13:07, August 5th, 2018
It is amazing to see that the railway gets its own chaplaincy service in the form of the the Railway Mission. With what can happen, any such support has to have its place and surely must be most welcome when it is needed.
News Snippets
13:07, May 4th, 2018
A recent stint of pondering has taken me across the Atlantic as I wondered what you could see as a visitor to the U.S.A. without having recourse to a car. So far, the following has come to my notice and more may arise yet. Many are bus companies and there are one or two train companies too. Maybe compiling this list will help some to realise that there is more to bus and train services in the U.S. than they may have realised.
9 of the most incredible train journeys in the USA
Capital District Transportation Authority
Denali Overland Transportation Company
Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority
Montana and North Dakota Intercity Bus Status
13:08, March 16th, 2018
13:09, January 26th, 2018
It is true to say that frequent train services operate between Manchester, Leeds and York and that National Express run an hourly service between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds but this not stop Transdev adding their own alternatives. After all, trains can get full and peak time travel is more expensive while National Express prefer the pre-booking model so there might be something to having another hop on service at a more reasonable price. Previously, Transdev, operated the York to Leeds route using its Coastliner operation but CITYZAP replaces that and the Leeds to Manchester route follows the M62. Low floor buses are used instead of coaches so that could an added benefit for those with mobility issues. The services run all days of the week from morning until early in the evening time so any day’s core hours see an hourly service. Outside of these, you always can make use of those aforementioned other services. It will be interesting to see how Transdev’s innovation works out but it sounds as if it could deserve success and it hopefully will see that come its way too.
13:09, January 18th, 2018
Quite a range of bus services around Merseyside will change from next Sunday and here are the details organised by route number:
3A/3B Huyton – Halewood – John Lennon Airport
3A and 3B journeys (apart from 0417 trip) no longer serve the Jaguar Land Rover Factory, and instead call at Speke Morrisons.
4 Liverpool ONE – Dingle/Sefton Park circular
Frequency has increased during peak times.
15 Liverpool – Huyton
Saturday daytime frequency is reduced to 12 minutes. Sunday times have changed.
18 Liverpool – Croxteth Park circular
Sunday times have changed.
31 St Helens – Parr
The times have changed.
34/34A St Helens – Newton-le-Willows or Leigh
Some journeys retimed.
38/38A St Helens – Rainford circular
Journeys are retimed.
47 Liverpool – Crossens
Some times have changed.
49 Crossens – Woodvale
Some times have changed.
52/52A Liverpool – Netherton/Old Roan
Monday to Saturday daytime times are changed.
62 Allerton (Penny Lane)- Bootle, North Park
Some times are changed as the route is still diverted via Pighue Lane and Rathbone Road due to the closure of Mill Lane/Edge Lane Junction.
82/82C/82D Liverpool – Liverpool South Parkway or Speke
Route revised in Liverpool city centre. Some times have changed
89 St Helens – Liverpool John Lennon Airport
The Monday to Friday daytime times have changed.
139 Liverpool – Prescot
Journeys no longer run between Prescot and St Helens (see Route 289). Times are changed.
140 St Helens – Bold Heath or Rainhill Station
The Monday to Saturday daytime timetable now has 2 journeys that are extended to start/finish at Bold Heath (School Lane).
166/188 Belle Vale – Halewood or Halewood – Belle Vale or Garston circular
HTL Route 166 & 188: The times have changed and now serves Garden Lodge Drive, Springwood Avenue, Mather Avenue, Heath Road, Greenhill Road and Long Lane Merseytravel Route 166 & 188: The times have changed and now serves Springwood Avenue, Mather Avenue, Heath Road, Greenhill Road and Long Lane, and Garden Lodge Drive on Saturday daytime journeys.
224 Liscard – Weatherhead School via Poulton
The 0751 journey has been retimed to start 8 minutes earlier
289 St Helens – Prescot or Kirkby
Route 289 is extended via Rainhill to St Helens to replace the withdrawn section of Route 139. Saturday Route 290 is withdrawn but replaced by Route 289 journeys running from St Helens through to Kirkby bus station. Times are changed.
300 Liverpool – Southport or Lydiate
Some times have changed.
320 St Helens – Ashton-in-Makerfield or Wigan
Some minor re-timings on Monday to Saturday journeys
375/385 Southport – Wigan
Revised timetable
432/433 New Brighton – Liverpool
Some times have changed.
437 Liverpool – West Kirby
Some times have changed.
500 Liverpool – Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Some times are changed.
600 Garston – Archbishop Blanch School
0755 journey departs Garston 5 minutes earlier.
611 Dovecot – Broadgreen School
Journey retimed 5 minutes earlier.
630 Woodchurch High School – Moreton Cross
Merseytravel journey withdrawn. Commercial Al’s Coaches duplicate journey remains.
663 Thingwall – Wirral Grammar
Times changed during journey
745 Carmel College – Platt Bridge
Revised running times
781 Billinge – Rainford High School
Timing point changed to Red Cat Lane
783 Moss Bank – Rainford High School
Revised running times
784 Haresfinch – Rainford High School
Timing point changed to Red Cat Lane
786 Rainford High School – St Helens
Revised running times
897 Huyton Industrial Estate – Kirkby Admin
Route change in Huyton, now serves Stretton Way, Ellis Ashton Street and Link Road on services travelling towards Kirkby Admin.
X3 Liverpool – Kirkby/Knowsley Industrial Park
One afternoon journey in each direction withdrawn
13:11, January 16th, 2018
Arriva’s withdrawal of Monday to Saturday Macclesfield to Wilmslow (and vice versa) journeys on service 130 near the end month has seen D & G Buses partly replace them with ones running between Macclesfield, Wilmslow and Manchester Airport. One of the things that bedevilled Arriva’s combination of different journey lengths were delays on their Manchester to Macclesfield ones. Having a different company offering the shorter journeys means that they could be more timely than the longer ones and may offer a more reliable service. Arriva still will cover more of the day though and will continue to offer a Sunday service until their contract ends as a result of council spending cuts. Still, it will be interesting to see how D & G’s offering will fare after their attempt with a Wilmslow to Handforth service on route 378 ended in failure. Some say that ticket machine problems could have contributed and I see High Peak having the same difficulties on their Macclesfield to Buxton service.
14:46, January 15th, 2018
Lancashire has been having a consultation on cutting some of the £8m per annum that they spend on funding bus services. It ends this Friday (2014-01-17) after being open for more than a month. The survey is online so now’s anyone’s chance to ensure that nothing really important is lost with evening and Sunday services under threat.
13:17, December 23rd, 2017
Yesterday, the RMT and TSSA unions were to have a 24 hour stoppage that would have affected Virgin train services on the West Coast Mainline. In the event, that industrial action was cancelled at near enough the last minute. This dispute is about pay and there may be stoppages during January yet. From the information that Virgin has posted so far, there is little sign of that now so we will have to see what happens in 2018.
13:16, December 23rd, 2017
Earlier in the year, I wrote a post regarding the creation of Borders Buses to replace First’s operations in the Scottish Borders and those of Perryman’s Buses. The parent company, West Coast Motors, is also taking over services operator by another company, BARC Coach Hire of Peebles, to add to the strength of its holding that straddles the Scotland-England border. This means that Borders Buses will operate the following services from 2018-01-03:
Of these, only service 91 has seen my patronage and that was a result of my walking the John Buchan Way from Peebles to Broughton on Easter Monday of this year. Timetables will not change and their greater availability on an operator’s website has to be a good thing.
13:15, December 23rd, 2017
It seems that Welsh independent bus operators have been having a rough time over the past few years. GHA collapsed last year and D. Jones & Son suffered the same fate last Sunday. Also, deficiencies in maintenance found after a coach crash in France mean that Express Motors is set to lose its licence at the end of the year. If this continues, bus industry nationalisation could move a step closer in Wales; ironically, it is in Scotland where the idea of nationalising bus services has been mooted by Scottish Labour for their part of Britain. That follows all the running being made by the idea of nationalising Britain’s railways in recent times.
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