Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot

[Liamkennedy2231]

RE: Arriva North West - Runcorn Depot
Also, I’ve been travelling on the newly-formed 82A. While I’m glad it’s legacy is revived and, for the most part, it is a good service, there are some issues I’d like to see ironed out by the next timetable change.

Firstly, I think this time around, it mimics the 82 route too much. The route now avoids the Estuary Business Park and uses Park Road instead of Riverside Drive. There is already a very sufficient service level in the Park Road area, so in my opinion, routing the bus this way seems pointless.

I’d like to see the 82A reverted to run via the Estuary Business Park and Riverside Drive, as per the pre-Sept 2018 route. Many of the previous 82A/500 users saw the service as a great direct route to access work and other facilities in the Otterspool and Brunswick areas. People now need to change at John Lennon Airport for the 500 and wait 15 minutes. The traffic also flows much better this way, as from Sefton Street up until the junction at Jericho Lane and Aigburth Road, there are no traffic lights (not including the pedestrian crossings, which are used infrequently). This would ensure reliability and maintain a good service along this stretch of road. This could also mean journey times on the 500 could be shorter, as if the 82A serves these stops, the 500 will not need to. It would only need to serve all stops outside of the 82A’s start and finish times.

This brings me into my second point, and one that I know is being quite heavily criticised at the moment. The 82A currently starts too late and finishes too early. I’d understand the decision if there were alternative bus services at all of the communities the 82A passes through, but unfortunately this is not the case. The likes of Hale, Ditton and Coronation Drive are served only by a few services (only the 82A in Hale’s case) that already finish early, so these service cuts off the back of the 500 are a further blow to the areas that see this service as near enough a lifeline. I know there are quite a lot of residents in these areas that do not drive, and for those with early-starting/late-finishing jobs, this may force them to travel by car, have to change their shifts or even quit their job.

If Arriva deems a timetable extension ‘unsustainable’ then I think the local authorities could intervene, like Merseytravel did with the 61 (extending the service into Liverpool from Broad Green). The current timetable is just not fit-for-purpose in its current form and seriously needs to be reconsidered.