(03 Mar 2020, 2:37 pm)mb134 wrote I don't imagine that there are an awful lot of people who currently use cars to work that will be open to switching to the bus - there's likely a reason they started using a car in the first place. As has been said the cost for people will likely always be cheaper than running a car, however when folk need to start changing bus or when the bus takes twice the time a car does then no amount of USBs and tables will be of benefit.
The challenge, at least from my point of view, is getting people to use the buses for leisure in evenings and on weekends. More attractive evening ticket options are likely the best way to go about that - coupled with half decent evening frequencies. Weekends are easier to target - parking in Newcastle, for example, is horrendous when Newcastle are playing at home and people are more likely to want to have a drink on a weekend as well.
The thing is, all the people who need to travel by bus will already be travelling by bus. Now it's a case of convincing to switch from car to bus.
And like you say, they need to get people to use it for leisure before they'll use it for commuting.
In my opinion changing buses isn't necessarily an issue, but when you have to change in the likes of Durham Bus Station and Eldon Square it's an absolute nightmare trying to find where your next bus is. I personally think the layout of Gateshead Interchange is far better from a usability perspective, mainly because there's plenty of room so buses can park near their intended stand!
GNE need to start running the X21 to West Auckland on a later into the evening and on Sundays as for people there the only option during the evenings/Sundays is Arriva, and why would they switch if they can only use them during the daytime?