https://www.passengertransport.co.uk/202...f-britain/

An interesting read.

(30 May 2025, 1:21 pm)Andreos1 wrote https://www.passengertransport.co.uk/202...f-britain/

An interesting read.

Yep. People are more likely to catch a bus if there is a bus to catch. I remember the arriva 22 getting a lot busier when they doubled the frequency.

I had the joy of catching the 6, today. It used to be 5 per hour and well used. If one got delayed there was usually another not too far behind. Now it's only 3 per hour and the one I wanted was a no show, meaning a wait of over 20 minutes in total for us. Those 40 minute gaps must be hellish when there's students in town. Why would you bother if you had other options?

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-...qHroqXiz-Q

Services stuck in a cycle of decline.

(29 Jun 2025, 12:16 pm)Andreos1 wrote https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-...qHroqXiz-Q

Services stuck in a cycle of decline.

The CPT are still deluded I see.

"We do not accept the characterisation of an industry with declining commercial viability. Moving forward, it is crucial that public funding produces outcomes that matter to passengers. More buses to more destinations with quick, reliable journey times should be the primary focus of investment plans."

We don't accept our failings but give us more money!

These articles fail to address the point. Instead, they are designed to beat the industry and further create this perception of public ownership making things better. Here is a clue - the decline is primarily due to the lack of capital funded projects, specifically those designed to speed up bus journeys and/or reduce congestion on key routes. Significant investment in bus lanes and things that make tangible differences to journey times will trigger modal shift and will then instigate operator reaction and competition (as operators wont be allowed to continue with a slow stopper, if an express is viable and achievable - otherwise someone else will do it).

Operators don't risk those things currently, there could be a market for a fast bus between X and Y already, but existing operator or commercial competitors are unable to make it work. The express bus still sits in the same traffic as everything else, gains nothing.

NECA, got over £150million in BSIP funding and have done absolutely jack sh1t in respect of capital projects.

Once the mayor takes control and people realise that the buses are still delayed, still unreliable, but might be painted all the same colour (wooooo), then a choice needs to be made to either help speed them up or introduce more resource (and cost) and slow them down. The latter will not be politically acceptable, so I'm sure the money will be found then, to ensure the point is proven.

Whilst operators clearly do need to take responsibility overall (there are shortcomings, there are risk-adverse decisions being made), but they can only "play the hand they are delt" (so to speak), in respect of highways authorities in the region doing absolutely sod all about congestion on core routes.

Its not an operators' responsibility to fix that, but the only solution in most cases is to slow the bus down (funded usually by a reduction in the frequency, as slowing buses down will by the basic law of passenger elasticity, reduce passenger demand, so increasing costs by adding resource in to maintain status quo doesn't make sense from a commercial point of view).

I know this is an emotive subject on here, but that is the reality, whether agreed with or not.

(29 Jun 2025, 4:50 pm)Superman wrote These articles fail to address the point. Instead, they are designed to beat the industry and further create this perception of public ownership making things better. Here is a clue - the decline is primarily due to the lack of capital funded projects, specifically those designed to speed up bus journeys and/or reduce congestion on key routes. Significant investment in bus lanes and things that make tangible differences to journey times will trigger modal shift and will then instigate operator reaction and competition (as operators wont be allowed to continue with a slow stopper, if an express is viable and achievable - otherwise someone else will do it).

Operators don't risk those things currently, there could be a market for a fast bus between X and Y already, but existing operator or commercial competitors are unable to make it work.  The express bus still sits in the same traffic as everything else, gains nothing.

NECA, got over £150million in BSIP funding and have done absolutely jack sh1t in respect of capital projects.

Once the mayor takes control and people realise that the buses are still delayed, still unreliable, but might be painted all the same colour (wooooo), then a choice needs to be made to either help speed them up or introduce more resource (and cost) and slow them down. The latter will not be politically acceptable, so I'm sure the money will be found then, to ensure the point is proven.

Whilst operators clearly do need to take responsibility overall (there are shortcomings, there are risk-adverse decisions being made), but they can only "play the hand they are delt" (so to speak), in respect of highways authorities in the region doing absolutely sod all about congestion on core routes.

Its not an operators' responsibility to fix that, but the only solution in most cases is to slow the bus down (funded usually by a reduction in the frequency, as slowing buses down will by the basic law of passenger elasticity, reduce passenger demand, so increasing costs by adding resource in to maintain status quo doesn't make sense from a commercial point of view).

I know this is an emotive subject on here, but that is the reality, whether agreed with or not.

Agreed on the capital aspect, but not even sure bus lanes etc are the issue. The simple fact is a lot of journeys shouldn't be on a bus in the first place like journeys such as Alnwick to Newcastle or Bishop Auckland to Newcastle should be train journeys, but the train lines just don't exist and it's where if the government are really serious about modal shift where money needs to be spent.

You just have to look at stuff like the Northumberland Line which is having capacity problems already and loads of people were determined, especially a local Liberal Democrat councillor, that it was going to be a massive failure.

I know people laugh at stuff like the Consett line being completely crackers, but in reality it probably should exist, going via Stanley, Annfield Plain, Leadgate etc. 

The lack of rail / bus integration is a serious problem aswell ie. Crook to Newcastle, should be a train to Durham then a bus from there to Crook. Not a bus and another bus but there's no sensible fares unless you want to pay £10+ for a return which is unreasonable.

In reality though, they'll build a bus station at Bishop Auckland and wonder why no-one uses it because everyone is in their car at Tindale Crescent watching a film, having a meal at McDonalds, while doing their shopping at Sainsbury's after...

The scariest part, is the politicians and local authority officers who make those decisions and predictions, will be the ones who decide what the future bus network will look like.

I'm not surprised the operators are not bothered about franchising any more, given they can set a fixed value, margin and put their feet up. There will be more than enough to provide all the big operators with a slice of the cake, with expected penalties built into the contract price, some operators will actually be better off in a few years time.

Look at Tees Valley. They subsidise bus services that compete with their own DRT arrangement for gods sake. Absolutely deluded and thankfully not interested in franchising.

We, as enthusiasts, slate commercial operators for their lack of adventure or risk, but if the stakeholders who pay your salary demand a return of X% then guess what will be the number one priority? The known will always be preferred over the unknown.

Well Tees Valley has earned its own regular column in Private Eye so transport decisions are probably no more likely to be made entirely to the benefit of the population it serves than anything else there.