My son left his phone on the bus that he got off in standish. I was trying to get in touch with the…read moreChorley interchange by telephone. I came across three numbers no longer in service and one more that redirected me to another number that turned out invalid. Not good communications at all in this day and age. If there was an option to give no stars at all I would have.

The new Chorrley Interchange is modern, light , and enclosed…read more Seating what I would call metal net type, so beware in the winter it's cold sitting on them for long periods with the cold nipping through the holes, and the metal. Cooler for the summer Not many seats per stand so you can do a bit of standing as you wait. Although it's newish and modern, buses mostley still tend to leave just a little bit late. Ameneties include: Enclosed passenger waiting area Fifteen bus stands Electronic bus and rail departure information Boards giving bus and train times. CCTV coverage linked to the local police station Security personnel or customer service staff on the bus station until the last departure of the day Shop-mobility satellite office Toilet and baby changing facilities Travel and tourist information Staff can be very good if approched , But you do have to approch them, they arnt mind readers. and they will help where they can. During a snowy period a bus turned up late and shot out without picking up. Within 5 minutes they had a double decker bus and driver just to take me to my destination. I can't fault that. But I don't expect that would happen everytime a bus dosent turn up.. Would be nice to have a small cafe inside it even just for tea, coffee and snack. There are a couple of vending machines Got to give them a five star, all in all it's a well run bus staion.

Leigh Bus Station is a proper old school bus station, it's cold, old-fashioned and split into…read moremultiple parts. It does have a good number of services including the Vantage Buses, heading "fast" into Manchester via the guided busway, as well as services into many local towns including Bolton and Wigan (most services seem to go via one of these two), they even run a matchday bus into The University of Bolton Stadium, which gets you there in half an hour... when fans are allowed to attend at least. I did originally struggle to find my stand due to the bus station being made up of around 3/4 tiny buildings, there are signs around the bus station which says which bus goes from which stand, but I didn't think they are clear or noticeable, and they would have been so easy to miss, especially in the dark. There is a Travelshop and it is in a good location within the town centre, with a newsagent (WHSmith Cannings Local) nearby within Spinning Gate (shopping centre next to the bus station) It would be great to have seen a refurbished bus station in Leigh to go alongside the investment of the new guided busway, I actually find the stops along the guided busway to be cleaner, more modern and nicer overall. 2* - Basic bus station, still providing services in a good location, with limited seating inside.

Not the most welcoming first impression of Leigh, but it does what it needs to in a purely…read morefunctional way. This is one end of the line for the new guided busway which has reduced journey times from Leigh to Manchester to less than an hour. Information boards provide information of when the next V1 on the busway is due, though not for other services departing the bus station. A pay toilet is available and there is a kiosk selling season bus tickets. I think a handy addition for the guided busway would be ticket machines to enable tickets to be bought prior to boarding, as too much time is taken along the route as the driver is taking payments and issuing tickets, particularly at busy stops along the route like Leigh & Tyldesley.

Wigan North Western is one of two stations serving Wigan town centre, the station is managed by…read moreAvanti West Coast, who run services from this station on the Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley - London Euston line, which provides services into Scotland, Birmingham, London and others. The station is also served by Northern, with limited services by TPExpress: this means you can also get into other towns and cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, St Helen's and Blackpool. The station is fairly basic, but it is only a small category B station with 5 active platforms, an underpass with lift/stair access connects the platforms. I was surprised that this station didn't have ticket-gates, and there were no staff until getting to the platform, but the staff did seem friendly and happy to help, there was also a good amount of seats and a waiting room in the place, where you can wait before boarding a service. The facilities inside the station are minimal, but with it being a short walk away from the town centre (I like the map outside which gives you a rough time and direction to get to the DW Stadium and town centre), this isn't too bad. Bus services also stop outside. 3* - Nothing too excited, pretty average station, which provides a good number of services which is better than many towns of a similar size to Wigan gets.

I would like to prays the staff on duty today I was on a train to preston when there was a incident…read moreon on a train the staff had to put up with a lot of abuse from a passenger but they all worked so hard to make the train safe for all the passengers well done

St. Helens Bus Station is very well laid out, as it is logical in fashion thus allowing passengers…read moreto easily understand the system in place. I certainly didn't experience any problems when I searched for the correct stand and did not need to ask for assistance. The station is well sheltered to keep you from wind and rain with plenty of seating available. Timetables are clearly positioned on each stand without being confusing. Also, there are tactile controlled and uncontrolled crossings with rotating cones to assist blind and partially sighted people. As a whole, the station feels safe (and well lit at night) with the inclusion of CCTV. Plus, the area is well staffed at all operating times. If you have any queries, there is the travel information centre adjacent to the station. The only thing is that I failed to spot any toilets around.

Diamond North West are the new kids on the block on the Bolton bus scene after the purchase of…read moreFirst Manchester's Bolton depot - meaning they now cover services running from Bolton as well as their existing base in Atherton/Wigan - they are owned by Rotala who also run bus services in other parts of the country and are based in Birmingham, however, Diamond North West's communication is based around Atherton. They have taken over multiple routes now serving the city centre including the 163 from Bury to Manchester Piccadilly via Middleton, the 8 services from Manchester to Bolton via Spinningfields and Bolton as well as many other services connecting Manchester and Bolton and the X39. One thing which impressed me is how they've set out to have brand new buses which just aren't converted buses from their predecessor on their new routes from day one - the new buses are multiple tones of blue with 2019 registration plates and from the outside do look pretty good. While they are still running some of the old First buses rebranded with their logo stickers over First - it still is a slow process which could take a while as they have a large number of buses to either completely re-design or replace - this is compared to GO North West who taken over First Manchester's depot based in Cheetham Hill who spent a while introducing some of the newly branded buses and those are still converted First buses and not brand new. As well as looking good from the outside, the new buses look pretty decent from the inside with USB sockets everywhere however especially on the 19 models they've really missed a chance to improve technology on the bus for people with disabilities. 1. Why not announce bus stops like London which can help tourists or people who struggle with sight 2. The wheelchair designated space is not big enough to support a wheelchair as it is split into two areas, the other designed for a buggy, this green pole gets in the way meaning the wheelchair has to turn to block part of the aisle into an illegal position. The ramp to get onto the bus remains manual. Services are starting to run more on time which is good but to be fair even a tortoise could beat First and there are still improvements which need to be done on that front with some services still running late or not turning up at all, which isn't a good impression to be starting off with - this does mean however sometimes having to wait at stops if they are running early to make the difference two minutes or less - it is annoying especially when the driver doesn't announce anything which causes confusion but still running on time is pretty fair for everyone. Drivers again are mixed, some coming from the company existing based in Atherton, some being brand new or coming over from First - On most occasions, I've found the bus drivers to be rude and ignorant -one of them even overcharged me costing £4.40 for a single journey: 1. In London, this would have been £1.50 or £4.50 for a whole day of bus travel or £7 for zones 1 and 2 if you want to combine the tube and DLR - which shows the expense 2. I could have got a "night" ticket for the same price, rather than charging this for a whole journey, which was just £0.40 less than a day ticket to use any service from First, Diamond or GNW in Manchester - there was also a ticket much cheaper for £3.80 - it seems unless you know prices beforehand drivers love to overcharge you with Diamond. Is Diamond an improvement on First? Yes. Overall - other than two major issues for disabled people and ticketing they are pretty solid. 3*

Joke of a company, calling them a company is a push! Terrible services by poorly organised middle…read moremanagement who are more interested in micro management and getting one over on their colleagues than providing a good service!

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.

Bryn is on the main line between Liverpool and Wigan. It is an unstaffed station so there is…read morenowhere to buy a tickets or asking questions, this makes me feel quite unsafe as a woman on her own at night. It's not a very busy station either so there isn't always a lot of people around and it isn't close to the road either. The bus stops right outside but you have to get down some stairs to get to the platform so it's not good for wheel chairs or prams.

Horwich Parkway Station is served only by Northern Rail with routes going from Manchester to…read moreBlackpool North, including via Bolton, Preston and Blackrod (which is much closer to Horwich town centre). It has been only served by Northern since 2016 when the Manchester Airport to Blackpool North was passed on to Northern after the awarding of the new Northern and TPE Express franchises. It is a rather small station with limited facilities, although they do have a manned ticket office which isn't open in evenings or on Sunday's. The station is probably one of the most unusual pieces of architecture I've seen with a series of ramps forming a bridge over the two platforms to form step-free access, while I think this is great as it makes the station more accessible, it makes it a rather hard/long process up steep gradients to get in and out of the station to the point, it wouldn't be suitable for all people requiring it. It is right near the University of Bolton Stadium, formerly the Reebok and the Macron and home to Bolton Wanderers FC while also providing access to Middlebrook Retail Park, although the latter is a pretty dire place to visit if you're on foot and not in a car (aim to go down The Linkway via Next if you plan to shop) There aren't any customer help points which can be rather difficult if you're on the platform which doesn't share the ticket office, the staff member at the station did seem pretty friendly, however. A pretty strange station with some unusual features with the extra star (despite it being rather basic compared to nearby stations) for the services it provides to Middlebrook and Bolton Wanderers FC.

A small and simple two-platform train station with minimal facilities. Waiting areas comprise of a…read moreshelter on one platform, and a covered bench area on the other. There is a ticket office which is within an indoor area. When this office is closed, the indoor area is also shuttered closed. There are no ticket machines if this office is closed. There are no toilet facilities. There are two moderately sized free car-parks, and a drop off point. There is a bridge spanning the tracks which is accessed by stairs or ramps. This station is best for access to Reebok Stadium, where Bolton Wanderers play, however it is not within Horwich town centre itself, as it is closer to Middlebrook Retail/Leisure Park. To get to Horwich itself from this station, you would need a bus or taxi, both of which serve the station.

A well served station for interconnecting bus routes. I arrived at the station by bus, with plenty…read moreof time to spare to get the first train in the morning. The platform is quite simply too small. The locals (mostly women) all arrive at the very last minute, & then attempt to get on the train BEFORE people who have been waiting 20 minutes. They then sit next to their bags, taking up two seats, & staring blankly into their mobile phones for the duration if the journey, like the socially programmed sheeple of the brainwashed masses that permeate todays society. Use at your peril. If commuting I would reccomend staying on the bus until Pemberton, a slightly longer walk, & getting on the train there.

This station is on the Liverpool to Wigan line very good you it is below road level but it is a…read moreramp down so it suitable for wheelchairs and prams. It is a staffed station so you feel quite safe and you can ask questions, but the booth is only on the Liverpool side not the Wigan side. There is a small car park that gets filled quickly and early in the morning. The trains are regular and there is a bus stop right outside that goes in to St Helens.