(11 May 2023, 7:32 am)Ianthegoon wrote At the end of the day, bus services all over are being hit by a mix of higher costs and fewer people travelling.
If our bus operators are to operate commercially, there's only one thing that going to happen, and that's cutting of unremunerative services.
Therefore, if we want services to operate on corridors that have dropped below the point at which they can run commercially, they need to be supported in some way.
The alternative, having operators that provide services for the benefit of the community rather than to make a profit, was abolished as a political decision in the 1980s .....
Or adapting them to meet the changing passenger needs and wants.
You mention the 1980s and despite all of the political dogma behind the decision to de-regulate the market, we've got a network which is pretty much the same as it was then and for a significant period prior.
The shipyards, pits, thriving town centres and high streets that supported that network have gone, evolved or changed.
Yet somehow the bus network hasn't.
The mantra 'changing passenger habits' keeps getting thrown about, but I see very little in the way of operators actually responding in any other way than the ways you mention. Cuts and support.
Fare offers, BSOG, WiFi, ticket machines, plug sockets - all funded by the taxpayer.
Various liveries with slightly different angles or shapes.
They've not worked.
Let's look to the future and adapt what we've got, rather than continue throwing around scissors and holding out the begging bowl.