I do not know if there is really a problem with too many buses in the Birkenhead Tunnel, never having seen the responsible highway authority complaining about it. However, there are means at the Local Authorities' disposal to deal with the problem if they so wished. The fact that they haven't used these powers may indicate that they wouldn't do anything about it in a regulated environment either. Perhaps the politics get in the way?
There isn't an issue with too many buses. There are actually less cross river buses than there were a few years ago. Admittedly it's only slightly lower but I work out that South Wirral to Liverpool was as follows
QBP Stagecoach Rte 1 - 3
QBP Stagecoach & Arriva Rte 2 - 3
Stagecoach Rte X8 - 2
Total 8bph
On normal full timetables, you now have
Stagecoach Rte 1/X1 - 6
Total 6
Right now however, the 1/X1 is on a reduced timetable still which makes it only 4 bph. Reduction in 4 buses per hour through the Birkenhead tunnel in my books. No other services have changed so no point including them as it would make this post really long.
As a non-driver I have no quarrel with limiting private cars but it's pointless to hav e operators effectively competing with themselves on a tiny minority of routes. Also in Liverpool at peak times about 30 Stagecoach buses have to run EMPTY out of service between Garston and Gillmoss ( a 10 mile journey). Which is why I suggested that the COVID 19 pandemic would be a good reason for ARRIVA and Stagecoach to exchange mileage, to massively reduce but not totally eliminate the cross city empty bus convoys. An efficient measure blocked by the illogical 1985 Transport Act .
Not entirely true here. Based on the boards which I have from a few years ago (very similar to now to be fair), I count only 21 buses running from South Parkway to Gillmoss. Very few buses run back as well at peak time. 82/86s run back through the evening. Some around half 6, some past midnight. The dead running from Parkway normally done via the motorway as well so isn't really cross city. Buses go back around half 6 at many companies around the UK due to the services running down post 7pm and the reduction in journey times.
I can see why you are suggesting such a move as the 14s all to Stagecoach and Arriva take something else like the 82s makes sense. If you look at who is best to run each QBP though, you would find Stagecoach running only 1 of them (the 14). All bar 1 run very close to Arriva depots. I think while the argument for dead millage maybe a good one, it is flawed and what should be being looked at instead is reducing the frequency on the QBP routes by 1 even frequency level (every 3 mins down to 4, every 4 down to 5, every 5 down to 7.5 etc). On some routes this can be done easily but on others like the 14 and 86, you would have a lot of difficulties doing this because of the complex nature of the routes. Bearing in mind, these routes have extensions off the core, you would have random frequencies and it would lead to upset passengers or uneven frequencies per hour for each company.
Because, in general, bus and train services DON'T duplicate one another. Take the 407 as an example. Yes, it operates from West Kirby to Liverpool, and so on a superficial level, it duplicates the Wirral line. In reality, it serves a number of communities where the rail line is peripheral (e.g. Moreton, Meols, Bidston) and the stations located well away from main population. Therefore, it performs the role of local bus service within and from those communities. Even when it then begins to run parallel with the line in Birkenhead (between North and Park), those two stations are some distance apart so the bus really does serve those communities. For example
- Were I to live in Hoylake, the choice would be to get the train to Liverpool (31 mins) or the bus (57 mins in peak).... You'd get the train and I'd suspect most people do.
- Were I to live in Meols, and want to travel to Hoylake, it's 4 mins on the train but the station is peripheral and involves heading away from Hoylake so you get the bus.
- Were I to live in Bidston and want to head to Liverpool, the bus is 31 mins to Liverpool vs the train 20 mins. Bidston station is nearly half a mile from the village centre (10 min walk), and involves crossing a dual carriageway. Even if you're fit enough (and many people aren't), do people fancy a 10 min walk? I doubt it so you get the bus which conveniently stops in the centre of Bidston.
This is a common misnomer that buses and trains compete as usually, it comes down to convenience and if the train is as convenient (proximity), it wins on speed.
But surely there is duplication between Birkenhead and Liverpool? We (the taxpayers) are paying twice. Once for the train and once for the bus. There is a train something like every 5 minutes between Birkenhead and Liverpool. Surely that's enough? That bus can run between Birkenhead and West Kirby.
Something which is missed is the fact that even in normal times, you have a substantial amount of people alight at Birkenhead Bus Station on cross river buses. while the cross river bus may be a through route, you can 3/4 empty it at Birkenhead and then you can fill up to about 1/2 full again as people using the routes from west of Birkenhead, use the bus generally to go shopping in Birkenhead or to connect onto other buses. People using other routes into Birkenhead as well from other areas, connect onto the Cross Rivers to then get into Liverpool as the interchange is there. Jamesheet49 has looked at it in a very linear way and judging by the replies (feel free to correct me here), hasn't seen the actual passenger flows of the services. If you go to Birkenhead and stand there for 10 minutes, even now, you can see it all unfold. It's not so much people going end to end, it's all the connection between routes which make the Cross River services. I won't forget a few years back, you would have a full standing load on a decker leaving Liverpool and then when you leave Birkenhead Bus Station, you can have 10-15 people on. It is bonkers and until you see it, it's hard to believe.
If you look at it from a TFL perspective, there are far too many seats for the amount of people travelling however you can be empty going one way and full standing the other way. Also, which route do you reduce as at least upto Birkenhead, the frequencies are spot on but as there are so many routes, you would end up with cutting links (464 or 487 are the lowest frequencies) but then you leave areas without the link to Liverpool and force people to change. IF you opt for a higher frequency route, you end up with random buses terminating early and you confuse passengers simply because there are too many buses.
If this is how you think about Birkenheads buses, got help us if you look elsewhere. Plenty of buses around the UK which duplicate the rail line. We'd have hardly and buses left.
Coming from somebody who drives crossriver buses, why shouldn't buses go through to Liverpool and terminate in Birkenhead just because trains are frequent? Under normal circumstances the buses are busy and make a tidy profit on Crossrivers, why should people have to get on a 437 in say Greasby- which isn't near Merseyrail, and then change in Birkenhead for a connecting train to Liverpool? Not only would they then have to buy a bus and train ticket each day (or a trio pass if regular) which costs considerably more than a bus operator weekly pass, plus add the hassle of changing onto a train when they could just get the one bus?
Yes buses and trains are frequent between Birkenhead and Liverpool, but let's not forget most passengers arnt travelling from Birkenhead, they're travelling from everywhere else on the route, a direct transport link is surely favourable than splitting journeys into 2 halves? If Merseyrail goes down for whatever reason, everybody pours onto the crossriver buses to get back over the water. Yes rail replacement services will turn up eventually, but it would be a lot more chaotic without the service bus to assist too.
Can you imagine asking all the passengers to jump off and walk over the Conway park to get the train. Would be quite funny to see the look on some peoples faces.
On a serious note, I fully agree with what you've put here. You'd have hardly anyone using public transport purely on the basis of how much hassle it would be.
