27/3/03
News from Adam Davies is that Halton have another ELC bodied Dart delivered - DK03 NTE.
Delamere Street bus station is to remian open for the forseeable future, and the travel shop is to remain open thanks to the council. It is still earmarked to disappear within a few years when the Northgate redevlopment takes place.
11/3/03
Please note the new address - http://members.lycos.co.uk/runcornbuses - it has been necessary to move the site owing to the memory space it is taking up! Apologies for any inconvenience caused, but another move should not be necessary for a while as I now have 50MB to fill. The increase in space has allowed me to add a section containing windows desktop backgrounds for you to download and install - these can be accessed from the Photos section, or by clicking here.
8/3/03 - changes to Arriva tickets
Organisational fiddling at group level is beginning to deliver some benefits for passengers (!). There is increased validity for Dayriders (now including Wales and Cheshire) and a new ticket valid on any Arriva bus in the country. Weekly ticket prices have risen by £1. The following is taken from the Arriva website:
These are great changes, especially for us enthusiasts! I believe that "Cheshire" means the parts of Midlands taken over by NW recently, with the £5 ticket still being required for parts of the Midlands further south.From Preston to Porthmadog, from Manchester to Machynlleth, from Crewe to Conwy - or wherever you want to go on Arriva buses in the North West and Wales, you can now make the journey with an Arriva Weekly Ticket for only £11.99.
You can also go further than ever before with an Arriva Day Ticket costing only £3.20 for a whole day's travel.
The new Arriva Weekly Ticket not only includes travel across the Arriva North West Area, but also on Arriva buses throughout Wales and Cheshire, whilst the Arriva Day Ticket is valid for travel across the North West, including Deeside, Wrexham and Cheshire.
And for customers looking to travel even further afield the new Go Anywhere ticket costs just £5 for unlimited travel on most Arriva buses throughout the UK!
For customers who are only looking to travel locally, Arriva Weekly Tickets are also available for the Manchester, Bangor, Wrexham or Deeside areas and Day Tickets for Manchester, Halton, Wrexham or Deeside.
The new tickets are available direct from the bus driver. Further information can be obtained by telephoning Arriva's Customer Services on 0700 4 ARRIVA (that's 07004 277482).
25/2/03
To clarify the situation over Delamere Street, the site is to be handed by First to the council on 31st March. Whether or not the council will demolish straight away or use the site for coach parking over summer remains to be seen. A temporary bus exchange is to be built on the site of council offices by the current one, hence the council using the Delamere Street site for office development.
30/1/03
It would seem that 7536-8 did not stay at Runcorn. I can also add that Halton 35 is DE52 USB.
Some rebuilding has taken place on the site - the photos page has been changed to have a separate page for each set of photos, reducing download time, and the service information page is much improved. Links and pictures have now been changed for relative links and locations, to those that it will interest (NB no change to the appearance for those that it doesn't!).
Readers may also be interested to learn that Chester Delamere street bus station is to be demolished - it will close on 31/3/03, so get photos of it while you still can, should you want to. I plan my own photographic survey of it, which will appear on some webspace in due course. After much wrnagling over who has responsibility for the place (First wanted out!) the council are going to be building on the site. It would seem a little short-sighted of them to demolish it when a major rebuild of Chester town centre, encompassing the bus exchange, is to ttake place soon - keeping Delamere street would seem logical to me while the exchange is out of use, so that services can serve there rather than the chaos stopping on-street will cause.
10/1/2003
Halton's ELC bodied Darts have entered service (at last!) - they are 36-8 and are registered DE52 USC-E. Thanks to Adam Davies for the information.
19/12/2002
Thanks again to Adam Davies for the news that 7561 (R561 ABA) has been transferred to Huyton, as it is equipped with wheelchair bay.
13/11/2002
Driver Trainer National Greenway PUK 637R is transferred in, retaining Arriva colours.
Also Dart 7538 (P538 MBU) is tranferred in, with 7536-7 to follow (thanks to Adam Davies for this news).
13/10/2002
The DAFs 2427-9 have returned to Speke, and Darts 7533-5 (P533-5 MBU) are transferred in to replace them. Route 32A will be worked all the way through as 82A from 21st October, instaed of the current arrangements with the change at Liverpool Airport.
14/9/2002
Apologies for the lack of updates recently, this has been due to technical problems - normal service is resumed!
At Arriva service 30 has been renumbered 79C and carries on through to Liverpool through Belle Vale and Netherly, Runcorn depot taking over the work from one of the Liverpool depots. Arriva are working with Halton and Merseytravel to create a quality partnership for this route next summer, promising "new bus shelters, bus lanes, priority signals for buses at traffic lights, real time departure time displays and location displays onboard buses". I am assuming it may also involve new low floor buses.
Scanias 5321/1003/5 have moved to St Helens, and Scanias 1071-84 are renumbered 2041-54 (see allocations page for details.
St Helens have also taken over the Warrington Wigan duties as planned, meaning that service 110 reverts to half-hourly Saturday operation. It will, however, keep the low floor operation, with the balance of the vehicles being used to convert the 32A to low floor. From 20/10/02 this duty will involve the vehicle staying with the route and be numbered 82A throughout, removing the need for through passengers (and the driver!) to change buses at Liverpool Airport. A new Halton Travel guide has been issued by Arriva to cover all these changes, and is available on buses etc.
Another point to note is that, due to driver shortages at First, Arriva North West at Runcorn have occasionally covered Crosville's 21 journies for all or part of the day. For legal reasons vehciles had to carry "on hire to First Crosville" labels. Dart 1113 (see below) was visiting for a chassis steam clean.
Halton have switched body suppliers to East Lancs after Marshall Bus UKs financial collapse, a number of Darts having been so bodies are apparently being stored at Halton Borough Councils depot, and are expected into service in November.
20/7/02
Some vehicle news - Halton have four new Marshall bodies Darts (Voith Super Darts again), 30-33 (DA02 PUX/Y / DF02 EHY/EKC).
Also,at Arriva, in conjunction with the curtailing of the 32A at Liverpool Airport and the interworking of this route with 82A, DAFs 2427-9 are due into Runcorn depot tonight. Interworking of 110 with the Wigan routes 360/386/8 will cease from 8/9/02, with the work transferring to St Helens depot. I spotted 1113 (J313 WHJ) in the depot on Friday (19/7), a Plaxton Pointer step entrance Dart.
Thanks go to the anonymous source and Steve Dave for the information in this update.
27/5/02
 | The new Wayfarer TGX150 ticket machines began operation today at the depot, albeit later than originally planned. To view full technical specification for these machines, click here for the relevant page on the Wayfarer site. A scan of my Dayrider is opposite. |
27/4/02
Thanks again to the anonymous source for the information that Wright Handybus bodied Darts 1114 (J314 XVX) and 1115 (J315 XVX) are transferred into Runcorn to replace 1164/5.
Also, please note the correction to the Halton Dart registrations below, these are 27-9 (DG02 WXU/T/V).
16/4/02
New route 200 began operation yesterday, operated by Arriva North West. Low-floor short Dart 0807 (S877 SNB) has been specially liveried to operate the service (see photo below, full quality version on photos page). The service connects Runcorn East station and Murdishaw, for connections into the service, with the industrial and business areas of Whitehouse (on the busway but not recently frequently served) and the new development at Manor Park, near the Daresbury hotel. Funded by Halton Borough Council with Urban Bus Challenge money, fares have been deliberately kept low. Thanks to Ian Dennis at Arriva North West for the photos and information.
13/4/02
EL Darts have begun to be transferred out of Runcorn now, with 1217/8 and 1164/5 having now left. Low-floor Wright bodied Scania 1001 (carrying 5321) has been transferred in from Green Lane, and joins similar 1003/5. Thanks go to an unnamed source for this fleetnews, and I shall update the fleetlist soon.
Halton Transport deliveries for the year have begun aswell, with three more Voith-gearbox Marshall bodied long Darts. They are 27-9 (DG02 WXU/T/V).
1/3/02
787x Darts are now renumbered 080x, having been so since about the start of this week. 75xx Darts remain unchanged.
18/2/02
Just a note to say that the Low floor Darts all seem to be used interchangeably - today 7531 and 7879 were on 3A/C. This is no surprise with the other short Darts but I did not expect to see 7531!
16/2/02 - Vehicle Transfers
In connection with the closure of Warrington and the taking on of the Wigan/Leigh routes, the following vehicles will be transferred to Runcorn from Warrington, moving on the Sunday:
15/1/02 - Warrington depot to close
With Warrington depot closing the routes currently worked from there are to transfer to Runcorn, St Helens, Wythenshawe and Huyton depots. As far as Runcorn is concerned, various Wigan - Warrington and Leigh services (660, 585/6/8) are to be taken on, renumbered as 3xx rather than the current 5/6xx. They are to be worked of off service 110. For full details of all the changes click here for the Warrington Borough Council guide to the changes. I shall make any relevant changes to the timetables in time for the planned closure, which takes place on Sunday 17th February.
Also, the Carlyle Darts have moved out of the depot, and the fleetlist has been altered to suit (click here for the fleetlist).
8/8/01 - Arriva Vehicle Transfers
1224/5/6/7 are transferred to Warrington, no longer required after route 32A replaced 72. (Thanks to 'Ray' on the Arriva Merseyside forum (see links page) for that). The Carlyle darts displacd from 3A/C are also still sitting in Runcorn depot.
20/7/01 - Arriva Vehicle Transfers
In connection with the conversion of serviecs 3A/C to low floor operation, Carlyle Darts 1133/4/6 are to be replaced by ex-Warrington (and previously Green Lane) Dart SLF/Plaxton 7873/4/5 (S7873-5 SNB). They are due to arrive on the afternoon of Saturday 21/7/01.
New Halton Darts
A summary of these buses:
| Fleetnumber | Registration |
|---|---|
| Y203 PFM | |
| Y207 PFM | |
| Y202 PFM | |
| Y204 PFM |
If you have any news, please email me chris@runcorn-busway.zzn.com. Thanks!