(04 Jan 2014, 7:14 pm)Dan wrote Precisely this, yes.
There is a lot of competition in the area as you've mentioned, but if Go North East's fares are far superior to the competition, then you can understand why customers do travel on the "Laser" as opposed to a different service operated by Stagecoach.
I still stand by what I said earlier...
If a service warrants investment - no matter how big or small the competition in the area is, no matter how big or small the PVR is - it will receive it. Now more than ever before, with investment of so many vehicles planned each year.
Some journeys will have very high passenger numbers on the "Prince Bishops", as accounted for by anecdotes of 'canned sardines', but others will run very lightly. You really need a service to be stable before investing in it, and this is achieved by 'minor service changes', as we've all grown to know so well. Certain runs can't just be axed though, as from what I've seen, there is no set passenger rate on each run and on each day.
Aren't the Sunderland GNE fares £1.35 or something, and Stagecoach are £1.55?