Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

[Route102]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

(26/03/2026 14:31)Y458 KNF Wrote:  6026-28 are for the 201/211 at Green Lane Southport have 6029 & 6030 of the ex Rotala examples. Speke and Southport have the ex dealer ones.

6026, 6027 and 6028 are now in service. The ex Click Sprinters now withdrawn. Pulsar 3015 will also be the backup for maintenance cover. Any bus can be used on 201 and Clatterbridge but only the Streetlites can be used on the 211.

[MTL0201]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
I was on the 487 from Liverpool to Neston the other day & the bus was standing room only after leaving Birkenhead Town Centre [this was the 12pm service from Liverpool], that left me thinking, should this route be rerouted in Neston so deckers can be allocated to it?

[DVG526]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

(17/04/2026 23:14)MTL0201 Wrote:  I was on the 487 from Liverpool to Neston the other day & the bus was standing room only after leaving Birkenhead Town Centre [this was the 12pm service from Liverpool], that left me thinking, should this route be rerouted in Neston so deckers can be allocated to it?

This has been a long standing (pardon the pun) issue with the 487 for a while now, particularly in the evening as it’s the only bus serving Higher Bebington, it’s also timed at the same time as the 38A so sometimes gets all the load for Higher Tranmere as well. The route needs reviewing, absolutely no need to be serving Little Neston/Ness Gardens every 30 mins with the bus often running empty or very lightly loaded beyond the Three Stags. An alternative option could be to swap route with the 464 going via Church Road instead to take some pressure off.

[MTL0201]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

(Yesterday 12:54)DVG526 Wrote:  This has been a long standing (pardon the pun) issue with the 487 for a while now, particularly in the evening as it’s the only bus serving Higher Bebington, it’s also timed at the same time as the 38A so sometimes gets all the load for Higher Tranmere as well. The route needs reviewing, absolutely no need to be serving Little Neston/Ness Gardens every 30 mins with the bus often running empty or very lightly loaded beyond the Three Stags. An alternative option could be to swap route with the 464 going via Church Road instead to take some pressure off.

Back in the day Crosville used deckers on the 87/88 but they were low height deckers, the route passed to Merseybus who extended the 10A to Parkgate as 10B, but that went via Hinderton Road rather than Liverpool Road so standard deckers could be used.

The 88 became 488 continued to Ness Gardens but Merseybus didn't have low height deckers for the 488 so used Nationals for a time then Merseybus bought a batch of Ikarus Citibuses for the 488.