Operation of articulated buses in the North West

[SK15 GZG (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(27/12/2015 13:24)RedPanda Wrote:  You could say the same for lorries

Make it a limited stop service and have signs telling other road users where the bus stops

There's absolutely no point in such a service whatsoever. There is nothing at all at Junction 2 of the M57 that requires having a dedicated bus service - especially with a type of vehicle that left the fleet last year for reasons that have been highlighted by another member. There is already more than enough capacity (especially with Arriva's deckers) through that section of those routes with two Arriva services (10/10A) and one Stagecoach service (10A) which are more than sufficient

Articulated lorries are totally different to buses. They are large vehicles designed to move a high volume of freight via A-roads and motorways

(27/12/2015 12:15)RedPanda Wrote:  Artics can hold more people can't they than double deckers? So reduce some services along the 10 corridor upto M57 and replace them with a service operated by the bendy buses. The double deckers that would be sat their doing nothing could replace the Geminis and Presidents.

That is correct - but they only have 49 seats (and that's only if extra seats are added after the centre door has been removed - otherwise there's still only 41 seats) compared to the Enviro400's 78 (or 80 in the case of 4400-34). Reducing services along that route after the M57 is a really daft idea - because like I said what's actually at that motorway junction? Nothing

Replacing double deckers that are less than a year old (and fitted with e-leather seats and WiFi) with 11-year-old articulated buses would be both poor and unpopular - it will never happen