(09 Sep 2021, 11:55 am)Train8261 wrote Can I ask. What was the entire point of the 21 extension to Brandon. Was in Durham for a good few hours yesterday. I saw what of all 9 people use it. Most of everyone got on the Arriva service
It's literally its 4th day of operation. People often accuse operators of being short-sighted or not giving things a chance, so equally we shouldn't dismiss something new 4 days in.
I wonder what work has been done on promoting ticket validity through to Brandon though? I can see from the app that the Durham Local Saver ticket is valid, which makes it 50p cheaper on both a day and a weekly ticket. However, the Arriva 4-weekly ticket covering the zone is £52.00, whereas it would be £95.00 with GNE, due to the Durham Local Saver not being available above a weekly ticket (and 4x £15 is obviously more expensive).
The other fares issue that I can see, is that Brandon is not included in the 'Angel Saver' zone for the £21 weekly ticket between Durham and Newcastle. Despite being both currently and historically part of the City of Durham. I'd have assumed this would have been extended, but according to the app, it hasn't. That's a bit of an own goal really, but furthermore a weekly Durham District ticket is cheaper at £19.10... which allows you to travel Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor, Crook and even Sedgefield.
The final thing to point out is that Arriva have done a lot of work in encouraging employers to sign up to their 'Employer Travel Club' scheme, which allows employees (from a company email address or by showing ID) to sign up to the scheme and purchase discounted tickets. Unlike the similar GNE scheme (Key Connect), where unless it's changed, the administration and collection is intended to be managed by the employer, Arriva will do this side of things for businesses and charge a relatively low annual fee. See Durham Uni's, for example: https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/business-tra...university
I'm all for competition and extending to new areas, but I'm not convinced that people are going to be willing to pay that much of a premium to use a newer bus. Hopefully this is something that is being progressed inside the virtual Bensham.