Get-Pulled-Off
Member
- Joined
- 17 Apr 2011
- Messages
- 190
£6.50 return extotianate? And that's for a one off fare! I think it's pretty reasonable to be honest. It's actually roughly the same price as it was in the mid 1990s. Seriously! The X43 service was never what it is now, it used to be just another bus service, every 30 minutes I think, with steady but unspectacular loadings. Then Stagecoach (at the time) started competing on a GM buses route in Stockport, and GM retaliated by running a coach service (although regularly subsituted by Atlantean buses!!) on the X43 route. Competition was fierce with a reported 22 buses an hour on a Saturday morning by Stagecoach using any old stock they had available. Fares tumbled, to the point where an adult return was about £1. Naturally, passengers flocked to service and double deckers were leaving Burnley every few minutes packed to the rafters, much to the annoyance of shop keepers in East Lancashire.
Stagecoach came to an agreement with GM Buses eventually and the war ended, but Stagecoach had found a winner, fares stayed low (but not quite as low) and passengers stayed with the service, and it because very popular and well known in the area, attacting car owners in their droves.
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There's land available close to Rose Grove station, but it's not flat so would require some fairly heavy lifting, but it could be done. Whether the council would want the additional traffic on the roads in the area is debateable though, its already congested at rush hour. There would be an ideal place for a brand new park and ride station at Junction 8 on the M65, but whether it would be worth building a whole station is debateable.
Oh it's certainly a slick operation and popular in the local area, I wouldn't want to see it go down the pan with the rail link, but I think there is room for both, albeit the bus might have to reduce it's frequency.
Stagecoach came to an agreement with GM Buses eventually and the war ended, but Stagecoach had found a winner, fares stayed low (but not quite as low) and passengers stayed with the service, and it because very popular and well known in the area, attacting car owners in their droves.
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I thank you for your considered opinion. The point that you make about park and ride faciliies is very relevent. Lostock Parkway has often been cited as a very good example of what a good sized park and ride can do. Is there land facilities available to enable large sized versions of these to be built near to the proposed stations?
There's land available close to Rose Grove station, but it's not flat so would require some fairly heavy lifting, but it could be done. Whether the council would want the additional traffic on the roads in the area is debateable though, its already congested at rush hour. There would be an ideal place for a brand new park and ride station at Junction 8 on the M65, but whether it would be worth building a whole station is debateable.
I think that TRANSDEV were very aware that they faced commuter competition on the Blackburn to Manchester route from the Clitheroe-Blackburn-Bolton-Manchester rail service and from the the 225 Clitheroe - Blackburn - Bolton bus service for short journey passengers. However, as they faced no such rail competition on the Colne-Burnley-Rawtenstall-Manchester route, they have obviously set up their service accordingly with regard to operational and commercial nessessities in mind.
I must confess that their timetable for the X43/X44 Lancashire Witch is very impressive in the quality of paper and printing, with timetables, route maps, ticket and price availability and general information. They must spend quite an amount of money on the production of these.
In my younger days, in the early 1960's, I commuted from Manchester Victoria to Accrington on the line currently part-used by the East Lancashire railway, so I am very much aware of the time advantage that rail offers over bus travel.
Oh it's certainly a slick operation and popular in the local area, I wouldn't want to see it go down the pan with the rail link, but I think there is room for both, albeit the bus might have to reduce it's frequency.