Pricing
Pricing
(21 Jan 2018, 4:39 pm)mb134 Hence why I made the point that if I wasn't too sure what it included, I'd check on the map (or ask the driver...)
I'd say this is probably what has led to Arriva having a vast amount of options available, which in my opinion is the best way to go about it, as long as drivers are adequately knowledgeable about the tickets they may be selling on their route. There is absolutely no cost to Arriva to have a low-selling ticket on their system, and if it is very good value for money, they could even spot that and try to promote it more. Don't then withdraw the ticket because it isn't sold that often. As we've seen with the Consett example, all it does is create bad press for the company (which, incidentally, could cost them money)
(21 Jan 2018, 5:45 pm)Adrian Good post.
I agree - the old 'Go n Save' tickets made things as simple as can be, and it was a mistake to ditch them in favour of the illogical Buzzfare boundaries. Everybody seemed to know what they'd need with the old ticketing options - either a Tyne and Wear, Three Cities (T&W+Co. Durham) or Regionwide ticket. There was no real dispute about where the boundaries lay. Buzzfare came in and it divided the Tyne and Wear ticket into three zones - including a boundary for some of those commuting from Gateshead to Newcastle, and more bizarrely, a boundary between Shiney Row and Washington Galleries. That of course only tells half a story, because it is without the multiple route savers, town savers and so on.
I've long called for a 24 hour ticket, as oppose to having 'day' tickets. It doesn't seem right that you're charged the same price for a day ticket at 6pm, as you would be at 6am. Despite having some 12 hours extra use out of it. The same goes for Sunday and bank holiday; why should you pay the same price for your day ticket on either of those days, when you have about 1/3 of the normal service operating? You wouldn't pay the price for a pint for a 1/3 in a pub... you'd pay for a third. So why should public transport be any different?
I quite like the idea of evening fares too, and I'd like to think that they'd support the viability of more frequent buses on an evening. Arriva run a '5 for a Fiver' fare in Durham City after 7pm, which is bound to be cheaper than a taxi in all cases.
Overall, I would like to see a lot more integrated working between the major operators in the North East. It is quite clear that they are reluctant to compete with each other route by route, and I think we've seen since deregulation, that it provides little benefit for the passengers when they do. So why not take advantage of the Buses Bill, and have some proper integrated multi bus operator ticketing instead? Cut Nexus and the Metro out, and have a decent product that offers good value for money to everyone... we might actually get somewhat closer to the pipe-dream of an 'Oyster card for the North'...
(21 Jan 2018, 4:39 pm)mb134 Hence why I made the point that if I wasn't too sure what it included, I'd check on the map (or ask the driver...)
I'd say this is probably what has led to Arriva having a vast amount of options available, which in my opinion is the best way to go about it, as long as drivers are adequately knowledgeable about the tickets they may be selling on their route. There is absolutely no cost to Arriva to have a low-selling ticket on their system, and if it is very good value for money, they could even spot that and try to promote it more. Don't then withdraw the ticket because it isn't sold that often. As we've seen with the Consett example, all it does is create bad press for the company (which, incidentally, could cost them money)
(21 Jan 2018, 5:45 pm)Adrian Good post.
I agree - the old 'Go n Save' tickets made things as simple as can be, and it was a mistake to ditch them in favour of the illogical Buzzfare boundaries. Everybody seemed to know what they'd need with the old ticketing options - either a Tyne and Wear, Three Cities (T&W+Co. Durham) or Regionwide ticket. There was no real dispute about where the boundaries lay. Buzzfare came in and it divided the Tyne and Wear ticket into three zones - including a boundary for some of those commuting from Gateshead to Newcastle, and more bizarrely, a boundary between Shiney Row and Washington Galleries. That of course only tells half a story, because it is without the multiple route savers, town savers and so on.
I've long called for a 24 hour ticket, as oppose to having 'day' tickets. It doesn't seem right that you're charged the same price for a day ticket at 6pm, as you would be at 6am. Despite having some 12 hours extra use out of it. The same goes for Sunday and bank holiday; why should you pay the same price for your day ticket on either of those days, when you have about 1/3 of the normal service operating? You wouldn't pay the price for a pint for a 1/3 in a pub... you'd pay for a third. So why should public transport be any different?
I quite like the idea of evening fares too, and I'd like to think that they'd support the viability of more frequent buses on an evening. Arriva run a '5 for a Fiver' fare in Durham City after 7pm, which is bound to be cheaper than a taxi in all cases.
Overall, I would like to see a lot more integrated working between the major operators in the North East. It is quite clear that they are reluctant to compete with each other route by route, and I think we've seen since deregulation, that it provides little benefit for the passengers when they do. So why not take advantage of the Buses Bill, and have some proper integrated multi bus operator ticketing instead? Cut Nexus and the Metro out, and have a decent product that offers good value for money to everyone... we might actually get somewhat closer to the pipe-dream of an 'Oyster card for the North'...
