(28 Dec 2019, 9:48 pm)BusLoverMum wrote "No demand" is a vicious circle, isn't it? I think ANE 22 is a good example of that. Used to be unreliable and infrequent and people didn't trust it enough to use it. Then they made it twice as frequent, put newer vehicles on it and rolled it out properly instead of halfassedly on a sunday and suddenly it became busy quite a lot. Similarly, GNE has grown that Durham-Newcastle corridor on a Sunday and the buses are just as busy, presumably because more people find them an attractive and reliable option (though the Chester-Durham journey breaks down a bit with 3 of the 4 journeys an hour (21, X21, 50) all running within a few minutes of each other.)

I think that 22 example is a good one. 
Having lived on its route when it ran under a previous guise, I remember what it was like. 
Someone, somewhere saw the potential, took a gamble and did something about it.

Looking at services across the region now as a whole, isn't too different to pre-86. There are the slight variations to routes - but the majority of corridors are the same.
Less the evening and Sunday services, less the fast 'expresses' and less the attractive fares.
Then take in to account the mass consolidation that took place in 2006 and an ingrained culture within commercial depts and you can see why passengers become frustrated - voting with their feet when they have that option.

I was reading an interesting article on twitter earlier, regarding management within tocs and subsequent problems. Layers have been cut back on and the experience gained in BR days lost (and not replaced).
I wonder what the impact would be within bus ops if this happened? Better services or worse?