(21 Feb 2020, 12:56 pm)Andreos1 wrote I don't think the spec currently being promoted on the X30 will be able to sustain itself as anything different in the not too distant future.
I genuinely think it (or at least the majority of it) will become the norm.
It's gonna be an interesting time for commercial and marketing depts as they come up with new ways to attract passengers.
I think we are seeing the slow decline of the route branding fad, data deals are getting better and battery life is lasting longer. Will there be any need for operators to spec these elements?
I am glad there was a re-jig of the GNE zoning structure.
I'm glad there 24 hour ticket was introduced.
Too little, too late? It's nearly the end of Feb, I've not used a UK bus since the second week in December and I'm an 'enthusiast'.
What about 'ordinary' punters?
As many people have said already, everyone who NEEDS to travel by bus is already travelling by bus. Now they just need to try and persuade people out of cars. And one of the ways GNE are trying to do that (and I think they're succeeding, for the most part anyway) is making their buses as high spec as possible. While the novelty of the high spec will wear off for passengers in the not too distant future, for first time passengers I don't think it will, so even if it does become the norm, it will still stand out to their target audience.
Plus, with a few exceptions, the routes they are upgrading to X-Lines don't have any competition so those who need to use the bus, are already travelling GNE, so it's not a case of poaching passengers from other operators but from cars
I honestly can't remember the last time I used the on board WiFi, 100mb a day is nowhere near enough to be useful so I never bother connecting, plus when I have unlimited 4G that averages ~50mbps over the whole of the X21 route, there's no point.
As for the charging, every time I get on a bus with USB or Wireless charging I charge up my phone. It's a habit I got in to when the battery on my old phone wouldn't even last until lunch time.
I still think there could be improvements to the GNE zoning, having more crossover would be a start. I particularly like what Arriva does with some of their zones, like allowing passengers with a Durham District ticket to travel all the way to Newcastle on the X12.