St Helens Bus Network Review

[St Helens Rider]

RE: St Helens Bus Network Review
Proposed changes can be viewed from this Friday:

http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/about-us/...June).aspx

St Helens bus proposals - give your views from Friday (24th June)

​From this Friday (24th June), people who live or work in St Helens will be able to comment on proposals to make the area’s bus network simpler and clearer.

Proposals will be available for view and comment online until Friday 1st July, or via a drop- in event to be held at Church Square 10am-5pm on Tuesday 28th June.

This follows events in May which saw over 600 people attend and more than 200 offer their feedback on their frequency and pattern of bus use , including those services publically funded by Merseytravel, and what might make them use buses more.

St Helens is the second area to be reviewed as part of a wider review of the whole Liverpool City Region bus network over the next 12 months.

Historically bus routes have been considered on a piecemeal basis and the idea is to consider the commercial network and the supported network – that which relies on public subsidy via Merseytravel – as a whole for the first time to ensure it best reflects current working and living patterns, new developments and how they are served.

This is one of the first undertakings of the Bus Alliance, a formal partnership with operators Arriva and Stagecoach, with the aim of transforming bus services to encourage more people to take the bus. However, bus reviews involve all bus operators.

Part of the review has been looking at the current supported bus network and considering how increasingly limited public resources can be focussed where there is most need.

The detail for St Helens is still being worked through, however, the principles of the review will include working with the operators to extend or re-route some commercial services to cover areas previously served by publicly supported services.

To make the network easier to understand there are also plans for services on the same routes to operate under the same number whatever the time of day where possible.

Working with operators we will endeavour to offer passengers alternative provision available within their area if a service is removed or changed. Any changes will come into effect in September 2016.

Further details of the bus network reviews will be available on the Merseytravel website from Friday afternoon at http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/busreview

Said Cllr Liam Robinson, Chair of Merseytravel:

“This is about bringing the network up-to-date and making what savings we can for the public purse in the process as we continue to deal with the challenge of government cuts.

“The input we had from St Helens residents on how they use the bus and what would get them to use it more, or even at all, is feeding into the proposals we’re making. We now want comments on these too before we finalise the plans.

“We are working closely and innovatively with operators to develop a modern network where everybody has access to provision. This is despite budget pressures which have seen some communities in other areas left without any services.”

The Bus Alliance is an agreement between Merseytravel, Arriva and Stagecoach to improve bus travel for people across the Liverpool City Region. In time, it is hoped that other bus operators will join the Alliance.

The Alliance’s ambition is for a thriving, affordable and sustainable bus network that offers the customer a value for money and hassle-free journey experience - leading to an increase in fare paying passengers. It will look at creating simpler networks and fare structures to more investment in the buses themselves. Encouraging more people to travel by bus drives investment and means less reliance on the public purse.

Key work areas will include:

• A review of the City Region bus network;

• Investment in new and greener vehicles;

• On board Wi-Fi and at-seat USB charging points on all new vehicles;

• Improved bus links to and from John Lennon Airport;

• Streamlined service changes to make bus services more stable;

• Simpler ticketing and a review of zonal structures and pricing;

• Review of all customer information including more Real Time Information;

• Better integration of bus and rail services;

• Improved Customer Service training for all bus drivers.