Atlantic, Bolton

[knutstransport]

RE: Atlantic, Bolton

(12/09/2022 23:26)iMarkeh Wrote:  How big is your 'little bus'?
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The best win for all would be 3 buses.

I never suggested 2 buses, including one little bus, is the right combination. You'll notice from an earlier post I said at least 3 RRBs if it's a last minute arrangement. If both the 15:02 and 16:02 Chester to Manchester services are cancelled then you have over 100 people to shift from Greenbank station alone. You don't need 3 RRBs calling at all stations. But I accept they might only be able to source one initially. That's why I suggested in the first instance get ticket acceptance on Metrolink and ensure Greenbank to Altrincham is covered. Obviously exactly what you do depends on what can be sourced. If the replacement bus is coming from Winsford, then maybe start it at Greenbank. If it's coming from the Wirral, then don't run it out-of-service to Greenbank.

Quote:but that costs a lot of money, especially on emergency 'name your price' rate. It's also a complete waste given the low amount of people who use these buses anyway.

On an emergency basis there can be many people who already have tickets. Anytime Returns from Northwich to Manchester are over £15 and there are a considerable number of peak time journeys from Northwich to Manchester. It's not like Rose Hill Marple to Piccadilly where every local fare is under the TfGM cap. Northern may not care if they lose £500 through issuing refunds, delay repay etc. or if they spend it on a RRB. However, long term the RRB might mean more people give Northern a second chance.

While COVID may have affected commuter flows, one thing that surprised me is a lot of people commute from Altrincham to Knutsford in the morning, probably over 200 excluding the school children, who then make up a significant number themselves. But there aren't all from Altrincham - they've arrived there from various places by bus and tram - Timperley, Sale, Didsbury, Wythenshawe etc.

Knutsford and Hale also have a lot of business travellers, who change to Avanti, XC, TfW etc. at Stockport. Running an express bus in the morning peak could save Northern hundreds in Delay Repay to business travellers alone, given 5 minutes extra can make the difference between £25 Delay Repay and £50 Delay Repay to just one person.

Quote:When buses are on the Mid Cheshire, generally most people don't travel because of the vastly increased journey times.
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Using the night buses tonight as the example.
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The buses in their current form also reflect the current journey flows.

Comparing scheduled late RRBs with unscheduled evening peak RRB is like comparing Avanti services with LNW services - two completely different markets, with different travelling patterns. The reason engineering works usually affects late Mon-Thurs and Sunday services is because most of the travellers at those times are leisure travellers who can postpone their trip to meet up with friends, go bowling etc. to a different day. You can't decide to return home from work on Thursday when it's Wednesday and you're already at work. Some people may decide to work late, or go to the pub if there's disruption which may clear later but if you take what happened yesterday Greenbank to Chester services were suspended from 14:30 until when the line was closed for the overnight engineering works. Waiting until later, doesn't prevent the passengers needing a RRB to get home.