(29 Dec 2014, 6:13 pm)Greg in Weardale wrote Cutting the frequency from 10 min to 12 min means one less bus per hour hence more passengers per bus so there will be more dwell time at stops thus the timetable will need longer end to end. It was not honest for GNE to say the 27 and 56 changes were to make the service more reliable when in fact they were also, and probably mainly, to save money. If you say passengers won't notice the difference between a 10 and a 12 minute frequency, then would they notice if it went down to 15?
10 min frequency to a 15 minute frequency? Yes. 10 min to 12 min? I'd argue no. The 56 is generally a couple of minutes late anyway, so there'd be no noticeable difference. I honestly think they have done it primarily to improve reliability, but maintaining margins will also come into it.
There was always going to be three options in my opinion:
- Decrease (not 'revise') the frequency from 10 to 12 minutes, removing a bus from the PVR, but adding extra running time into the timetable.
- Leave the frequency at 10 minutes, but add an extra bus into the PVR, by still adding the extra running time into the timetable.
- Do nothing, and let people continue to complain about buses running in twos, and the company being accused "not being bothered" about it.