Squarepeg taking on Arriva?

[Ballyheigue]

Squarepeg in Leeds are launching a new route, numbered 253, which will run from Leeds Infirmary Street to Heckmondwike via the 254 route to Gomersal then it will head to Heckmondwike. It'll run every hour between roughly 7am and 6pm, I can't see it being a route funded by WYCA given it duplicates the 254/5 for most of it's route so I can only guess it's commercial. I can't really see there being much demand for a tendered bus from Wortley, New Farnley and Birkinshaw to Heckmondwike as there isn't really all that much in Heckmondwike. I've attached the timetable from Metro below.

https://www.wymetro.com/buses/bus-timetables/timetable/?ServiceNumber=253&Code=&Direction=Inbound&Day=Saturdays

 

[mattb7tl]

Squarepeg in Leeds are launching a new route, numbered 253, which will run from Leeds Infirmary Street to Heckmondwike via the 254 route to Gomersal then it will head to Heckmondwike. It'll run every hour between roughly 7am and 6pm, I can't see it being a route funded by WYCA given it duplicates the 254/5 for most of it's route so I can only guess it's commercial. I can't really see there being much demand for a tendered bus from Wortley, New Farnley and Birkinshaw to Heckmondwike as there isn't really all that much in Heckmondwike. I've attached the timetable from Metro below.

https://www.wymetro.com/buses/bus-timetables/timetable/?ServiceNumber=253&Code=&Direction=Inbound&Day=Saturdays

The demand of that section does not matter much assuming the rest of the route covers the cost of the service. A route planned this way is essentially cross-subsidy. The authority is going to want new services and new links to run to the new bus station. Arriva isn't equipped to do anything at the moment as demonstrated with the astronomically large amounts of cancellations on the 268 (8.1%) and 229 (9.4%) with these services consistently popping up on the bottom five services for reliability.

Since we are in an enhanced partnership and they are supposed to be all about operators holding hands, spinning in a circle, smiling, and laughing together. I'm going to assume both operators are happy about the situation.

 

[Ballyheigue]

But that's just it, it's not one that's actually needed in terms of connecting anywhere useful (I've never heard of anyone from Wortley protesting they need a bus to Heckmondwike lol) and it duplicates existing services for what must be 80% of it's route so it can't be tendered. If it's commercial then it defo won't make a profit unless Arriva are so bad on that corridor that it picks up passengers that way, if that's the case then it is indeed set up to be competition.

 

[mattb7tl]

But that's just it, it's not one that's actually needed in terms of connecting anywhere useful (I've never heard of anyone from Wortley protesting they need a bus to Heckmondwike lol) and it duplicates existing services for what must be 80% of it's route so it can't be tendered. If it's commercial then it defo won't make a profit unless Arriva are so bad on that corridor that it picks up passengers that way, if that's the case then it is indeed set up to be competition.

The region isn’t a single dense city but a network of multiple small towns and that structure often makes it much harder to build a usable bus network assuming you only plan based on obvious demand. Yet this route helps complete the network in Heckmondwike, it connects all the the last major locations to the hub.

Because it overlaps with portions of the 254/255 that already draw walk-up demand, there is potential for commercial viability, it can piggyback on existing passenger flows. In contrast, if you routed it elsewhere where no frequent service exists, you would likely struggle, the frequency is already close to the minimum of what people will tolerate, so without built-in demand it wouldn’t attract riders. This is why infrequent bus services are never often commercial they have to be frequent in order to gain demand.

The fact that it mirrors a frequent service is not a bug but a feature, it taps into a large latent market of people turning up at buses without pre-planning. That gives it a background traffic of users which are going to absorb risk and improve resilience.

 

[Ballyheigue]

The region isn’t a single dense city but a network of multiple small towns and that structure often makes it much harder to build a usable bus network assuming you only plan based on obvious demand. Yet this route helps complete the network in Heckmondwike, it connects all the the last major locations to the hub.

Because it overlaps with portions of the 254/255 that already draw walk-up demand, there is potential for commercial viability, it can piggyback on existing passenger flows. In contrast, if you routed it elsewhere where no frequent service exists, you would likely struggle, the frequency is already close to the minimum of what people will tolerate, so without built-in demand it wouldn’t attract riders. This is why infrequent bus services are never often commercial they have to be frequent in order to gain demand.

The fact that it mirrors a frequent service is not a bug but a feature, it taps into a large latent market of people turning up at buses without pre-planning. That gives it a background traffic of users which are going to absorb risk and improve resilience.

But there's no doubt about it, if WYCA (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)aren't funding it then it's competition for most of it's route.