Arriva North West - Speke Depot (Old Closed Thread)

[Brickmill]

RE: Arriva North West - Speke Depot

(13/01/2018 08:52)wirralbus Wrote:  Any reform of the bus system will be fraught with danger , which ever way you go , after deregulation in October 1986 you couldnt say the services settled down for a good year afterwards.

If the changes dont have the desired effect its the local metro mayors that will have the egg on there face not the DfT as they divested that away.

The current system is also fraught with danger! In saying that, current circumstances are probably somewhat different (less critical) on Merseyside compared to GM. The basic economic geography is different for a start, with Liverpool being a bit more dominant than Manchester is over here. For instance, there is no physical way of getting from the Wirral to Southport by land, without going through at least the northern outskirts of Liverpool, and I'm guessing there is no great demographic link between St Helens/Knowsley and Southport. GM is more complex, with virtually every "satellite" town having close family and employment links with at least their next neighbour as well as with the Regional Centre.
Similarly, with the bus industry; Merseyside has two predominant commercial Operators, both investing heavily in new, environmentally friendlier buses and QPs already exist on some trunk routes. I'm guessing Bus only fares are less complex and vary less for a given journey length than in GM, as well as being a little cheaper over all.
Stability was also mentioned; GM has never really been stable since De-reg, albeit a lot of areas had relative stability during the "noughties". But now timetables are being changed with great regularity. Again, I can't speak for Merseyside, but the proof of the pudding is in ridership, with GM's now nosediving again, with 2017/8 expected to be below 200 million for the first time. It was 346 million at De-reg.