(05 Feb 2017, 12:10 pm)James101 wrote Your post prompted me to spend 10 mins on GNE's fare finder to try and establish a pattern across the network. I scrolled through the route list randomly selecting a few routes I'd say GNE have a monopoly on - or at least have very little competition. I've worked out the pence per mile based on the fastest driving route between the two points, as the passenger is paying for the A to B journey. The fact the bus travels more miles via a convoluted route is of benefit to GNE, not the passenger.
X30/6 Stanley-Newcastle = £4.90 = 49p per mile.
X70 Consett-Gateshead = £4.90 = 41p per mile.
4 Galleries-Heworth = £2.85 = 48p per mile.
20 Houghton-Durham = £4.20 = 53p Per mile.
65 Durham-Murton = £4.50 = 45p per mile
I then did the same for routes where there is competition:
306 Newcastle-Whitley Bay = £2.85 = 27p per mile.
20 Sunderland-South Shields = £2.85 = 32p per mile.
X85 Throckley-Newcaslte = £2.15 = 27p per mile.
X9 Middlesbrough-Billingham = £2.60 = 32p per mile.
35 Silksworth-Sunderland = £1.45 = 32p per mile.
It's by no means comprehensive research and there's no comparison to SNE/Arriva/Metro for now. From this small sample, however, there is either an argument to be made for competition working in favour or against the passenger, depending on where you live.
Just to pick those two routes out. The fare from Houghton - Heworth on the 4 is also £2.85.
This results in a very low pence per mile rate.
It is interesting to see the 20 between Shields and Sunderland incur a very similar cost per mile as Shields and Houghton. Obviously this increases considerably elsewhere. Given a chance later on (unless someone beats me to it), I will work out the cost per mile between Sunderland and Houghton - without checking, I think a single fare is £3.40. The 35/36 is higher than the 20 from memory.
There are some interesting fares from the quick check mind.