(18 Oct 2016, 3:00 pm)G-CPTN wrote That is questionable.Indeed, I believe concessionary passes are a good thing. The part of my post you cropped out, however, explains why I think concessions can work to the detriment of long distance routes.
Many concessionary pass users would not travel without their concession, and the operator receives a contribution that they wouldn't receive if they didn't travel.
I suspect that you should have stated that there is a paucity of fare-paying passengers - which is a different argument.
Imagine the passenger numbers without concessionary pass users and see if the service would be commercially sustainable.
Looking at just the southern part of the X7, let's say a service carries 20 concessions from Peterlee & Wingate. Due to the express nature of the route most passengers remain on the vehicle until at least Stockton or Middlesbrough. The bus takes one hour to carry these passengers. Comparing this to a short urban route, such as the 54; in one hour the bus can complete two full circuits carrying passengers both from Newcastle to Saltwell Park and from Saltwell Park to Gateshead on both loops. Assuming the overheads of running one bus for one hour are roughly the same, the bus on the 54 has the potential to carry four times as many individual journies per hour as the bus on the X7. When Go North East revive a flat rate reimbursement for concessions, it becomes easy to see why long distance routes struggle.
Death by bus pass is not an unheard of concept; it's led to the down fall of the X60/X61 to Scarbourgh and is the reason passes cannot be used on some express routes such as the X8 in Cumbria and trentbarton's red arrow.