Operation of articulated buses in the North West

[RedPanda]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
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.

[wirralbus]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
The time of the articulated buses has long since gone , the only reason there was a deluge of artics was because they where banned from the streets of London due to the then Mayor of London describing them as dangerous to other road users , especially bicyclists.

[RedPanda]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(27/12/2015 12:29)wirralbus Wrote:  The time of the articulated buses has long since gone , the only reason there was a deluge of artics was because they where banned from the streets of London due to the then Mayor of London describing them as dangerous to other road users , especially bicyclists.

You could say the same for lorries

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

[motormayhem1]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(26/12/2015 23:50)Lynx Wrote:  With out going to off topic, bendys are only really need where it isn't practically possible to run a decker i.e places with low bridges. Bendys would do well on routes running out of Runcorn like the 79c and 82a that are busy services serving busy corridors but can't have deckers because of low bridges on the bus way, but although bendys could practically run on these routes they are not particularly suitable for most sections such as Hough Green and Grangeway estates which is the moral of the story for bendys throughout Merseyside and most of the UK hence why bendys have never really stuck around with Arriva here in Merseyside. Like SL64 JDZ has already pointed out, there would be no point in running bendys on routes where deckers could run with much improved seating capacity than bendys in most cases.

As far as i know there are no low bridges on the 82A because between runcorn depot and halton hospital there are no low bridges as i remember an old supervisor having a drive of an old back loader up to the hospital and back to the depot.

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
Reducing services on 10 corridor up to the M57 is a ludicrous idea, especially just for a limited stop service for which I don't really see a Need. Deckers are the answer and that is what we have, the day of the bendy is gone in this area and is the way it should stay. With regards to limited stop, wasn't that tried in part years ago with the 34 or was it 39 with gm buses.

[motormayhem1]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
Yeah GM buses had a 34 limited stop between st helens and liverpool as they used GMexpress livered deckers with high back seating fitted in them.

[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

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(27/12/2015 15:06)motormayhem1 Wrote:  Yeah GM buses had a 34 limited stop between st helens and liverpool as they used GMexpress livered deckers with high back seating fitted in them.

Thanks, yes remember the buses but just couldn't remember the number.

[Lynx]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(27/12/2015 14:07)motormayhem1 Wrote:  As far as i know there are no low bridges on the 82A because between runcorn depot and halton hospital there are no low bridges as i remember an old supervisor having a drive of an old back loader up to the hospital and back to the depot.

There is a bridge where the 79c turns of into grangeway that would restrict the 82a to single deck operation only, and also the low bridge on Victoria road in Widnes.

[motormayhem1]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(27/12/2015 15:18)MPTE1955 Wrote:  Thanks, yes remember the buses but just couldn't remember the number.

They had a 96 too but i think that wasnt an express service as it went via st helens prescot and atherton.