The Runcorn Busway
30 July 2023
ABOVE: Arriva North West 5003 (MX13 AAN) is a MAN EcoCity Caetano, powered by natural gas stored on the roof. It is seen approaching the bus stop at Halton Lea North, on the elevated section of the Runcorn Busway, operating 'Busway Circular' route 2, a local service, in the heat of Wednesday 14th June 2023. There's another similar vehicle behind on route 82A (Liverpool to Murdishaw) undergoing a driver change - the van in between is a crew ferry. Photos in this article were taken on 14th June 2023 unless stated otherwise.
Buses don't tend to need much infrastructure of their own, compared to many other modes of transport. The vehicles themselves, when bought new, involve a six-figure sum. Other than that, you need bus stop poles and flags (there are some places that consider even these to be optional), depots to park up in and, increasingly, charging equipment for electric vehicles.
Of course there are many 'nice-to-haves' on top of that - bus stations being an obvious one - that will make for a better and smarter operation and experience. Dedicated busways have sprung up in a few places, but the Runcorn Busway, in Cheshire, is in a league of its own in my experience.
It's only a few weeks ago that I was writing about a visit to Merseyside in 2021, and I included a brief reference to the Runcorn Busway then, with a comment that I needed "to go back and spend more time there". I didn't expect that visit to happen quickly, but, just days later, another plan fell through and I found myself heading back to Merseyside.
Of course there are many 'nice-to-haves' on top of that - bus stations being an obvious one - that will make for a better and smarter operation and experience. Dedicated busways have sprung up in a few places, but the Runcorn Busway, in Cheshire, is in a league of its own in my experience.
It's only a few weeks ago that I was writing about a visit to Merseyside in 2021, and I included a brief reference to the Runcorn Busway then, with a comment that I needed "to go back and spend more time there". I didn't expect that visit to happen quickly, but, just days later, another plan fell through and I found myself heading back to Merseyside.
ABOVE: Looking broadly north-eastwards across the River Mersey from the appropriately-named Mersey Road in the centre of Runcorn, it is possible to pick out the Mersey Gateway Bridge, and behind it, the Fiddlers Ferry Power Station. Picture taken on Friday 4th June 2021.
Runcorn itself is an industrial town of about 60,000 people, on the southern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. The town was founded by Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, in 915 AD; the narrowing of the estuary making it an important strategic point geographically. But it remained isolated until the Industrial Revolution saw Runcorn establish itself as a port town. Its location between Liverpool and Manchester, and its links to the rail, motorway and canal networks have made it a centre for manufacturing, logistics, and wholesale and retail (source: Wikipedia).
ABOVE: Spin round a bit to your left from the position of the above picture, to get a view of the Silver Jubilee (road) Bridge. Some of the foundations of the railway viaduct, the Ethelfleda Bridge, which sits behind, are just visible. Picture also taken on Friday 4th June 2021.
The Runcorn Busway is not in the centre of Runcorn, though. The focal point is about a mile-and-a-half to the south-east, at the Runcorn Shopping City. The Busway was the world's first bus rapid transit system, opening in 1971, although it apparently took until 1980 to get the whole 14 miles of it fully operational.
I passed through in 2021 and wasn't really aware of how significant the Busway was, so I've returned in 2023 having done my homework first.
ABOVE: Another MAN EcoCity approaches the Halton Lea North stop.
The Busway is a dedicated bus road that is not available to other modes (although I note that Google Streetview has been to parts of it)! While most of it is at ground level (plenty of room for wide roads round here), the approaches to the Shopping City see the busway rise to a height well above the main roads serving the car parks. Basically we're at roof level.
The Busway has split into two one-way sections here, with stops called Halton Lea North and Halton Lea South serving opposite ends of the Shopping City.
ABOVE: The loading point at Halton Lea North. Note the blank timetable board.
I have come into Halton Lea's north side, on Arriva North West route 82A from John Lennon Airport (the bus itself has come all the way from Liverpool City Centre, on an overall journey of just under two hours to this point).
The North side has a single alighting point and an adjacent single boarding point.
ABOVE: Alighting point at Halton Lea North. Buses drop off there and then move forward to load (behind me here and shown in the previous picture).
The waiting area is completely sheltered from the elements and most of the seats face the direction that the buses will be coming from - nice touch. There is a bit of a run-down feel about the place, though. There are no timetables on display and the ticket machine - can't tell if it's operational or not - doesn't give a good impression.
I cross to the south side. Essentially that means going down a flight of stairs (there is a lift but no escalator), and walking right through the shopping centre to the other end.
From street level, one can see the scale of the infrastructure:
ABOVE: The view of the Busway from the Car Park. Two VDL SB200 Wright Pulsars have just left the Halton Lea South bus stop. For the avoidance of doubt, those are not real people walking along the Busway - they wouldn't be allowed to anyway!
To the uninitiated, one might expect a tram or light rail system to be operating here rather than a bus.
Halton Lea South is slightly more impressive than its northern equivalent. There's a pair of escalators for a start:
ABOVE: The escalator to the Halton Lea South Busway stops includes the irony of a "Subway" shop on the upper floor!
It's clear that the southern end is the more popular. There are three stands here, and timetables! Unlike the northern side, there is an outdoor waiting area, although you still have the option to wait inside.
ABOVE: The Halton Lea South stop is much more attractive and better kept than the equivalent on the north side, as can be seen here as passengers await various buses from the three stands.
As I have already said, the bulk of the Busway, once away from the Shopping City, is at ground level. This results in a lot of empty roads that are reserved exclusively for buses; they do look a bit weird when there isn't a bus around:
ABOVE: Busway at Castlefields.
Sadly, the impression here is again of something that has been allowed to get a bit run-down. In a shelter in Castlefields Village Square, there is still signage relating to Covid, there are no timetables and the real-time display isn't working. Even a lick of paint would make a difference...
It's actually very difficult to find information about the Busway - on site or online - and the only map that comes up from a Google search is this one from Halton Borough Council, which shows the general layout but is out-of-date in terms of bus route details:
The orange roads on the map are the busway roads, which shows the extent of the scheme - it wasn't designed as a simple 'corridor' scheme, but as a comprehensive 'all-around-town' job.
The best way to see the Busway is on one of the two circular services, 1 and 2, operated by Arriva North West. These routes do seem to operate as shown on the out-of-date map, and provide opposite-direction circular services from Runcorn Shopping City to the suburbs of Castlefields, Windmill Hill, Norton Village, Runcorn East and Murdishaw. (Just to confuse matters, Stagecoach also runs an unrelated service 2 from Halton Lea to Chester.)
The routes are currently operated with MAN EcoCity Caetano buses powered by natural gas. The vehicles are around 10 years old but don't look or feel it.
ABOVE: The equivalent view downwards from the Busway, just after leaving Halton Lea South.
One more point of note is the presence, on the Busway, of a low bridge (you can't see the sign from my picture, but the limit is 11 feet 9 inches if I recall correctly):
ABOVE: The low bridge on the Busway, taken on Friday 16th June 2023.
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This is located at the point marked with an X on this map, and means that routes that run from the elevated section towards Castlefields are restricted to single-decker buses. Back in the 1970s there may not have been a need envisaged for double-decker buses in this area, but nowadays this feels short-sighted in what otherwise looks like an ambitious and wide-ranging scheme. Route 79C, from Murdishaw to Liverpool, for example, looks from my limited experience to be a busy service that could use more capacity, and even single-deckers are getting taller if they have to carry batteries or gas tanks on the roof, with some now around 10 feet high. |
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The Runcorn Busway was certainly ambitious in design and scale. The success can be measured in the fact that buses across this area do indeed run around unimpeded. This is the kind of infrastructure that other towns and cities would love to get their hands on! But, whilst there are decent loadings on buses round here, the ambition that was involved in the design of the scheme seems to be lacking now.
With a bit more imagination, this area would be a great candidate to try something to achieve some genuine modal shift.
ABOVE: One more view of the Halton Lea South stop from street level. A vehicle on circular route 1 is just visible (top centre), calling at the Halton Lea South Busway stop.