Bus-Related Outings & Reviews

[M113 YKC]

RE: Bus-Related Outings & Reviews
Today, me and my friend decided to venture out "over the water" - and then strangely, my friend decided, mid-afternoon, that he wanted to go to Southport...! Overall, it was an enjoyable day; here's how it went:

52 (ANW) - Netherton, Glovers Lane > Queen Square Bus Station
Pulsar 2 MX09 LYH (2946)
I was delighted to see this bus, one of my favourites, preparing to start my first journey again this week (with a fast driver at the wheel again too)! It was an excellent ride - quite a few rattles, however its excellent engine and boss-sounding kickdown made up for those!

(Met up with my friend in Queen Square Bus Station)

432 (ANW) - Liverpool, Sir Thomas Street > Mersey Point Retail & Leisure Park
CX58 GBY (4420)
When this showed up, I nearly laughed at its smaller-than-usual "crossriver-express" branding on the front-end top windscreen and no side destination equipment! The bus was quite fast off the line, however the driver wasn't that fast. We sat on the top deck and it didn't rattle much up there.

39 (Impera) - Mersey Point Retail & Leisure Park > Liscard, Liscard Crescent
Plaxton Pointer 2 KU02 YUH (2021)
Its engine sounded too familiar - like ANW's Plaxton Pointer 2 X229 ANC (2229)... There was an annoying squeaking noise at the back-end of the bus and the cab-area wasn't quiet either! Urban-90s - just plastic on plastic! My first Impera ride was VERY disappointing! Merseytravel were on-board and seemed impressed that the service had been picking up well all day - and from what I seen of other 39s during the day, their theory seemed correct!

410 (ANW) - Liscard, Liscard Crescent > Woodside Interchange (Bus Station)
Myllennium Y458 KBU (2458)
What an awful bus! Idle vibrations were horrible and the engine sounded very rough past gear two! Again, just like Impera's 2021, Urban-90s aren't comfortable at all - especially when there's little legroom to go with them!

411 (ANW) - Woodside Interchange (Bus Station) > Mersey Point Retail & Leisure Park
President Y46 ABA (4000)
After missing a speeding Avon Buses' MPD departing from the bus station, we were happy to see this coming in! I was very impressed by it! Its engine sounded absolutely fantastic and the driver wasn't too slow either! Comfort-wise (top-deck again...), it only just gained a few points! The seats don't seem to be in the right position (too far forward) and they seem to be a bit small! An impressive ride despite that issue though!

15PR (Wirral Transport Museum) - Mersey Point Retail & Leisure Park > New Brighton, Kings Parade, via Kings Parade/Harrison Drive
Bristol FS6G/ECW 319 PFY
We decided to ride on this as it was free and we had nothing better to do at the time! Firstly, it would have been nice if the driver actually stopped properly to let us on, instead of slowly continuing to drive whilst we jumped on (it was fun really!)... Secondly, the bus had suspension problems - far too bouncy (again, it was fun really - very comfortable seats upstairs!). Lastly, the driver and associate seemed to be planning on finishing an hour earlier due to the service being dead for most of the afternoon - well, we seen the bus back out about 10 minutes after we got off it with a good load. That's karma for them not planning on running properly...!

410 (ANW) - Mersey Point Retail & Leisure Park > Birkenhead, Argyle Street
DAF/ALX400 S277 JUA (4097)
This ride was quite fun! The bus was very slow at getting up the many hills in New Brighton! Upstairs (again...! ), the back seats didn't seem to want to be fixed into place! I didn't really pay much attention to the ride-quality of the bus, however it seemed to be good.

437 (ANW) - Birkenhead Bus Station > Liverpool, Whitechapel
Plaxton Pointer 2 S848 RJC (2328)
I was happy to see this bus going in our direction (we turned it down earlier in the day in favour of Impera's 39). Lots of passengers got off as we were getting on, which left a reasonable load for Liverpool. We agreed that the moquette on the majority of seats had a nice pattern! The cooling fan was on (my style!), which went well with the nice engine! The gearbox was jerky though.

300 (ANW) - Liverpool, Sir Thomas Street > Southport, Lord Street
Pulsar 2 MX10 CZK (3046)
As we got off our 437 journey, I noticed this bus going up Crosshall Street. As we'd decided to head to Southport, we decided to run for this! The nice woman driver was very fast and even kicked down once on Stanley Road in Bootle! She was very annoyed at the diversion (which she hadn't been told of) in Southport though as she had to drop us passengers off somewhere close to the actual terminus and she'd finished her part of the duty - Lord Street delayed her!

(Break in Southport - arcades, etc...!)

47 (ANW) - Southport, Lord Street > Liverpool, Whitechapel
Pulsar 2 MX61 AVN (3085)
I was delighted when I seen a 61-plated bus of this type turn up as I hadn't tried one of Southport's out properly until this journey! The driver was very fast (no kickdown though) and kind - top speed down Formby By-Pass and high speeds near-enough everywhere really! The bus barely rattled - the only rattles came from the assault screen and the "used tickets" box, as pretty-much standard on most buses of this type...! Probably the best journey of the day - a fantastic ride!

55 (ANW) - Liverpool, Sir Thomas Street > Old Roan Interchange (Bus Station)
DAF/ALX400 S275 JUA (4095)
After nearly getting on Pulsar 2 MX09 LYC (2942) on the 52 for my last journey of the day, I seen this, which drew me away from 2942, which I rode on yesterday anyway! My friend decided to join me on this journey as-well, which was fun! We sat downstairs (finally, a gang of kids upstairs meant that we decided to sit downstairs - yay!)... Rattles were quite crazy, however the bus sounded nice!

(Left my friend on Copy Lane in Old Roan)

130 (Cumfybus) - Old Roan, Copy Lane > Netherton, Glovers Lane
Solo MX55 WDE
After getting off the 55 and landing in the middle of gang central, we decided to walk up the road to the next bus-stop. My friend boarded 4095 on the 55 to go home on! I boarded the 130; the bus wasn't too bad and the driver was quite fast. They definitely own worse buses!



replace all mersey points with marine points...........................