RE: Nexus secured service consultations - May 2023
(16 Feb 2023, 11:22 pm)Storx wrote See personally I'd prefer the opposite where a bus is a bus, there's one ticket and you can use it on any bus and they're all branded the same. Whether it's Stagecoach, GoNorthEast, Arriva, GCT etc is irrelevant really and complicates things and is one of the massive benefits of London.
Imo the operators would actually benefit long term if they did it aswell as they've carved their own areas up so it's not like 95% of people have any choice who to use anyway and in the places they do it's just a more frequent service like the Coast Road changes.
It's not like someone really cares it's GNE or Arriva in the real world. It would make the council services more popular imo as most of them just don't exist online and if they do they're ran by weird operators without any ticket validity.
I agree lots of what you’re saying.
RE: ticketing etc. This needs to be where BSIP and the like need to make an impact. I shouldn’t be penalised with needing two separate returns/day tickets for going 5 miles, just because one area has just a GNE bus and the other has only Arriva etc. The winder NE has needed more cross operator tickets for years. I worry about implementation of such schemes though, as yet another ticket/zone scheme + what the existing commercial operators have just feels like a mess.
RE: branding etc. that works well in London, where services are all under contract to TFL, such a move doesn’t work in our commercial vs some council funded services imo. I’ve always sat somewhere on the fence about things like the Quality Contracts Scheme that was purposed a few years back now, I saw the benefits but I did think there were some drawbacks. But now? After seeing the decimation of local services in the post-Covid world in particular I do think the commercial operations are no longer fit for purpose.
RE: Information. This is something that gets me and links to be initially point below. Easy access of information is hard to find. For Durham, there’s no information on what services are run under contract to them. Which isn’t so much of an issue when you’ve got GNE or Arriva doing those services as they’ve got websites and apps where information is easily accessible. But as you say, some smaller independent operators have zero or a very limited online presence, which means that there’ll be passengers who probably don’t even know the timetable of some of these services being funded on their behalf!
My actually initial point though - is more about the public should have easy access to know what’s tax payer funded, would Joe Public be surprised to learn the 71 is paid for Durham County Council? Or that certain journeys on a night are only still going because Nexus is funding the bill? You’re right average passenger probably doesn’t care that much, but it’s transparency that I think would be useful. Timetables is years gone by used to have even the somewhat vague statement ‘part of this service runs under contract to XX’ but at least that was something. And as someone pointed out above, even not too long ago there was nexus symbols on timetables which indicated that particular run ran under financial support.
(17 Feb 2023, 12:16 am)Andreos1 wrote And those things don't need to be too expensive either.
Whether it be a suffix/prefix ahead of the service number, indications or symbols on timetables or a display by the saloon door - there would clearly be confirmation that it's a subsidised service.
Absolutely - a simple list on the Council website of subsidised services or a small footnote on timetable would be a start!
