Halton Transport

[Lynx]

RE: Halton Transport
Just confirming that MCV #10 has now also been put into the revised livery, the top panels are however still red as apposed to only 1/4 of the length of the bus being red. It looks quite smart but would have looked much better in the full revised livery.

[mr t]

RE: Halton Transport
Looks like Halton have won the Liverpool-Hough Green-Runcorn bus wars - 79C is reduced to every 30 minutes from April!

[Valandil]

RE: Halton Transport

(10/03/2016 11:27)mr t Wrote:  Looks like Halton have won the Liverpool-Hough Green-Runcorn bus wars - 79C is reduced to every 30 minutes from April!

Whaat ... okay now I'm worried ... if the rumours about the 7 Warrington - Liverpool being cut back to Cronton - Liverpool are true and the 79C is also being reduced in frequency, my commute from Warrington to the Broad Green type area could be basically destroyed, particularly if the 79C and 110 aren't co-ordinated ...
Other than shell out for Arriva *and* Halton tickets on the same day, I'll have to get a driving test booked ...

[telf23]

RE: Halton Transport

(10/03/2016 13:25)Valandil Wrote:  Whaat ... okay now I'm worried ... if the rumours about the 7 Warrington - Liverpool being cut back to Cronton - Liverpool are true and the 79C is also being reduced in frequency, my commute from Warrington to the Broad Green type area could be basically destroyed, particularly if the 79C and 110 aren't co-ordinated ...
Other than shell out for Arriva *and* Halton tickets on the same day, I'll have to get a driving test booked ...

I can't find this decrease in time anywhere. I don't understand why Arriva would do this to the 79C. At the 15 minute frequency it's very rare you see a low loading. They'd probably benefit more from increasing the frequency. I personally prefer Halton and regularly get the 14A over the 79C, but in comparison, the 79C tends to have the busier loads over Halton.

It's all a bit confusing.

[wirralbus]

RE: Halton Transport
A 30 minute 79C sounds like they may slowly be planning there escape.

[Valandil]

RE: Halton Transport
Yes, I agree really, Arriva could easily win the 'bus battle' on the 79C/14's and the decrease in frequency is really quite strange.
Halton probably tries harder but Arriva gets more custom.
I know I only use Arriva because of connecting to other Arriva-run services.

[Quackdave]

RE: Halton Transport
I've often wondered whether omitting the Hough Green / Arley Drive deviation on at least some journeys would be worthwhile. The time saving would certainly improve the appeal of through journeys to Widnes, though I don't know whether sufficiently so to offset the loss of local custom to the competitor. Admittedly my use of the routes tends to be at off-peak times, but I've never seen many passengers to/from the Liverpool direction get on or off there, and eight buses per hour towards Liverpool don't really seem necessary. (Even minus half of these, there'd still be eight per hour towards Widnes.)

Other minor Halton observations are that #54 is now in the (semi-)revised livery with red rear end, and red panel below the windscreen, but without the cream above the side windows (yet).

I wonder if #37 might be next, as it had a minor bump at Mount Vernon this evening - it didn't look serious enough for anyone to have been hurt, but the o/s quarterlight and the fibreglass corner below it were damaged, so if it's going to need body and paintwork attention then they might well give it the extra red whilst they're at it!

[mr t]

RE: Halton Transport
The 79C is going to be every 15 minutes Runcorn - Hough Green, and 30 minutes Runcorn - Liverpool

[Valandil]

RE: Halton Transport

(11/03/2016 21:03)mr t Wrote:  The 79C is going to be every 15 minutes Runcorn - Hough Green, and 30 minutes Runcorn - Liverpool

In my opinion, this is a bit of a poor decision, even though I'm sure it's a considered one with data to back it up etc.
The Runcorn to Widnes section: good.
The Widnes to Hough Green section: for most people using this section of the route, Arriva isn't the operator of choice as their 15-minute frequency is only 50% of what Halton offers with their 14's.
(NB: I doubt that a large proportion of passengers on each vehicle are travelling between Hough Green and Runcorn).
Widnes to Liverpool: it's for people making these journeys that Arriva could be the clear winner if they wanted to, and I fully agree with the forum member who has suggested dropping the Hough Green loop to speed up journey times; of course, a higher frequency than Halton would also help (say every 12 or 10 minutes).

So it seems weird to keep a focus on the Widnes - Hough Green section of the route, where Halton is superior, and drop the focus on the Widnes - Liverpool section.
The need for this mythical X1A service keeps increasing ...

I hope that the times are roughly co-ordinated between the 79C and 82A so that there is an Arriva bus leaving Widnes for Liverpool every quarter hour and one returning every quarter hour.
Having said this, the 82A is a longer route, so they can only be co-ordinated at a maximum of one end, and if you just miss a 79C it would be almost pointless catching the next 82A as the following 79C half an hour later would arrive at almost the same time -- it'd just help get potential passengers onto a bus and save them from the British weather for a bit.

[wirralbus]

RE: Halton Transport
Won't some services soon be affected by the major roadworks which are now ready to start at the widnes side of the Mersey associated with the Mersey gateway crossing.