

HTH

(28/07/2026 06:33)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]As I mentioned in my earlier post, it is the first service in living memory that links Cronton (which is part of St Helens borough) with St Helens Town Centre.

Cronton is one of those weird situations where it's right on the county boundary, so it gets the Liverpool-Warrington through route & the local service to Widnes.

I can't see the X3 being a success, it would have been better off if it was a faster version of the 89, such as, goes via the 10 to Prescot, down Huyton Lane, through Huyton bus station & Archway Road, then pick up Knowsley Expressway at Tarbock Island.

(28/07/2026 11:24)MTL0201 Wrote: [ -> ]Cronton is one of those weird situations where it's right on the county boundary, so it gets the Liverpool-Warrington through route & the local service to Widnes.

I can't see the X3 being a success, it would have been better off if it was a faster version of the 89, such as, goes via the 10 to Prescot, down Huyton Lane, through Huyton bus station & Archway Road, then pick up Knowsley Expressway at Tarbock Island.

It ticks the box of linking places up including Lea Green (as well as the station, Co-Op's warehouse is a bit further down Elton Head Road) and St Helens Hospital (handy for any Cronton residents with appointments there). I would argue one more stop should be made in Clock Face village as they otherwise only have the rather slow 32A as an alternative to the Town Centre.

I'm sure one of the stops is Cronton College too. I know the college has its dedicated buses but maybe that's another aim of the X3 for St Helens bound students.

The merseytravel site does mention "bigger buses for the 89, 320 and 352" so hopefully the deckers are cleared for the bridge on the 352 route and these routes will become 100% double deckers. A few Pulsars still seem to appear on the 89 at the moment.

(28/07/2026 01:10)CX06 EBK Wrote: [ -> ]The Streetdecks and the longer Enviros have less seats than those buses as they have two wheelchair bays which is the standard for the LCR going forward. The EVs in Liverpool have the exact same issue where they have replaced buses with higher capacities.

The bridge on the way out of St Helens is signed at 14'6 much like the one by Aintree Asda which the Streetdecks at Gillmoss are cleared to go under. So I can't see it being much of an issue here - but to start they'll have the ability to use 13'10 Enviro 400 MMCs if it was an issue.

In reference to the X3, I believe it is around 5 stops only across the route - the first of which out of St Helens is at the Hospital. I can't recall the rest of them at the moment. Funny that they haven't taken the opportunity to extend the 89s last trips to the Airport either.

I agree that the 352 will be operated with deckers. As you point out they have the option of the Enviro 400 MMC's but hopefully as you say they can use the new Ultroliners. The bridge is signed as 4.4m (14'6) which means that no vehicles "over" the height shown may pass the sign, so the bridge is likely a good few inches higher than 4.4.m (14'6). The Ultroliners are actually listed as having a height of 4.395m so they are actually below the maximum permissible height of 4.4m so "they should" be able to pass under the bridge without issue.

(28/07/2026 11:31)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]It ticks the box of linking places up including Lea Green (as well as the station, Co-Op's warehouse is a bit further down Elton Head Road) and St Helens Hospital (handy for any Cronton residents with appointments there). I would argue one more stop should be made in Clock Face village as they otherwise only have the rather slow 32A as an alternative to the Town Centre.

It’s only limited stop between Cronton and Speke.

Most, if not all stops will be observed within St Helens

(28/07/2026 11:24)MTL0201 Wrote: [ -> ]Cronton is one of those weird situations where it's right on the county boundary, so it gets the Liverpool-Warrington through route & the local service to Widnes.

I can't see the X3 being a success, it would have been better off if it was a faster version of the 89, such as, goes via the 10 to Prescot, down Huyton Lane, through Huyton bus station & Archway Road, then pick up Knowsley Expressway at Tarbock Island.

The route is an indirect replacement for the 29 and former 122/140.

Bold Heath and the eastern end of Clock Face has no access to a bus service other than 2RJ on the 29 and a few Omega Service trips.

(28/07/2026 14:29)Raawwwrrr! Wrote: [ -> ]The route is an indirect replacement for the 29 and former 122/140.

Bold Heath and the eastern end of Clock Face has no access to a bus service other than 2RJ on the 29 and a few Omega Service trips.

Thanks for the clarification on that as like I said previously, going off the timetable, there is no clear indication as to which stops (aside from the timing points) the service observes.

On the route learning that was given out to people moving over, they stated there are only 5 stops shown to them as stopping across the entire journey. If its stopping at every stop in the St Helens boundary its hardly a "fast and direct" service to the Airport is it? It will be interesting to see how it copes going up to Tarbock Island in the peaks too, that seems to have been a late change.