(01 Dec 2023, 8:32 pm)Dan wrote That wasn’t the whole point of the BSIP.

You can read the Transport North East’s BSIP below:
https://www.transportnortheast.gov.uk/wp...v-25-2.pdf

Pages 11 and 12 cover network.

Presumably ‘Superbus’ has had to be scaled back (based on lower budget allocation and operators’ availability of staff), but service 56 would certainly fit a slightly scaled back version of the green category.

It seems sensible in my view for Nexus/Transport North East to use some of this subsidy to improve frequencies on routes like the 56, which are likely to be commercially viable after a year or so (when paired with other improvements covered by the BSIP such as  improved fares and infrastructure).

Perhaps at the point which a 12-minute frequency becomes commercially viable, the next iteration would be to ‘pump prime’ an improved 10-minute frequency.

I am sure we will see Local Authorities use BSIP funding to do new things on the network too (I am sure operators and Local Authorities alike agree with some of the comments made on this forum previously about how little the network has evolved in our region) - indeed there are tender opportunities live at the moment.


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Wasn't direct subisidy of routes from it completely banned until very recently?

See personally, I think the money would be better spent on long term goals ie. infrastructure to make the routes quicker and actually more attractive so they can naturally grow. As far as I'm aware there's nothing planned for Old Durham Road. If those go well, then the bus route would naturally increase and in turn the frequency.

Unless the money is commited every year forever, eventually the money is just going to dry up and if things fail it's just going to be all cuts, at least new bus stops, bus lanes etc will always exist. I'm not sure people aren't using the 56 because it's every 15 minutes instead of every 12 minutes, for example. If we're going down those lists, it's the connect services that badly need the improvements - 25 for a prime example in the Harlow Green area or the 57 running on an evening since Wardley don't have a direct bus to Newcastle anymore etc.

Durham is the area that badly needs the improvements though, some of the Consett areas (Medomsley in particular) and Pit Villages (56 Arriva areas) have an absymal service nowadays.