The services competing with the 22 /23/24 are precisely the ones that gne have all but eliminated over the past few years. Clearly not enough people had a use for them.
The city vs county divide between stagecoach and other operators stems back to the operators that stagecoach and gne took over from. What would benefit those routes the most is better multi-operator ticket options outside of the nexus area, particularly for those of us who would pay full adult fares.
RE: Reversing the decline in passenger numbers