Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot

[Valandil]

RE: Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot
The new 21/X30 timetable is available on arrivabus.co.uk and by gum it's even worse than I thought.
From Halton Lea towards Helsby, the 21 will depart Halton Lea North, while the X30 will continue to depart Halton Lea South, and there won't be a combined 'every 30 minutes' frequency, as buses will arrive at Helsby at 02 and 13 minutes past the hour.

No doubt this is in large part to run ahead of Stagecoach's X2, which arrives there at 24 past the hour, meaning 3 buses within 22 minutes of each other, then nothing for over half an hour -- a fine example of the senseless nature of free market 'competition' (from the point of view of the passenger, not the shareholder).
In the other direction, the 21 is also timed to arrive at Halton Lea 3 minutes before Stagecoach's X2.
In fact, not only that, but the X30 is also timed to run ahead of the 21, meaning everyone will of course aim to catch this much more useful service, adding weight to the idea that Arriva is trying to run its own 21 down as well as the competition.