National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

[Metroline1511]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(13/02/2016 10:06)Nicholas Wrote:  Sounds like a Ryanair approach to me. Advertise as going to a city, but in fact dropping you off many miles short. Passenger numbers would plummet if NatEx did that.

It would be Ryanair style for National Express to land their coaches at bus stations at Liverpool Huyton or Liverpool Kirkby, given that Huyton & Kirkby are in Knowsley not Liverpool!

[wirralbus]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
Ryanair never made a point of saying there city destination was ever the main airport . That business model worked until that airport started to hike up its charges and then Ryanair just upped sticks and left if it was then uneconomic to operate out of .

Love it or loathe it the business model for Ryanair works .

In the same aspect then London Luton , London Stansted , London Gatwick aren't in the London area only London Heathrow could technically be classed as london.

[stankevitch]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(21/02/2016 17:46)Dentonian Wrote:  Back on Topic, I suppose Ryanair's model is similar to Megabus. Not so much in the location of the terminal, but the fact that many flights are very early or very late, especially to larger destinations. Consequently, any fare savings are more than balanced out by unnecessary accomodation costs and extra time off work

Megabus is similar to Ryanair in more ways than you'd think. They most rely heavy on a yeild management model, use cheap stops and advertise solely on that fact. Its a give, look at all the travel companies around the world that use similar models and look at their success.

Anyways, having read all 14 pages of this topic and only just reading the news about Norton St its time to throw my 10p in.

I'm a local from Warrington, and I regularaly have to travel via coach, and my best actually works out to be Megabus trips from Liverpool One. So this for me is usually either an Arriva bus or train from Warrington to Lime St or Queen St (adding this onto the trip still makes it cheaper than NatEx). I've had to get a 5am departure from L1 before, so what I done instead was, along with my case and suit, was travel the evening before and spend some time drinking with some friends in bars, and going to wait for my coach around half 3, no problems whatsoever, shortly before the coach was due a few more people started turning up, all with suitcases and bags so you know they're fellow passengers.

Yes Liverpool One might not be the best for vehicular logistics, but as far as safety concerns raised, I personally find them a bit moot. Also the note of emergency tickets? Now thats clutching at straws on a BIG BIG minority of NatEx users, I mean if you have that much of an emergency at 7pm you'd be lucky if you have a coach to catch, if not you'll find a way to buy, print or display a ticket, the NatEx Office is fine for daytime operation, if you were to ask how many queries they'd get at night it would probably be very very slim. Plus, remember this is a business, the office itself has to be making money, as it costs money to run (staff, electric, equipment etc), so viable hours are fine.

If anyone has noted lately NatEx hasnt been having the best track record (ha thats a pun) in the past few years, so if they can find a cheaper option like using L1 while selling a prime piece of real estate like Norton St to make their balances sheet look better who are we to really argue, at the end of the day they're a plc business and unless anyone here owns stock then go raise these issues at a shareholders meeting.

Phew....

[MTL0201]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
Indeed & if you need to travel in an emergency after 7pm you're more likely to use the train than the coach, & even then coach wise from Liverpool only the 060 has regular departures after 7pm & that's only 3 journeys, then the overnight 421 which would have already been fully booked.

[MTL0201]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
Re looking at the timetables between 6pm & 5am there are only 8 NEx departures from Liverpool One, 6 of them 060 Manchester/Leeds, with an 2.30am 061 to Leeds, remaining one the 421 overnighter to London which will already be fully booked, no need for the ticket office to be open past 7pm.

[B10B6514]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
Now as Norton Street has closed and all NatEx services based on L1, maybe it could be an idea to rename or start a new thread titled "National Express Liverpool", perhaps because it is an indigenous part of our local transport scene, even the longest serving company serving the city albeit on a franchised/contract basis these days?

[Barney]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(23/02/2016 20:56)B10B6514 Wrote:  Now as Norton Street has closed and all NatEx services based on L1, maybe it could be an idea to rename or start a new thread titled "National Express Liverpool", perhaps because it is an indigenous part of our local transport scene, even the longest serving company serving the city albeit on a franchised/contract basis these days?

I drove past Norton Street about 7.30 last night. The lights were on but nobody was at home. I wonder who is paying the electricity billl?

[JamesR19]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(24/02/2016 09:39)Barney Wrote:  I drove past Norton Street about 7.30 last night. The lights were on but nobody was at home. I wonder who is paying the electricity billl?

Hmm, if that is the case and the old coach station is still standing why don't National Express use the existing stands and have all their coaches stop at Norton Street before or after Liverpool One just without any booking agents present.

It seems pretty stupid to have the old coach station standing empty with electricity being used when coaches could still stop there until it is ready to be demolished, which there isn't even planning arrangements in place yet or a date scheduled for the demolishment.

[chris-s]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(25/02/2016 16:44)JamesR19 Wrote:  Hmm, if that is the case and the old coach station is still standing why don't National Express use the existing stands and have all their coaches stop at Norton Street before or after Liverpool One just without any booking agents present.

It seems pretty stupid to have the old coach station standing empty with electricity being used when coaches could still stop there until it is ready to be demolished, which there isn't even planning arrangements in place yet or a date scheduled for the demolishment.

We are unable to use the coach station as the land has now been sold onwards. Therefore no insurance is also in place.

[Metroline1511]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(22/02/2016 00:49)stankevitch Wrote:  Megabus is similar to Ryanair in more ways than you'd think. They most rely heavy on a yeild management model, use cheap stops and advertise solely on that fact. Its a give, look at all the travel companies around the world that use similar models and look at their success.

Anyways, having read all 14 pages of this topic and only just reading the news about Norton St its time to throw my 10p in.

I'm a local from Warrington, and I regularaly have to travel via coach, and my best actually works out to be Megabus trips from Liverpool One. So this for me is usually either an Arriva bus or train from Warrington to Lime St or Queen St (adding this onto the trip still makes it cheaper than NatEx). I've had to get a 5am departure from L1 before, so what I done instead was, along with my case and suit, was travel the evening before and spend some time drinking with some friends in bars, and going to wait for my coach around half 3, no problems whatsoever, shortly before the coach was due a few more people started turning up, all with suitcases and bags so you know they're fellow passengers.

Yes Liverpool One might not be the best for vehicular logistics, but as far as safety concerns raised, I personally find them a bit moot. Also the note of emergency tickets? Now thats clutching at straws on a BIG BIG minority of NatEx users, I mean if you have that much of an emergency at 7pm you'd be lucky if you have a coach to catch, if not you'll find a way to buy, print or display a ticket, the NatEx Office is fine for daytime operation, if you were to ask how many queries they'd get at night it would probably be very very slim. Plus, remember this is a business, the office itself has to be making money, as it costs money to run (staff, electric, equipment etc), so viable hours are fine.

If anyone has noted lately NatEx hasnt been having the best track record (ha thats a pun) in the past few years, so if they can find a cheaper option like using L1 while selling a prime piece of real estate like Norton St to make their balances sheet look better who are we to really argue, at the end of the day they're a plc business and unless anyone here owns stock then go raise these issues at a shareholders meeting.

Phew....

Maybe NatEx is more expensive from Warrington than from Manchester or Liverpool due to not having competition from Megabus?

I travelled from Manchester to Leeds with National Express yesterday. The timetable had been reprinted with a mini-map of Liverpool city centre, illustrating where Liverpool One is.

There is also a separate leaflet with that diagram and the news of the move from January 15th.