On Wednesday 16th September 2026, I decided to take a rather different journey to St Helens, travelling entirely by bus using my Merseytravel Disabled Bus Pass. One of the great things about having this pass is the freedom it gives me to travel much further afield by bus, not just around Merseyside but across different parts of England. Rather than taking the straightforward route, I wanted to turn the journey itself into an adventure and see just how far I could get while exploring places along the way.

Starting from New Ferry, my journey took me on a rather long and unusual route towards St Helens, travelling through Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Warrington, Manchester and Leigh before eventually making my way into St Helens. It was certainly not the quickest way of getting there, but that was never really the point! I enjoy using public transport to explore different places and seeing where a journey can take me, and this gave me the perfect opportunity to experience several different towns and cities along the way. Eventually, I arrived in St Helens, finishing my bus adventure not too far from the railway station, where I caught the train home towards Liverpool.

From New Ferry, I boarded the 1 towards Chester, a route that is quite special to me as it takes me towards where my partner lives, so it is a journey I always enjoy making. On this occasion, I was lucky enough to have one of the single-deck Enviro 300s, which I particularly enjoy travelling on, although the service is usually operated by a double-deck Enviro400MMC, introduced in 2023. The journey from New Ferry to Ellesmere Port took around 45 minutes, where I said goodbye to the 1 and made my way to catch my next bus towards Runcorn. I was due to take the 09:57 service, which was scheduled to arrive in Runcorn at around 10:49, but unfortunately things didn’t quite go to plan. The driver’s cab door had become stuck and was causing several issues, resulting in a delay while the problem was dealt with before we could continue our journey. Thankfully, we did eventually make it to Runcorn with only a few minutes’ delay, but unfortunately this knock-on delay meant I was pushed back by around half an hour for the next part of my journey, which was rather frustrating as I had a fairly long route ahead of me and several connections to make.

Luckily, I managed to get another Enviro 300 for the next part of my journey, this time on the 2 towards Runcorn. This is quite an interesting route, as it takes you through Cheshire Oaks before continuing towards Helsby and Frodsham, broadly following the same part of Cheshire as the Transport for Wales railway line towards Warrington Bank Quay and Manchester. One of the highlights for me was travelling through Ince, as this was somewhere I had never actually travelled through by bus before. I had visited Ince & Elton railway station a year or so previously as part of my railway adventures, so it was interesting to see the village itself from a completely different perspective. Ince is a small village on the south side of the Manchester Ship Canal, with the surrounding area having a strong industrial and transport history.

The route then continued through Frodsham, another place I always find interesting to travel through, before eventually making our way towards Runcorn. Frodsham sits beneath the impressive sandstone ridge and is well known for its historic town centre and views across the surrounding Cheshire countryside. Unfortunately, the bus was running around 10 minutes late by this point, adding to the delays I had already experienced earlier in the morning, but thankfully we eventually arrived into Runcorn. The final approach was along the famous Runcorn Busway, which is always fascinating to travel along and is quite different from a normal bus route. I have previously written a blog post all about the Runcorn Busway and my experiences travelling along it, so if you’re interested in finding out more about this unique piece of bus infrastructure, you can have a look at that on my blog.

My next bus was a Wright Pulsar 2, a 2012-built example that I believe originally operated around Manchester before eventually finding its way to Arriva North West, where it is now used on services between Warrington and Murdishaw. It was particularly nice to travel on a VDLSB200 Wright Pulsar 2 again, especially as there are no longer any of these vehicles operating on the Wirral, making it something of a nostalgic experience for me. The journey from Runcorn to Warrington Bus Station took around an hour, giving me plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the route as we travelled through the Cheshire countryside and into Warrington. Warrington Bus Station is another location I have previously explored and written about on my blog, so it was nice to return there as part of a completely different adventure. Overall, this was turning into a really enjoyable day travelling around the North West by bus, allowing me to focus on another one of my passions and explore places from a different perspective, rather than spending the entire day travelling between railway stations and concentrating solely on my Every Station challenge.

I had around half an hour to wait until my next bus, which I had originally planned to take all the way through to Manchester Shudehill Interchange. However, the journey didn’t quite go according to plan, as the bus became caught up in some particularly bad traffic on the way towards Manchester. By the time we reached the Trafford Centre, I was already around 20 minutes behind schedule, so I decided to get off there rather than continue into the city centre. Although it was a little frustrating to lose more time, it gave me the opportunity to change my plans and try a different route into Manchester. I therefore made my way to catch the number 30 service, which would take me further into the city centre.

I eventually alighted near St Peter’s Square, where I would make my next connection and board what would be my penultimate bus of the day. This time, I would be travelling on the V1 towards Leigh, taking advantage of the Leigh Guided Busway, something I always find fascinating whenever I get the opportunity to travel along it. The guided section provides a rather different experience compared with a conventional bus route, with the buses following a dedicated track for part of the journey and avoiding much of the congestion that can affect the surrounding roads. After such a long and varied day of travelling across the North West, I was looking forward to this final stretch towards Leigh before making my way onwards to St Helens.

The V1 and V2 are particularly interesting bus services because part of their journey uses a guided busway built along the former alignment of the Tyldesley Loopline, giving the route a fascinating connection with the area’s railway history. The railway originally opened in 1864 and connected Eccles with the Wigan area, serving places including Monton Green, Worsley, Tyldesley and Leigh, before eventually closing in 1969 as part of the railway closures of the time. Decades later, rather than allowing the former railway alignment to disappear completely, around 4.5 miles between Leigh, Tyldesley and Ellenbrook was transformed into a guided busway, which opened in 2016 as part of the Leigh–Salford–Manchester Bus Rapid Transit scheme.

The V1 from Leigh and V2 from Atherton now use this section before continuing towards Manchester, meaning you can travel along what was once a railway line by bus today. I find this particularly fascinating because you can quite literally follow the route of a railway that disappeared more than 50 years ago, but has since been given a completely new purpose. There are similar guided busways elsewhere in the UK, including the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which also makes use of former railway alignments in parts. It just goes to show how old railway infrastructure can sometimes be given a completely new lease of life and continue to play an important role in public transport.

Finally, it was time to board my last bus of the day, taking me from Leigh towards my final destination of St Helens. By this point, I had already had a really enjoyable day travelling around the North West by bus, visiting towns and villages that I probably wouldn’t have seen had I chosen to make the entire journey by train. The journey from Leigh to St Helens took around an hour, which actually felt quite comfortable after such a long day of travelling. Earlier in the day, my journey from Warrington towards Manchester had taken considerably longer, at around two hours, although I decided to break that journey up by getting off at the Trafford Centre and continuing into Manchester by another bus. Splitting the journey up made it feel much more manageable and also gave me the opportunity to experience a couple of different services along the way.

Eventually, I arrived in St Helens, bringing this rather unusual but enjoyable bus adventure to an end. It has been great to spend a day focusing on one of my other passions, exploring the North West by bus rather than concentrating on railway stations and train journeys. I’m also really looking forward to seeing how bus travel develops closer to home, particularly with the changes coming to the Wirral and the introduction of new buses, including the Enviro200s and other modern vehicles replacing some of the older buses currently operating in the area. With the new Metro branding and network becoming increasingly familiar, it will be interesting to see how the local bus network develops over the coming months. If you have enjoyed following this adventure and would like to see more journeys like this, please consider subscribing to the blog and giving this post a like — it really does help and encourages me to keep sharing these adventures.

And finally, I arrived into St Helens, only a few minutes later than planned after my bus from Leigh had already been delayed by around 20 minutes due to traffic. Despite the delays earlier in the journey, I really enjoyed the final leg of the adventure, particularly getting the chance to travel on the new Enviro200MMC, which made for a comfortable and enjoyable end to what had been a long but fascinating day travelling across the North West. It was great to experience the new buses for myself and see how they are settling into service, and it has certainly left me wanting to make another trip in the near future.

I am also looking forward to revisiting the area to experience the newly introduced X3 service, which only began operating earlier in September, so hopefully it won’t be too long before I am back out exploring the new bus network and seeing where the next adventure takes me.