Arriva North West is one of the largest bus operators in Merseyside and Cheshire while operating…read moreother services around the North West in areas such as Greater Manchester and Lancashire - although most of their services do involve the Merseyside however, where they operate most bus services. I used Arriva North West on a recent trip to Goodison Park as they offer services from Queens Square Bus Station going to the stadium, they might not offer the most services on that particular route but I found the buses to be nicer, better priced and quieter than their main Stagecoach competitors. The buses seem nice enough and the wi-fi onboard is probably amongst the best wi-fi I've ever received on a bus, especially compared to the days of First Manchester who restrict your use to just a few MB (fair usage - meaning it goes in minutes) Both services I used did seem to run a couple of minutes late and there was confusion to whether the bus would actually come as it disappeared from the screen on the bus station - but this is probably an issue with the bus station of how they displayed the buses, rather than Arriva's - but the lateness issue with them still remains. The drivers seemed A-OK. There still remains a lack of consistency between buses both new and old, double and single decker. Not a bad bus company - they served the route I needed to go at a reasonable price, albeit a slight delay - It is a real shame Arriva North West didn't expand into the Manchester market when they had the chance (First recently sold two of their largest depots in the region to Go-Ahead Group, forming Go North West and Rotala joining Diamond North-West - here's hoping they might consider taking over the Oldham depot!) 3* - Consistency between buses, adding more buses on to popular routes at peak times and improving timekeeping is a must.

In Liverpool there are a few bus services to choose from, howver Arriva is the most expensive. They…read morecharge a flat fee of £1.70 to go anywhere within the Liverpool area which seems pretty reasonable if you're going on a longer journey, however if you just want to pop to into town or only go a few stops it's quite expensive, especially as a return journey will double the price at £3.40. A day ticket is £3.30 which is decent if you're planning to make a few trips throughout the day, and a weeky pass is £12 - £13 as of Sunday. The routes aren't bad but not really very reliable, the buses are hardly ever on time, especially the less frequent ones such as the 78. The regular "every 5 minutes" buses are as the saying goes "just like buses" - there's none for an hour then three at once. If I had my choice, I'd probably pick a different provider if it had a similar route to the one I was after.

There was alot of homeless people sleeping (I do not have a picture as that would be rude to take a…read morepicture of them) my train got delayed for 2 hours I don't recommend this.

From the outside, Wigan Bus Station looks nice with a relatively new sign, from the entrance from…read moreThe Galleries area but on the inside, it is just your typical bus station and in a way resembles Bury station, with a few platforms split off in a few mini-stations. They is a lot of buses which go from here, including to Manchester, Southport, Bolton and The Trafford Center, but I can't help but feel most of the buses are unneeded and go too far, for example Manchester is only around half an hour on the train, but getting the bus here is 85 minutes and when Southport is also around 1/2 an hour on the train, but still the bus takes nearly 2 hours which is ridiculous, considering services available from Wigan Wallgate. I think it is misleading for people who may not know the area for buses to take so long, when the train takes only a fraction of this, and going on one of these journeys is in a way a punishment, and I'm sure it wouldn't be much cheaper (if anything) than getting the train. I feel to get the best of public transport, the station should work with Wallgate and North Western to encourage people to use the train for longer journeys, and then this station can become a local hub, with more buses going to local destinations which will help benefit Wigan and local towns, and give people a better deal. As a station this is merely average and is your typical bus station, with a newsagents etc, it isn't terrible as it is good to have in central Wigan but sadly I don't feel it deserves over 2 stars.

Had to get a replacement bus pass which required the woman working( forgot her name but was working…read moretoday) to ring multiple people but she sorted it as quickly as she could and I got my pass. I should of had to go to Manchester but she sorted it there in Wigan. Was very friendly and I'm very grateful!

This is the main bus service were I live…read more Getting around town can get a bit frustrated when the bus is rather late or not turned up especially when it cold and raining and there sometimes awful for having breaks in between stops so it takes longer to get to town. Saying that tho most bus drivers can be very friendly and you can have a laugh with them. The prices are reasonable weekly tickets £11.50 and the Wigan dayrider is £3.00 and the day saver any bus is £5.20 after 9.30am but before 9.30am there £5.80.

I would like to complain. If I could vote zero stars, I would. I had to wait for 40 minutes so I…read morecould get a 20 minute train ride to go and pick up my brother from school. But the train was 20 minutes late, and when it arrived - they said it was going out of service, even though it was advertised as having a journey in that timeline. Get your shit together, Arriva.

Stagecoach Bus Merseyside is arguably the largest bus operator in the Merseyside region which…read moreincludes Lancashire, Cheshire, North Wales, Wirral - some bus routes even go between these boroughs including the X2 which connects Liverpool to Preston, via Southport, at 2 hours and 16 minutes this is one of the largest bus journeys's I've come across, this, by comparison, is about the same length of time as a train into London and enough to get the train from Liverpool to Preston and back, with time to spare via Transpennine Express or even the slow Northern train! It amazes me how Stagecoach Bus in Merseyside hasn't been reviewed since July 2010, which is nearly ten whole years. In that time, so much has changed and it seems Stagecoach have got worse, perhaps that is through the complacency of being ahead in the region for too long with little competition. Due to how big Stagecoach is, if you're planning to use public transport around Liverpool you're pretty much going to have to use either Merseyrail or this. They do run train services to Anfield on a match-day, however because of traffic around the ground and the fact the bus has a further route to go after the stadium, they are forced to divert however despite having signs around Queens Square Bus Station and telling the bus driver where I was going, no one told me about the diversion and even other match-goers on the bus didn't seem to know, this was after a long wait for the bus which seemed to suffer delays as well to make it even worse (luckily I didn't miss kick-off!) Buses are typical Stagecoach across the UK, not too modern in most regards. Despite the growth of Arriva in Liverpool, Stagecoach are still the main players and it really does seem that from service, time-keeping and overall condition of buses they are taking that too granted, yet still anything beats First Manchester which caused me trouble for a great number of years closer to home and I do think they make their routes a little clearer than other operators, even if they don't factor diversions into it. 2*

Since my last review, I now have a negative comment about Stagecoach much to my annoyance and shall…read moretherefore drop not 1 but 2 stars in its rating. More recently if you take the 21 route or any other Stagecoach bus that travels along London Road, the driver tends to change driver which could sometimes mean a 10 minute wait which is obviously not good if you're in a hurry to get somewhere. If you're lucky, the switch of driver will take place instantly but on one occasion, I had to wait nearly 15 minutes with other disgruntled passengers because the driver did not turn up, so I had to watch the original driver take a cigarette break whilst I was waiting to get to work on time but ended up late all because of poor service and an arrogant driver who did not even apologise to anybody. Other fed up passengers actually got off and waited for another bus and when that occurred, the driver immediately got back on and started driving; I not only felt sorry for those passengers but thought this was rude and felt as though he was playing games. I requested if he could let me off at the traffic lights as I was already late for work but he simply replied "no" with no apology and without realising that he kept everyone waiting longer than expected. I applaud the group of girls who pressed the stop button several times as they got off. It was obvious that most people were annoyed by the driver's actions. Even though it may not be entirely the driver's fault, Stagecoach should sort out their poor timing when switching drivers (very much unlike them); this took me by surprise. I aim to lodge a formal complaint if this happens more than once and I will suggest others also do so if they experience the same.

Ormskirk station is a proper old English train station. It makes me think of the Narnia books--yes,…read morethe books, not the films. I grew up on the books, and that's probably partly why I fell in love with England and eventually moved here. Naturally it's been done up to modern standards, but it still has the feel of an old railway station, making one almost wonder if at any second Miss Marple might hop off the train. Definitely a favourite station of mine in the North West.

What a refreshing change from the rickety Magic Buses with miserable drivers!…read more I recently had to get to Poynton (where?) for an interview and after consulting the GMPTE website, decided that it would be best to take a Baker Bus from Stockport. I didn't really know what I was looking for, but found a brand new yellow and blue bus complete with friendly driver. The driver chatted to many of the passengers and after my A to Z let me down, he helped me find where I had to get off. This bus service (391,392,393) runs from Stockport to Macclesfield and stops in many little places in between. Bakerbus also runs services around Crewe and Stoke. The only problem was that I had to catch the train back, as the next bus wasn't for 2 hours!

Birkenhead Bus Station is actually one of the best things about Birkenhead! For a start, it gets…read moreyou out of there as soon as you like, secondly it's nice to look at as it's a huge glass frame, thirdly it's warm, and finally it's secure so you won't get mugged here. I remember when it first got built and people would marvel at its sheer beauty.. Well that's a lie, people would just bicker and sigh that their buses were late, much as they still do today. But it's a great sheltered space with bus routes leading over to Liverpool and all over the Wirral as far as New Brighton, Heswall and West Kirby. They have two help desks in case you're not too sure what bus to take, or you need a bus pass or a TRIO or Saveaway. They also have a machine that vends cans of pop, and one with hot drinks. What more could you want?

It's not too bad as bus stations go. But all the announcements are proceeded with a very loud…read moredoorbell. Incredibly cheap and quite a shock if you're not deaf. Spend any length of time waiting there and you will end up with post traumatic stress. It's actually quite close to Conway Park station. However for buses; considering it's the nearly the last stop before Liverpool there's actually a large gap between Liverpool buses if you don't have the right ticket. Merseytravel couldn't even sort out a shared ticket arrangement whilst the rail tunnel is closed. It really should do better in terms of providing a shuttle link between Birkenhead and Liverpool.. considering this link is completely covered by a Merseytravel Monopoly (Tolls, ferries, buses, train .. all ultimately accountable and paid to Merseytravel). There's no cycle way in the Birkenhead tunnel's lower deck for example. It terms of some buses it's built in the wrong place... most notably peak time 471,472 bypass the bus station and go straight to Liverpool. The ding-dong doorbell announcements say it all ... an expensive project .. but couldn't be bothered going the extra mile.

This little hub has a mere four bus stops, and connects the little Wirral village of Heswall to the…read morerest of the wide world. It's adorable, and conveniently located on Telegraph Road which is lined with shops, cafes, restaurants, and more. Take a right out of the station and walk up just a little way and you will come to a Costa, a pizza place, and a small book shop, Linghams (which also has a café inside!) Who could ask for anything more? Or, if you want the library, take a left and walk down. The fire station is also there in case you start a fire on the way (ha ha), and the police station only a little further down beyond those.

This is a cute little bus depot, with just four stops connecting the folks of Heswall with the rest…read moreof the Wirral Peninsula. You can get as far as Chester as you depart from to the left of this station, and as far as Liverpool if you depart from the right. The buses are frequent and clean, and the drivers.. Well they're miserable, like all bus drivers! There is a great little cafe connected to the bus station called Gill's Cafe, it's cheap, great quality and incredibly friendly. Aside from the cafe, there's a charity shop and a pub. So if you miss the bus you can go and buy a tatty old book a then go for a pint to peruse your newfound novella! The station is very safe as it's in a big open space in the centre of Heswall, just five minutes away from the local police station! It's one of the best kept stations that I've seen on the Wirral!