National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

[moreton407]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
I'd rather walk through a brightly lit, a place that has security cameras after 6pm than walk down London Road.

And totally agree, if Liverpool South Parkway was to be served, then so should Bootle and Kirkby. And while we're at it, extend services that go to Birkenhead to Heswall, West Kirby and New Brighton.

[chris-s]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
Having working for national express Liverpool South Parkway in not under consideration.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(17/02/2016 19:17)JamesR19 Wrote:  Expecting passengers to buy tickets at Queen Square (which has the same opening times as Liverpool One apart from 10am-5pm on a Sunday) is defeating the object. I mean by your post if it is a Sunday and I got the train to Lime Street I have to walk to Queen Square and then to Liverpool One which I certainly would NOT be happy about doing that. Also not everyone has the ability to use Mobile tickets or Online tickets so what would they do? I doubt elderly passengers have a smartphone or able to use ticket machines.

Basically what I am saying that right now, 7.15pm, if I needed to travel with National Express in an emergency there is NO way of me purchasing tickets at Liverpool One. However if National Express was based in Liverpool South Parkway they could have an agent in their ticket office which is open from Monday to Saturday 05:50 - 00:15 and Sunday 07:50 - 00:15 so there is plenty of time for passengers to purchase tickets even in an emergency.

The National Express ticket office (and coach station) wasn't open for the full hours of Coach operation on Norton Street anyway. If I can remember correctly it actually opened at around 9pm, with a few coaches departing before then, and it closed hours before the last coach. What did people do? They bought tickets online or went a day prior, the alternate was to wait until it was open or use the electronic machines.
If you in fact google the time to walk from Lime Street to Liverpool via both Hanover Street or via Queen SQ the time is an equal 15 minute walk and an equal 0.7 mile distance, so I'm not too sure why you would be unhappy exactly?

I'm currently doing market research into marketing techniques (all be it for the purpose of a well-known UK department store) and how to use mobile devices more effectively and 20% of those over 60 now actually own a smartphone and it is the fastest growing market share in technology history of the digital age. Not everyone over that age will be completely smartphone literate but to say that elderly passengers won't embrace the power of handheld digital devices isn't true.

With regards to wanting to buy tickets at Liverpool One at (around 7pm) and in theory could buy them from LSP I'd personally be assuming you would also have to travel to LSP from the City Centre in order to purchase tickets and then board the coach? (which would return to Liverpool One) realistically are you going to do that in an emergency? Would you not just pay more and get the train in the first place, or buy a mobile ticket that you would purchase and show in under 5 minutes?

[JamesR19]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
@Dentonian I absolutely LOVE Manchester Coach Station with it being in close proximity to Canal Street. Spent many an hour in Churchills and REM Bar when I was on night coaches to Liverpool, actually had to stay over in Manchester once as I missed the last coach chatting to a guy haha.

I actually wish I lived in Manchester as that coach station along with Edinburgh Bus Station are the safest, most comfortable and nicest places I have been to that is served by National Express.

@moreton407 you mentioned CCTV right, that is NOT going to stop you from being mugged or attacked is it? with the new Liverpool One base National Express need to have staff and security available from the first coach leaving in the morning to the last one arriving at night.

[wirralbus]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
CCTV these days because there is so much of it is sometimes is overly used as a security measure when boots on the ground is all the best . Also CCTV is not always of quality to be used as evidence in court , admit some systems are very good but others leave a bit to be desired .

[E400]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
Is round the clock security really needed? This goes back to the nightbus discussion that we were having a couple of months ago; security aren't needed to Sheppard people around and keep an eye on people. Yes there are idiots around, but the bus stations are the last places they'll think of going to annoy people. You'll find the idiots taunting the homeless or hanging around the 24 hour pubs & takeaways rather than waiting for a coach to London.

I think that security are a waste of time and money for the purpose of looking after a bus station during the early hours. If anybody was kicking off and causing enough trouble for security to get involved then the police would no-doubt be called to assist anyway.

[JamesR19]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(18/02/2016 01:23)Enviro400 Wrote:  Is round the clock security really needed? This goes back to the nightbus discussion that we were having a couple of months ago; security aren't needed to Sheppard people around and keep an eye on people. Yes there are idiots around, but the bus stations are the last places they'll think of going to annoy people. You'll find the idiots taunting the homeless or hanging around the 24 hour pubs & takeaways rather than waiting for a coach to London.

I think that security are a waste of time and money for the purpose of looking after a bus station during the early hours. If anybody was kicking off and causing enough trouble for security to get involved then the police would no-doubt be called to assist anyway.

24/7 security is a bit excessive like but there does need to be some sort of staff presence by National Express during the hours the Travel Centre is closed while coaches are still arriving and departing from Liverpool One.

Liverpool One is a very scary, unwelcoming and isolated place to be at during the night and into the early hours in the morning, especially if a passenger is on his/her own. My brother who trains in Kickboxing has said that it is the last place he would want to be at night due to drunken idiots coming out of the many bars and nightclubs in the area. Also no-one will target a homeless person with NOTHING on a street corner or in a shop doorway over someone waiting for a coach at Liverpool One that has technology, money and luggage who is in a more isolated place than the main city centre.

I just hope someone from National Express reads this thread (I have alerted them to it) and the reviews on Google and comes to realise how much damage they have done relocating from Norton Street and the effect it has had on passengers. It might be a small number but a mate and myself have got 25+ people to boycott National Express while they continue to use Liverpool One and looking on Google there are plenty of others following suit.

[moreton407]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close

(17/02/2016 23:30)JamesR19 Wrote:  @Dentonian I absolutely LOVE Manchester Coach Station with it being in close proximity to Canal Street. Spent many an hour in Churchills and REM Bar when I was on night coaches to Liverpool, actually had to stay over in Manchester once as I missed the last coach chatting to a guy haha.

I actually wish I lived in Manchester as that coach station along with Edinburgh Bus Station are the safest, most comfortable and nicest places I have been to that is served by National Express.

@moreton407 you mentioned CCTV right, that is NOT going to stop you from being mugged or attacked is it? with the new Liverpool One base National Express need to have staff and security available from the first coach leaving in the morning to the last one arriving at night.

I only mentioned CCTV as someone earlier in this thread didn't want to walk through the shopping centre after 6pm (shops are open til 8 weekdays anyway)

[E400]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
It's all personal preference. I walk through the city centre most nights at around 3:30am and yes there can be idiots around, particularly on weekends, and I carry with me a laptop amongst other expensive items, but I don't feel unsafe, even when I do have to walk past a group of yobs. So long as you don't instigate anything and just ignore them you'll be fine.

I'd agree with the earlier poster that the city centre is a safer place to walk than London Road, particularly given that Liverpool ONE has 24 hour security patrols and a bunch of eagles watching the cameras. You've also got the council workers doing street cleaning & repairs, as well as all the shop shift staff and delivery staff around. If you stick to the main roads, they're well lit, everywhere is covered by CCTV, and there will generally be a good handful of people working nearby.

As grim as the place is, I'd rather wait in L1 at night, than make the journey to Norton Street from a city centre point of origin.

Magic Bus has had their departures from L1 for years havent they? And am I right in thinking that they have at least 1 early morning departure? Nobody has kicked off about that...

[wirralbus]

RE: National Express Coach Station in Liverpool to close
I think in the run of things we have got lost between night services and day services at Liverpool One Bus Station , the daytime service when they all pile in at the same time probably cause congestion to the normal service buses , the night services are not really problem other than the destination is sort of in the wrong place a bit off centre .