(10 Jul 2014, 6:37 pm)Dan wrote I wholeheartedly believe most competition is to bite back at another operator - or at least in recent cases it has been.
Service OK1 would still be here today if Arriva didn't get their knickers in a twist about Go North East stealing some of their passengers. To my memory, Arriva introduced more services or services to a higher frequency to combat the OK1, and they succeeded. Was it after the X7's introduction that Arriva focussed more on that neck of the woods? I know that the passenger numbers would have decreased on the ANE services with the introduction of GNE service X7... If they started focussing on that neck of the woods more after service X7's introduction, it backs up my point even further.
Anyway, if Arriva left GNE to be content with their Bishop Auckland - Darlington - Middlesbrough express service, the OK1 would still be here today and the X84/X85 wouldn't have been introduced. Go North East knew that service 685 was inundated with complaints (we've seen countless news articles from Hexham), and most were related to the issues in regards to reliability - buses not showing up after breaking down or being excessively late due to the trip being so long - and also the issue of the allocation provided not being low floor. Go North East heavily advertised the service at the time as being operated 'locally' with a spare vehicle always being available in the bus station whenever possible. In addition, they also marketed the service as being fully low-floor, something which, at the time, service 685 could not boast about.
Like I said before, if a service has to be cut or withdrawn due to competition from another operator, the 'victim' of this is more than likely going to bite back by introducing a new service or altering another service so that it keeps the other operator on their toes. The 'victim' is going to do their research beforehand though, and if they pinpoint a service whereby the other company has neglected its passengers, they're going to identify that as the company's weak point.
When it should be about providing the passenger with a better service
The fact is, it never has been - or if it has, those occasions have been few and far between.