Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

[childwallblues]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(09/07/2014 12:12)Raawwwrrr! Wrote:  Laird Street only makes the money it does because it's one of the most expensive depots in the merseyside area. A trip on the 464 half the journey can cost £3.50 for a single, and the child fare is almost as bad. Students allegedly don't exist on the Wirral either, and are charged full adult fare accordingly. A single fare through the tunnel is almost the price of a day ticket. Also they're the only operator bar independents that service tourist destination New Brighton and Wallsey.

Speke likewise has no competition anymore since stagecoach cut their dead milage and axed most of the Aintree based routes to Speke, Netherley, Halewood and Garston. They're the only operator bar HTL to serve the Airport, industrial parks, Hope Childwall Campus, Uni of Liverpool and walking distance to LJMU and Hope's city centre campuses. With the exception of the QBP 82/86, all services from Netherley, Halewood, Airport, Speke, Woolton and everywhere between to the City centre are only operated by Arriva.

Not strictly correct re Netherley. Only the three bus stops on Wood Lane are not served by Halton Transport 14.

[FC Pictures]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(09/07/2014 13:55)507009 Wrote:  The day tickets are bad enough at £5, ridiculously costing more than an all-zone Saveaway which would allow you to use the trains and ferries as well as all bus services within the region. The train is far cheaper for a Wallasey - Liverpool return journey at £3.40. Quite simply, a £5 return journey on the bus is appalling value.

Returning to St Helens, I doubt anti-social behaviour is a significant factor in their decision making. After all, they regularly use the VLW deckers on the 10/10A and previously had Bootle's 4415 on loan. This suggests they are/have been seriously considering an upgrade to deckers on the route and, as a regular user, I can confirm this definitely needs to happen. There are serious capacity problems on the route and this has been the case for years. Even back in the dark days of B10Bs, Flytes, Paladins and Ultralows plying the route, the overcrowding was serious.

I did point out that there are no parallel trains with the 432/433 and 437 they take a totally different route to Liverpool, so you would have to add a bus fare on top to connect to any train from Wallasey, and Saveaway Tickets for cross river cost about the same anyway.

I used the 10/10A for years on a daily basis,Anti Social behaviour was a regular on those buses specially at school times and in the evenings,i use it less now but the same types of idiots are still around,i`m sure it`s hell on some evening journeys,back in the days of MTL they moved away from deckers for that reason,the last new ones MTL got for the 14s had lockable doors to run with the top decks closed in the evenings ,a single decker at least has a safer feel for passsengers and more accesable seating ,many older passengers would never go upstairs ,they don`t on routes that use them now and will stand downstairs and leave empty seats upstairs. it`s also the reason for the very visible cctv screens that stagecoach use on a lot of their newer buses and the bus lane issue has made running times worse lately.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
Regarding 2345, it is here only as a loan (at least for now) and has been swapped for 3068.

[V671 DVU]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(09/07/2014 19:16)FC Pictures Wrote:  I did point out that there are no parallel trains with the 432/433 and 437 they take a totally different route to Liverpool, so you would have to add a bus fare on top to connect to any train from Wallasey, and Saveaway Tickets for cross river cost about the same anyway.

I used the 10/10A for years on a daily basis,Anti Social behaviour was a regular on those buses specially at school times and in the evenings,i use it less now but the same types of idiots are still around,i`m sure it`s hell on some evening journeys,back in the days of MTL they moved away from deckers for that reason,the last new ones MTL got for the 14s had lockable doors to run with the top decks closed in the evenings ,a single decker at least has a safer feel for passsengers and more accesable seating ,many older passengers would never go upstairs ,they don`t on routes that use them now and will stand downstairs and leave empty seats upstairs. it`s also the reason for the very visible cctv screens that stagecoach use on a lot of their newer buses and the bus lane issue has made running times worse lately.

So what you're saying is because of the minority who would vandalise buses the rest of us should suffer? Vandalism isn't even that big a problem on there? I've used the 10/A most of my life through some of the roughest areas in Liverpool (Kensington, Dovecot etc) and vandalism is extremely rare. I haven't witnessed one act of vandalism on there. The 61 passes through a huge number of schools in the city and I've heard the stories of the vandalism which happens on there and does that mean the route doesn't need deckers? Could you imagine being on a Marshall Dart with 100+ school children? Well that's what a 10As like at peak hour! Every morning buses are packed before they even reach Old Swan, and how many people get left behind because of this? The route NEEDS double deckers urgently, and like Gillmoss 0324 if management do read this I urge them to get some! FC Pictures, how often do you actually use the 10A route? Is it peak hour every morning like myself? Pretty sure I've got a good idea what it's like! Out of interest, what's the latest regarding the decker rumour?

[FC Pictures]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(09/07/2014 20:25)V671 DVU Wrote:  So what you're saying is because of the minority who would vandalise buses the rest of us should suffer? Vandalism isn't even that big a problem on there? I've used the 10/A most of my life through some of the roughest areas in Liverpool (Kensington, Dovecot etc) and vandalism is extremely rare. I haven't witnessed one act of vandalism on there. The 61 passes through a huge number of schools in the city and I've heard the stories of the vandalism which happens on there and does that mean the route doesn't need deckers? Could you imagine being on a Marshall Dart with 100+ school children? Well that's what a 10As like at peak hour! Every morning buses are packed before they even reach Old Swan, and how many people get left behind because of this? The route NEEDS double deckers urgently, and like Gillmoss 0324 if management do read this I urge them to get some! FC Pictures, how often do you actually use the 10A route? Is it peak hour every morning like myself? Pretty sure I've got a good idea what it's like! Out of interest, what's the latest regarding the decker rumour?

i know what schoolkids are like on buses everywhere,anti social,drivers have refused to pick up near some schools on the route and teachers supervise loadings,not that they behave once the bus moves off, you might think the 10/10A needs deckers urgently but Arriva don`t, having run it single deck for the past 14 years plus.the deckers rumour is just that, a rumour based on zero fact.

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(09/07/2014 20:25)V671 DVU Wrote:  So what you're saying is because of the minority who would vandalise buses the rest of us should suffer? Vandalism isn't even that big a problem on there? I've used the 10/A most of my life through some of the roughest areas in Liverpool (Kensington, Dovecot etc) and vandalism is extremely rare. I haven't witnessed one act of vandalism on there. The 61 passes through a huge number of schools in the city and I've heard the stories of the vandalism which happens on there and does that mean the route doesn't need deckers? Could you imagine being on a Marshall Dart with 100+ school children? Well that's what a 10As like at peak hour! Every morning buses are packed before they even reach Old Swan, and how many people get left behind because of this? The route NEEDS double deckers urgently, and like Gillmoss 0324 if management do read this I urge them to get some! FC Pictures, how often do you actually use the 10A route? Is it peak hour every morning like myself? Pretty sure I've got a good idea what it's like! Out of interest, what's the latest regarding the decker rumour?

To be honest as a regular user if the 61 can't say I have seen much trouble on there between Bootle and Eaton Road, what happens after that I wouldn't know.

[V671 DVU]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(09/07/2014 20:37)FC Pictures Wrote:  i know what schoolkids are like on buses everywhere,anti social,drivers have refused to pick up near some schools on the route and teachers supervise loadings,not that they behave once the bus moves off, you might think the 10/10A needs deckers urgently but Arriva don`t, having run it single deck for the past 14 years plus.the deckers rumour is just that, a rumour based on zero fact.

Zero fact? So a Enviro 400 on trial to see if the route needs deckers is zero fact? So you're saying because some school kids (who are only on the bus and at their most "vicious" should we say at 3PM) vandalise the bus, which isn't true anyway, we should all suffer? Are you Arriva management? And I'll ask my question again, do you use the 10/A in peak hour everyday? A packed Pulsar before Old Swan when there's still roughly 3 miles left to town...70+ people on a bus fit to seat only 40? Is that right?

MPTE, the 61s the worst example I can think off of the top of my head. Vandalism in Liverpool is completely over exaggerated and it's almost insulting if I'm quite honest. If deckers are good enough across the board in Manchester, then why not in Liverpool? Manchester has very similar rough areas such as Moss Side etc.

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
I do agree about the over exaggeration of vandalism here, there are areas with just as bad if not worse acts that are awash with deckers. As for the decker issue, well peak times I agree deckers on 10/10A are required, but not necessarily the whole day or every bus.

[Scania1996]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
There's a Dart on 89 lates tonight

[FC Pictures]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(09/07/2014 20:57)V671 DVU Wrote:  Zero fact? So a Enviro 400 on trial to see if the route needs deckers is zero fact? So you're saying because some school kids (who are only on the bus and at their most "vicious" should we say at 3PM) vandalise the bus, which isn't true anyway, we should all suffer? Are you Arriva management? And I'll ask my question again, do you use the 10/A in peak hour everyday? A packed Pulsar before Old Swan when there's still roughly 3 miles left to town...70+ people on a bus fit to seat only 40? Is that right?

MPTE, the 61s the worst example I can think off of the top of my head. Vandalism in Liverpool is completely over exaggerated and it's almost insulting if I'm quite honest. If deckers are good enough across the board in Manchester, then why not in Liverpool? Manchester has very similar rough areas such as Moss Side etc.

True about Manchester,but Arriva isnt the major operator there and it`s more about cost than anything,where is the 6 million quid for these deckers coming from,the pulsars on the 10/10A are young and don`t need replacing, there is a need for newer stock at St Helens,if they buy new then it`s likely to be Enviro200s as that`s what is being ordered for elsewhere by Arriva now, Pulsars can carry 70 people ,for the handful of journeys they might be full in a day standing room is fine, i doubt the fares taken on that corridor is even paying for the pulsars let alone deckers, and i`m sure drivers would be looking for pay rises if they suddenly had a larger bus, like Green Lane drivers refused the bendys without more pay.