(01 Jul 2017, 7:47 pm)Ambassador wrote It's gone from £2.85 to £3.00 for a single from Birtley to Newcastle.
No wonder usage is down, that fare is appallingly high. The unscrupulous way they've hidden the rise has been more disappointing. The vehicles they use on the 21 are getting worse, the service has been cut...for what?
Private companies are bringing little benefit to users but I imagine there's little appetite for higher taxes to support public ownership.
Eclipsed by events 5 miles from where I sit that night, the BBC Economics reporter from your neck of the woods (Steph something) made an absolutely priceless link, without the slightest sense of irony. She was chairing a debate outside Carlisle Rail Station on 22nd May, about Austerity, and how it had decimated Social Care and..yes.. rural bus services in Cumbria. At the end she referenced that now common phrase "Magic Money Tree", before saying "after the local news we will be talking to the producers of the Fifteen Billion Pound Railway".
Just checked the equivalent journey to the above example (6.2 miles) on Stagecoach Manchester and the Single is £3.40. Note though, that £3.40 fare kicks in at single journeys of 4.01 miles.