Potential Merseyrail expansion beyond Headbolt Lane and/or timetable improvements

[Bevan Price]

Clearly, I am going to have to be extremely precise with my language if I intend to keep posting here.

Given that the Northern franchise was terminated in 2020 and the Department for Transport's Operator of Last Resort is managing services operated under the Northern brand, no, the "blanket statement" I previously made (which, admittedly, was a little clumsy and could have been improved by the word 'some') would not apply to Northern. However,

I made no reference to bus companies making huge profits, although I did express the opinion (which I stand by) that all public transport should be in public ownership / management. TfL's system works well, if Merseyside and Greater Manchester can achieve something similar the benefits for bus and rail users alike should be significant.

I have no idea if this recent contribution to the thread


was aimed at my suggestion that an hourly "shuttle" service between Headbolt Lane and Wigan Wallgate might be popular, but you have directly challenged me on some of the points I've made and I've sought to engage with you honestly and politely. I am, however, beginning to wonder if you're just picking on a newbie.

The TfL system for buses may have worked well once --- but like other local services, it is suffering from increasing Treasury / DfT interference for financial reasons. My fear about Merseyside & other bus franchise plans is "how much will they want to increase council tax to pay for them. Early indications are not favourable, with signs of clueless politicians meddling with things where they have no experience, such as bus specifications. The Merseytravel authority wants to operate hydrogen-fuelled buses, initially between Liverpool and St. Helens; the first buses arrived a few months ago, but have yet to work any regular services -- because there are no permanent refuelling facilities for hydrogen.