Ultimately, the scheme will live or die but what is deemed "value for money". It may be value for the user. But what about the then other non bus using council tax payers? I don't have an opinion either way on Flex, but given as R&EC Council also run their own bus services, I'd say either scrap ALL the supported services in area and just have Flex or try and link the most popular places used in Flex and use a proper bus instead, if that is cheaper.

That being said, I'd also argue that a lot of the rural communities in Redcar and Cleveland are simply too small and too far apart to join up in any meaningful way with a normal bus. So, like elsewhere, a lot of moving parts at play.