Manchester 24 hour Public Transport

[Brickmill]

RE: Manchester 24 hour Public Transport

(28/01/2019 14:34)iMarkeh Wrote:  I do think that someone should try the 36, 37 or 38 night buses Combined, these routes run 18 buses per hour between Walkden and Manchester. There must be something in there which is viable.
Rochdale Road between Middleton and Manchester has 15 buses per hour in the day as well. That must be a tiny bit viable. First should really run the 17 straight through. There is only a 4h gap where it doesn't operate. 1 bus, hourly (20 min end to end). For the sake of 4h pay, surely you can make that much in revenue.

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.