Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

[bus401]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
487 operated by pulsars today,streetlites on other routes.

[N271CKB]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

(21/02/2020 16:20)bus401 Wrote:  487 operated by pulsars today,streetlites on other routes.

One of which was on the 432/3/7 circuit

[L401CJF]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
487 have been mostly pulsars all week, always great when one turns up!

[N304CLV]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
The troublesome 4106 about to be towed back to the depot from Whitechapel.

[N271CKB]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
From observations over last few days, looks like Streetlites have now been pulled off 487s.
Does anyone know the reason for this?

[wirralbus]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

(24/02/2020 23:46)N271CKB Wrote:  From observations over last few days, looks like Streetlites have now been pulled off 487s.
Does anyone know the reason for this?

I would have thought the Streetlites would be suited to the route of the 487 as there is some especially tight sections of the route , where the narrower bodies of the vehicle would help out . I do wonder if the sleeping policeman traffic calming on breeze hill is taking its toll on the buses , they are vicious from experience in a car so god knows what its like in a low floor bus.

The Pulsars seem to be a bit wider and longer and can take some getting round corners but probably does these sleeping policeman better .

[60008]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
the streetlites have been removed from the 487 due to reliability issues. the decision was made early last week by management after another breakdown. they have never been suited to the route at all. why they never get a demo before buying them i will never know. having pulsars back on the route is a massive relief for the drivers, they are far easier to get around Neston even though they are longer and wider. i would hope the passengers would start to see improvements in the service too as they are also easier to keep to time with.

the traffic calming measures in general are not too bad in any bus really. the smaller square ones you should be able to go right over if positioned correctly and the longer sausage type you just need to make sure you slow down properly. one or two on breeze hill are quite nasty though.

[L401CJF]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
Streetlites were ordered for the 487 based on size alone due to the narrow road through Ness, there was a reduction in incidents after they were introduced but they have been unreliable since day 1.

[Turbostar]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
From a customer point of view, I’ve found the Streetlites very poor for the 487. Peak hour buses are regularly overcrowded, with people left standing at bus stops. I’ve raised the issue with Merseytravel in the past, as since Stagecoach withdrew route 2 in the Birkenhead area, the problem with overcrowded 487 services has become much worse.

[iMarkeh]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

(25/02/2020 12:17)Turbostar Wrote:  From a customer point of view, I’ve found the Streetlites very poor for the 487. Peak hour buses are regularly overcrowded, with people left standing at bus stops. I’ve raised the issue with Merseytravel in the past, as since Stagecoach withdrew route 2 in the Birkenhead area, the problem with overcrowded 487 services has become much worse.

I always used to notice at Sir Thomas Street, the bus stop would be full and all these buses would come in and it wouldn't seem to do much but as soon as a 487 turned up, the bus stop would lose like 2/3rds of the passengers waiting. That was when the 2 was around!

Would it make much difference if you swapped the 464 and 487 between Birkenhead and Kings Road? The 464 can and does have bigger buses on the route whereas the 487 can't really increase the size of the buses because of the bridges and how tight the route can be at times.