GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

[Valandil]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(10/01/2016 12:35)knutstransport Wrote:  If they're planning to literally duplicate the number 5 I can't see that being successful, the former Warrington Coachway services had low loadings leaving Altrincham even during the period when Network Warrington stopped serving Altrincham in the off-peak period. If GHA are planning a different route to make end to end journeys quicker or to serve places which don't currently have regular Warrington services then it might be a different matter.

I think things are a bit different now on this corridor, as Network Warrington has since pulled their 6 out of Lymm and the 5 is down to hourly, which isn't very good for the sections of the route which aren't shared with the 35.
Warrington Coachways also had a bit of a "Fairbrothers" type image, with buses of far lower quality than the competition, and only its loyal customers would really get on in my experience.

I am in two minds as to whether it would be more worthwhile running along the old 38 route as a more direct route to Lymm than the 5/35 and then onwards to Altrincham via Heatley, which would surely be a great thing for people in Lymm who currently have a very slow bus into Warrington, and it would only require 2 vehicles to provide an hourly service, or whether it would be better to duplicate the 5 exactly and run through Stockton Heath, which might not appeal as much to the Lymm people, who might as well get the 5/35 into Warrington as it'd likely be more frequent, but they might pick up some more people due to going through Stockton Heath.