Cant speak much about the Tyne & Wear area, although I guess you do better than many because of the high population, option of Metro and trains, several operators and so on.

Agree with some of whats already been said, traffic congestion is a problem but thats the main thing bus operators complain about and they dont do anything about the things they can control. Every time new timetables are published the policy seems to be to save money and save a bus where possible, cut one here or there and basically reduce the services to the passengers.

People want or need fast, frequent buses. Direct or limited stop, fewer changes. Reasonable fares. Comfort and space. Reliability.

And one of the main factors which is often overlooked is off-peak services. If there's little or no buses on an evening for people to get home from work, they'll not travel into work on the bus earlier in the day either. Sunday services are stuck the same as they were donkeys years ago when few people used them, but its a different era now and there should be a better service.

Arriva offer a more basic service than some others, in as much as there are practically no genuine express services. Very little in much of their patch on an evening, certainly no night buses. Nothing on Boxing day again this year except a couple around Newcastle. Yet Isle of Wight buses are even running a decent service on Christmas Day this year!

I'm not saying a massively increased level of service is viable, but they are cautious to the extreme and unwilling to even attempt fairly small scale levels of improvement, instead pointing the finger only on things like traffic congestion or fuel tax and not looking at their own failings.