(21 Dec 2022, 6:54 pm)ifm001 wrote 685 Newcastle to Carlisle £2.   Bargain.

Absolutely, but it also highlights why the scheme is unworkable in the long-term.

Someone commuting from Carlisle to Newcastle is absolutely quids in, as is say someone from Durham to Newcastle on the 21/X21. If you live on one of the spokes of the network though, you don't benefit at all.

I could do Sunderland and back for £4, as I have a direct route on the 2A, but Newcastle and back would be £8 (as I have to change buses). By that time I might as well have bought a £6.40 Tyne & Wear day ticket. There's several other examples of this.