Admittedly I've not been up-to-date with QCS however if decisions are essentially going through one body, being the local councils; it's not competitive as QCS does what it wants with the prices and operators; therefore making the market as equal as it can possibly be. While this is good for passengers (some could be drawn to use the bus with the scheme introduced) this offers very little leeway to challenge other operators.

It's a fine figure; I don't imagine all (or even most) customer experiences are negative with AXC however. Bear in mind that AXC operate across some routes that others don't - or at least without changing trains/operators (Birmingham to Leeds direct for example). It's been noted before that because of this uniqueness of the routes, they can set their own prices for certain journeys. This is usually why I find AXC so overpriced (although they seem to have made the mistake of carrying this over onto other competitive routes such as the ECML [therefore this indicates their target market is more long-distance travellers rather than short-hoppers]) for what they provide.

Going from my above point (now I've thought of a scenario to picture it) it is essential that competition stays (I imagine VTEC or TPE get more sales Newcastle - York than AXC. This means cheaper [advance] fares for passengers but more custom for operators) as, otherwise, the single operator can charge what they like, therefore potentially decreasing custom. Less money into the pot = less money coming out for customer service, staffing, maintenance etc. This could then result in higher fares or higher tax to cover the likes of maintenance and what would be the salaries of public sector workers.