06 Jan 2020, 10:36 pm
#62
(06 Jan 2020, 8:27 pm)OrangeArrow49 As Tyne & Wear has the Network 1 Day Rover, there are no ticketing issues, passengers can travel on all buses and the Metro, both multi-operator and multi-modal. This needs to be extended to Northumberland, County Durham and Teesside, but just multi-operator, not multi-modal is there is no Metro service available!
The West Road needs fewer buses, and that means fewer Stagecoach buses, as GNE only have the X84/X85 and likewise Arriva only has the 685. Stagecoach has 7 bus services passing through Denton Burn! I would scrap the 6, 7 and 8 anyway, they are unreliable and serve no really purpose. I would also curtail the 32/32A to Benwell. We certainly don't want large numbers of buses carrying fresh air! The Little Coasters had new buses, as indiGo North Tyne, GNE rather stupidly put older buses on Little Coasters, no idea why! The operators should not and moreover should not have any need to compete via petty games, if they are reliable they will succeed! GNE could wipe the floor with Stagecoach in the West End if they introduced new services, which Stagecoach never does. Admittedly Stagecoach is on the up with features like WiFi and NSAs, but reliability is sorely lacking, especially on the expresses. Competition forces bus operators to ensure buses run on time, reliably (not breaking down!) and with all the features passengers want (even if that is just a comfortable seat, or a clean, tidy bus). GNE actually does very well in their own territories, without any competition, likewise Stagecoach can do well even without any competition, but sometimes they just don't bother, as they don't have to! Arriva gave up on their bus network a long time ago, they should be sold and improved!
No good if you're travelling beyond or in to T&W though.
Those tickets aren't accepted beyond the T&W border and there's a significant population living in SE Northumberland, Durham and Tees Valley who use multiple operators for whatever reason.
'Illegitimis non carborundum'
