Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

[M113 YKC]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

(17/03/2013 20:06)MPTE1955 Wrote:  

(17/03/2013 19:15)3111 Wrote:  

(17/03/2013 18:23)MPTE1955 Wrote:  As a regular user of the both these services I would say the 60 is nearly always a busy route between 3-6.00 I would say, through the school finishing times and rush hour, the 61 can be a bit hit and miss, sometimes you wold say a dart is perfectly adequate, but then another time using exactly the same time bus you would say a decker should be used, its just one of them funny routes.

Well, one less service to worry about is the 59, which is withdrawn from the end of April. Therefore, up to two less 'deckers will escape from the 61 per hour.

Well two less buses anyway, didnt know about the 59 but this really has been like a slow death of the old 61A, being reduced in route to Broadway, then having the route number change to the 59 and finally ending up in withdrawal.

I agree! I remember the days of Lances and Endurances travelling through Netherton on the 61A to Aigburth, then 'deckers were frequently on the 61A to Broadway when the service started interworking with the 61 (which is when Darts gradually started going onto the 61/61A - when the Lances and Endurances were slowly dispersing) and then when pretty-much anything apart from Pulsars (except on rare occasions) were on the 61A to Walton!

Avon Buses' 122 is usually busy during the day between Walton and Netherton and Arriva's 53A is also normally busy between Aintree and Netherton, so, if they did ever bring the old 61A back between Bootle and Walton (or even beyond), I doubt that there would be much market left for it. As for the 59 route between Netherton and Bootle, there are plenty of services from the Gorsey Lane side of Sterrix Lane for Linacre Road (55) and Bootle Strand Shopping Centre (52/52A/55) and there's the 159 on the Church Road side of Boundary Road which travels via Linacre Road to Bootle Strand Shopping Centre. Not really much of a loss - I pretty-much seen its withdrawal coming from the start! The service is frequently delayed and the two-minute turn-around time in Netherton doesn't exactly give much recovery time when delays on the 61 and Church Road during peak-hour have took effect.