(20 Jul 2019, 10:04 pm)streetdeckfan wrote </p><p>
</p><p><br></p><p>Even if I didn't have my GNE pass, I would happily pay the extra to not travel Arriva! </p><p>During CTBW I thought I'd pay the £1 and only use Arriva for the day. Fair to say, by the time the time I got to Spennymoor on the 6, I was regretting the decision as the X21 was directly in front, with it's leather seats, tables and sockets. Once I got to Newcastle (via the X12, which was also a mistake), I decided to try the 'new' e400s they have on the X21, and if I'm being honest, Arriva's 'high spec' Sapphire buses are just on par with GNE's standard spec, except with an order of magnitude more rattles!</p><p>On the way back home, I didn't fancy subjecting myself to the X12 again, so took the X21 and relaxed in comfort.</p><p><br></p><p>I don't have any statistics to back up, but I regularly see a lot more passengers get on the X21 over the 6 at Durham, so I think regular passengers do appreciate the nicer buses.</p><p>In fact, my mother (who knows less than nothing about buses) got the GNE X46 to Crook over the Arriva X46 because it "looked nicer". She didn't even know they were ran by two different companies. </p><p><br></p><p>So basically what I'm saying is, in a situation where the average person wants to get the bus, and they're not tied to any particular operator (ENCTS, Network One, one off user etc.), and the buses go to the same place, I'd be willing to bet that the majority would pick a bus the nicer bus. Network One and ENCTS, in particular as they would be more likely to try both operators</p><p>
</p><p><br></p><p>At dbs, people with no fixed ticket tend to catch whatever turns up first, out of the 6 and X21. If I'm travelling from fram to spenny, I will catch the X21 there for convenience, unless I need to pay for tickets both ways in which case it'll be arriva because I'm buggered if I'm standing at 4 Lane ends for 28 minutes because the time my meeting ended meant that I just missed the X21. I've spent enough of my life standing at that bus stop without restricting myself to twice hourly buses. </p>