GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

[Lynx]

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

(29/02/2016 06:37)telf23 Wrote:  Personally, I think GHA took the wrong approach to Warrington. They established a route already served by NW, a hard operator to compete against. You see it with the non NW routes that operate. Halton 62 doesn't pick up much in Stockton Heath, Arriva 110, 329 and 360 don't pick up much in Penketh and along Winwick road respectively, and First 100 doesn't pick up much through woolston. These routes are successful though because they're providing links to Runcorn, St Helens, Wigan and Manchester that NW don't operate. As it was stated earlier, GHA would have been more successful with a link maybe to Macc or Congleton, where their competition is small, and then branching into other routes.

Your point that the 110, and 100 don't pick up passengers on there respective routes out of Warrington is a bit of a strange one as quite frequently pensioners will pack these services out from the bus station and they usually both have a decent load of pass holders picked up in both Penketh and Woolston. Your way off the mark with the 62 not picking anything up around Stockton Heath. Quite frequently 62s can become full loads after passing through with a combination of pensioners, college students and commuters from nearby places of work. Your point about the 360 and 329 are spot on though as these can be full loads going to/from the bus station but don't seem to start stopping until they are out of Warrington.

In regards to the posts about DDA in relation to deckers, I'm confused as to what GHA are going to do as they have clearly struggled to replace non-DDA saloons let alone the vast amount of deckers that will need replacing. Sometimes 3-4 Olympians are used on the 82 at anyone time from a pool of about 7 regulars. That's essentially 7 deckers that will need replacing, something that certainly isn't cheap.