(08 Mar 2020, 9:00 pm)streetdeckfan wrote GNE haven't submitted their accounts for 2019 just yet, but in 2018 they made a profit of about £4 million after taxes
To put that in to perspective, they spent about £8 million on the StreetDecks that haven't arrived yet
Actually, reading a more, that's the year they bought EY, so I wonder if that's taken in to account. Frankly it's been far too long since I did my accountancy course to remember how to read them!
(14 Apr 2020, 8:22 am)LeeCalder wrote Having travelled on the 21 to Chester-le-Street for a shopping visit to Tesco last week, I asked my Mother how much she reckoned it cost me to get from Barley Mow to Chester-le-Street.
She said £1.20. It's actually £2.30.
Her reaction: WHAT, to get to Chester!?
This is exactly why she uses her car, and I suspect many others. £2.30 for a 5 minute journey!
(14 Apr 2020, 12:19 pm)streetdeckfan wrote As I understand it, it's not necessarily about the distance of the journey, but about how many fare stages it goes through (Is that the correct terminology?)
While I don't know exactly how it works, I believe the price is determined by how many main stops you pass, that's why if you look at your ticket the 'valid to' it may not necessarily be the stop you asked for. I don't know if it still works the same as I haven't bought a ticket in years, but the 'boarding stage' might be miles away from where you boarded as that would be the start of that 'stage'.
After a quick play around with the fare calculator, it seems you were just on the wrong edge of the fare stage as it's the same price from the far end of Birtley as it is from Barley Mow
Barley Mow to CLS ~1.5 miles £2.30
Birtley Coach and Horses to CLS ~3.3 miles also £2.30
It'd be quite interesting to see what is the furthest you can go for each ticket price, I'd imagine it would vary greatly by area!
To go from Bishop Auckland to West Auckland, for instance, which is a distance of ~4 miles is only £1.60
(14 Apr 2020, 12:37 pm)LeeCalder wrote I'm well aware of how fare stages work, thanks...
Try telling that to a non-bus user and regardless of the explanation they'll still think it's too expensive.
(14 Apr 2020, 12:46 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Maybe if GNE published a fares table that showed how the tickets work it would be a lot less confusing!Its not so much the fare stages its also the luxury of wi fi. Tables.double decker with a view etc.
I've said many times in this topic that if you're just doing quick hop on-hop off journeys, buses aren't exactly the best value for money, but when you compare it to the full price of running a car (insurance, tax, fuel, depreciation etc.) they're still not 'expensive'.
Sure, if you already have a car then it may seem expensive, but if you don't have one, then it's still cheaper to pay the single ticket price, and if you use it regularly, it's waaay cheaper to buy a multi use ticket.
(14 Apr 2020, 12:46 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Maybe if GNE published a fares table that showed how the tickets work it would be a lot less confusing!
I've said many times in this topic that if you're just doing quick hop on-hop off journeys, buses aren't exactly the best value for money, but when you compare it to the full price of running a car (insurance, tax, fuel, depreciation etc.) they're still not 'expensive'.
Sure, if you already have a car then it may seem expensive, but if you don't have one, then it's still cheaper to pay the single ticket price, and if you use it regularly, it's waaay cheaper to buy a multi use ticket.
(14 Apr 2020, 5:12 pm)Rob44 wrote if someone tried to compare a bus journey of exactly the same route but one cost more (nearly 50% more) due to the bus being 5 years newer i shove the bread.........
if we are using that logic the new buses that are more fuel efficient should be dirt cheap.... and anyone who used the buses on the loop before they were getting replace should have been paying 50 quid a mile!
(14 Apr 2020, 2:23 pm)ifm001 wrote Its not so much the fare stages its also the luxury of wi fi. Tables.double decker with a view etc.
I've had this argument for years. Gateshead to QE hospital is or was priced differently to whichever service you use. X1. 25 28or 56.
Fair enough it's been a couple of years since I did the journey, but when I did, I was quoted about going to Tescos and being offered cheap bread or quality bread. And it's the same thing on a bus apparently. Are there any other buses go Barley Mow to Chester, if so are they the same or different.
(14 Apr 2020, 4:02 pm)Storx wrote Also GNE would never share a fare table, you don't publish things that push people away from using your services, it's a horrid system which punishes people who just live over zones.
(15 Apr 2020, 8:05 am)LeeCalder wrote Yes, there are other buses. The half hourly MAX X12, which is 30p cheaper.
(15 Apr 2020, 10:05 am)Rob44 wrote I can understand the x1 being more than the 57. 25 etc but the 56 also charges 320 from the qe to newcastle. Is that because the orange paint is more expensive then red or blue? And almost 50% more per single ticket. No wonder customers are using private transport more.
(15 Apr 2020, 8:52 am)Dan wrote Disagree with this statement.
(17 Apr 2020, 11:57 am)Ambassador wrote There's a certain set of passenger who isn't really interested in tables, wifi, leather seats etc and that's a difficult market that you probably won't ever capture with pricing. They seem to be the ones that are the biggest complainers. They are predominantly car users. They only use the bus if they fancy a few drinks or perhaps are going to the match. You have to tempt them away from taxis. They don't care about net spend on Streetdecks, they want a cheap convenient ride that's on time and that's it.
(17 Apr 2020, 12:38 pm)Dan wrote ..and that's the intention of the new evening and group tickets launched not too long ago at GNE.
(15 Apr 2020, 10:05 am)Rob44 wrote I can understand the x1 being more than the 57. 25 etc but the 56 also charges 320 from the qe to newcastle. Is that because the orange paint is more expensive then red or blue? And almost 50% more per single ticket. No wonder customers are using private transport more.
(17 Apr 2020, 12:49 pm)Ambassador wrote It is pleasing to see GNE be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern world by the new Team.
I wonder if a rival Magpie Mover type scheme could work for matchdays or even weekend tickets
(18 Apr 2020, 11:05 am)Andreos1 wrote Welcome back!
Like you, I welcome the changes. However, I don't think they're enough.
Some single fares may have been 'frozen', but others haven't. Others have increased beyond inflation and that's on top of the prices that some would say were already high.
There's all this talk of legacy fares or processes introduced/overseen by someone who left the company in 2011.
We are on to the second head honcho since then.
We are also on to the umpteenth colour scheme and logo design since then.
Yet we are talking about a fare structure which hasn't changed, hasn't improved - yet is still full of flaws and anomalies.
There's 60 odd pages of debate, discussion and whatever else in this thread, over a 7 year period* and still the same issues are being raised.
* 7 years of my life on this forum...fml
(20 Apr 2020, 8:28 am)LeeCalder wrote If bus companies want to get people out their cars, in my opinion, they should be focusing on journeys which car users are likely to make, in order to temp them in.
Surely car users are more likely to catch a bus to Chester-le-Street, from Barley Mow (a 5 minute journey) to do a bit of shopping, providing the price is right, as opposed to get the bus into Newcastle, which would mean they're sat on a bus for ever and a day.
The pricing structure needs to reflect that, make it as cheap as you possibly can to catch a bus to the next town, CLS in this instance, and surely you will see passenger growth?
The pricing structure for single journeys is dire, and car users are never going to use the bus if it costs them £2.30 for a 5 minute journey.
(20 Apr 2020, 8:52 am)Ambassador wrote Why thank you, glad to see not much has changed. Yes there does seem to be a sort of 'blame the Labour Govt for overspending in 2010' vibe around the GNE response (this isn't a dig) but it's convenient.
(20 Apr 2020, 3:32 pm)Ambassador wrote The next big issue is post lockdown.I wonder if we could see some of GNE's staff start to work from home permanently. There's no need for customer service staff to work in the office and that could save quite a bit if they don't need as much office space
Even with a gradual return the reality is many of us won't see the inside of our offices potentially until next year. The likes of Zoom and Microsoft Teams have opened the eyes of even the most hardened IT critic. Equally some businesses who were already struggling simply won't survive. Then there's a confidence issue of passengers themselves (how many parents - where they can - will now drive little Jimmy and Jane to school instead of risking their little darlings on a bus?)
This of course means the same passengers numbers won't be there and I think Martijn G and the Team at GNE are very aware of that but it's a huge challenge for them and even before COVID-19 it was already a big ask. Sellable assets aren't assets if you're competitors are equally in the same position which rules out an immediate cash flow solution.
It's a balancing act between enticing passengers back and paying your costs and it's going to be like that across most of business, however I think for public transport (buses in particular) it will be a much much bigger challenge
(20 Apr 2020, 3:37 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I wonder if we could see some of GNE's staff start to work from home permanently. There's no need for customer service staff to work in the office and that could save quite a bit if they don't need as much office space
How many people work in the Bensham office, and if more work from home could there be the potential to move the staff that need to work in an office to work from the depots?
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(20 Apr 2020, 3:44 pm)Ambassador wrote I imagine we'll see that happen for most businesses, however GNE are classed as keyworkers so although they have a lot of people working from home they can (with proper social distancing) have them in the office as needed as they are carrying out essential support for keyworkers.I was thinking purely financially, while there is an advantage to having customer service 'in house', if they can get rid of a whole property and have them work from home instead, that's got to save an awful lot of money!
It will be the case for a long time where only frontline workers are public facing or office based.
Welcome to the new normal!