(08 Jul 2017, 10:14 pm)Adrian wrote I'd never knock anyone for putting their concerns in writing, but the sad fact is that it won't make a blind bit of difference, as we both know. The majority of their buses is running with no or very little direct competition, so there is no requirement to keep costs down to the customer.
At least Arriva tell you to go to a URL to see the full details. https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/north-east/L...eastfares/
I was talking to someone (a complete stranger) about competition yesterday evening, after yet another example of Stagecoach Manchester's appalling punctuality on my local route - combined delays of 50 minutes on the last two round trips made; this on a "frequent intervals" service, and only one of the four journeys undertaken in the rush hour. As I mentioned a few days ago, the quality of competition in GM has been totally lamentable since 26/10/86 - virtually no innovation; no new routes; no genuine frequency improvements and fare reductions confined to specific groups of customers. All of which resulted in instability and an even worse image than the bus industry already had (old, smokey buses, passengers thrown off mid route so that bus could turn round and chase competitor going the other way; unfathomable ticketing and of course, reductions in average loadings adding to the argument that buses were the major cause of congestion in the city. However, it now seems a shame there isn't any possibility of competition here, as the chances of a quality operation setting up is absolutely nil. This is where Stagecoach are being clever over franchising. Their deterioration has coincided with the possibility of Franchising being implemented, but they know that the now official policy of Franchsing means that no one is going to set up in competition under a deregulated regime. Equally, knowing that the Regional Mayor's are only in office for three years, they are likely to try and stall of Franchising through the courts.
The question is, is there/has there been any decent quality competition (on commercial services) in the North East, that could counter the Fare rises up there. As an aside, and bearing in mind that single fares usually rise faster than "Rover" tickets, I dug out a Stagecoach DayRider ticket from an old coat recently; it was dated 2012 (when services round here were MUCH better) and cost £3. Today, its £4.30 (an increase of 43.3% in 5 years). This is approx. 3.5 times the rate of Inflation, which TBF is consistent with Fare increases since 1986. I can't find any equivalent figures for fuel costs, but I did find that in real terms the cost of Petrol has increased by just 5% in the last FIFTY years.