Avon Buses

[YN05 WKE]

RE: Avon Buses

(03/10/2013 14:12)KU02 YUH Wrote:  

(03/10/2013 13:41)507009 Wrote:  

(03/10/2013 13:04)E208 WBG Wrote:  Indeed they have be nice to see Avon operate the full 39 that route really started to pick up again

They will not be operating the full 39, as Merseytravel make explicit on their website. The 39 timetable has also been deleted from the timetable search library. From the loads I saw over the months, they were nowhere near high enough to make the route attractive to other operators.

I'm not disputing that your observations were wrong, however I worked with Impera for a number of months (mainly route-training) and can say that the 39 was regularly busy when I was on it - it seemed to be busier on nice days (the weather seemed to have a positive impact on the service). I certainly know that, during August, afternoon round-trips between 15:20 and 17:20 regularly brought-in income of around £30-£40 per bus (in addition to prepaid company passes and high Merseytravel pass figures). Before the July timetable amendment, a 10-hour Saturday duty solely on 39s (including the 411 during the evening) regularly brought-in over £100 in revenue, with passenger figures in excess of 200 (about 250 being the general figure). After the July timetable amendment, the evening service patronage dropped significantly and there were times when not one passenger was carried for a whole round-trip (very disappointing). If I'm honest, I personally think that your judgement purely on sightings is rather sceptical to say the least, especially as you don't seem to have sampled the service through a journey at all.

Looking at the general picture aside from what I witnessed over the months, the 39 must have been having an impact on Arriva as they decided to register a 414 service against it. We'll soon find-out whether this was just a tactic (or a so-called attempt - after all, their registered journeys did run after Impera's and Impera offered a better service, on paper, as they ran during the evening and on Sundays and bank holidays) to eliminate Impera's revenue on the 39 if Arriva suddenly decide to withdraw the service. If not, Arriva must have seen potential. Arriva's registration could well be what's stopping another company from taking-over it.

Arriva's 414 is basically a extention to the short 413's