Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

[polarbear]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
I appreciate it will take a while for the X8 to settle down & I expect some things like timings & stopping points will be revised in due course. From my point of view, I would like to see better connectivity at EP bus station as the X8 doesn't really connect well with the X2 (which would be the cheap way to provide an express bus service between Chester & Liverpool).

No, it's not the fastest Chester - Liverpool service end to end but it's designed to tap into some new markets. If I lived around the Hoole Road/Kingsway area of Chester & commuted to Liverpool, I'd be tempted to try the bus. From Hoole Road, the journey time on the X8 to Liverpool is around 1 hour but compare that to a train journey of 40 min PLUS the time taken to get the railway station (not to mention the much higher peak fares on the train) and it starts to make a lot of sense.

It's also routed past both Chester & Ellesmere Port stations as Stagecoach are negotiating with the train operating companies for through rail ticketing to/from Cheshire Oaks. Another potential market that is largely untapped.

The former X7 and X8 services in Crosville/First days were more direct, but didn't pay as they didn't pick up sufficient passengers. Since those times, Cheshire Oaks has appeared & is a major revenue generator for the bus companies.

A direct Chester - Liverpool bus, omitting Cheshire Oaks just won't work in this day & age as the train now has the majority of that market.