St Helens Bus Network Review

[Bevan Price]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review

(20/05/2016 19:08)CX54 DKD Wrote:  The 152 covers Crank and the Higher Lane end of Rainford. If the 38 were to do that, it'd leave the Church Road section of Rainford and the areas alongside the Rainford By-Pass, including the industrial estate, unserved. To try and cover all of that with one route would be very difficult given the tight nature of a number of the estates and roads around Rainford. I know that the 356 covers Crank of an evening but I believe that may already have some part funding to do so? Either way, to leave either part of the village without a service during the day would disadvantage a lot of users. In addition, the 152 serves parts of St Helens between Dentons Green and the town centre that the 38 doesn't and couldn't easily with the size of vehicles allocated.

The 152 also serves Ormskirk and for the 38 to do that, whilst still retaining the service for Rainford Junction, would mean that passengers boarding in the Junction would have to take a trip out to Ormskirk before returning to St Helens.

Remember also that the 152 in its current form has already helped replace another service, the 319. I do believe there's potential for the 152 to become a DM contract however as it carries a healthy load at most times of the day.

Moreover, the daytime 38 & 37 interwork using 3 buses on a 90 minute cycle. They sometimes struggle to keep time, and any diversion of 38 would make the cycle impossible - an extra bus would be needed - on routes that are probably barely lucrative for much of the day.