Pricing
Pricing
I still don't think buses are the problem it's everything else. People simply don't want to sit on buses going around every nook and cranny
To pick an example Sunderland to Durham to Bishop, 3 major corridors without any form of real express routing. This should be a rail link and would be in pretty much every other European country.
No-one and I mean no-one wants to sit on the 20 or even the X20 between Sunderland and Durham as it simply takes too long so pricing is irrelevant here so use a car. Once you have a car why bother paying extra for public transport at all you've already paid the expensive parts insurance etc.
Unless they invest in rail or metros then buses will always fail. Manchester is not a fair comparison as Metrolink is a strong rapid transport network and if it isn't served by that then there's likely a northern service nearby. It's very different to up here.