(14 Apr 2020, 4:02 pm)Storx Also GNE would never share a fare table, you don't publish things that push people away from using your services, it's a horrid system which punishes people who just live over zones.
Disagree with this statement.
I'd say faretables are quite difficult to understand for 'the normal customer'. We, as enthusiasts or people with an interest in the industry, understand how faretables work and would probably assume they're simple to follow, but that's really not the case. A lot of customers struggle to read a timetable and in my opinion they're easier to follow than a faretable.
The website has a fares finder and more work is going into this so you can plan your journey to work out the best value fare (rather than the current website where you've got to select your most appropriate farestage - which I still think is better than a faretable, but not the best in that some faretables have relatively few stages so it might not be particularly relevant if you're no where near that stage). Improving the journey planner to incorporate fares is the way forward, not faretables.
(15 Apr 2020, 8:05 am)LeeCalder Yes, there are other buses. The half hourly MAX X12, which is 30p cheaper.
I think ifm001 was probably meaning any other Go North East services - there are a number of pricing anomalies from the Huntley era, such as the Old Durham Road example, where the X1 was deemed more premium than the 56 and 57, so a premium fare was charged accordingly. The 57 also, by legacy, has a very cheap flat fare.
That isn't the case with Barley Mow to Chester-le-Street - the 21, 25 and X22 all charge the same £2.30 fare and it's the downside of the legacy fare structure really (it's £2.30 all the way from the Coach & Horses in Birtley!)
Whilst my personal opinion that £2.30 is quite expensive for such a short journey, I'd say that it's appropriately priced if the competition (two buses per hour) is 30p cheaper. Go North East has nine more buses per hour on this corridor than Arriva (eight buses per hour on the 21, two buses per hour on the 25 and one bus per hour on the X22). The sheer volume of extra buses justifies the more premium price in my view.
