(18 Feb 2020, 10:04 pm)Andreos1 wrote I agree that compared to some, the prices are more attractive.
Could it be that there's more competition on the local SNE services (longer distance ANE and GNE ops and Metro as an example) or are they pricing their offer in such a way that it meets the financial demands of the markets they're serving?
I always thought it was more the opposite way around especially with the West End. Charge it at a rate which is just enough and reasonable to the customer instead of charging too much and letting the competition sneak in as the majority of their bus routes have little / no competition at all but not too cheap that their losing money. On the other hand GNE, Arriva and the Metro are battling each other and also have run long distance services through pretty much no-where with some routes.
It wouldn't surprise me if Stagecoach had the top 5 busiest bus routes in the North East. (1, 22, 38, 39/40 and 62/63). There's only really the 21 which could come close to any of those.
(18 Feb 2020, 10:04 pm)Andreos1 wrote Either way, I can't see the logic in their statement at all.
Using basic economics and following the demand curve principle, then passenger numbers will fall.
That's forgetting that any traffic they're blaming, could get worse.
Imagine it being a bunch of people around a table with a job of 'What reason can we use which doesn't sound as bad as petrol prices and inflation' and that's the best which they came up with. Not particularly the best neither.