(01 Mar 2020, 3:23 pm)Big O wrote I agree, it’s all ridiculous to be fair and only someone biased or trying to impress their overheads could disagree.
A bus will always be a bus, no one really likes them and gets on one because it’s has tables or WiFi. Run them on time and to places people actually want to go and you’ll get a return on your investment. I don’t use the WiFi on public vehicles anyway because it isn’t secure and data can easily be interfered with.
I tell you what, on a 30+ mile/2 hour journey that table and WiFi makes a hell of a difference!
I can get my laptop/tablet out and get work done, I can eat food and not have it go everywhere, I have somewhere to put my phone when it's on charge. If you take a trip on the X21, you'll see that the tables are usually full, with people using them. Now, the X30 not so much as it's a shorter journey, but people certainly use them, and the extra leg room is most certainly appreciated!
If I check the GNE app and see that it's not a bus with a table, I'll wait for the next one!
Do you honestly think that bus operators don't want to run their buses on time? 99% of the time the reason for the delay is completely out of their control. In my experience, it's actually very rare that a bus I want to get is late, and if it is it's only by a minute or two.
You may be too paranoid to use public WiFi, but as long as a website uses HTTPS it's impossible to have your data 'interfered with', and there are very few websites these days that don't use it! Even NEB uses HTTPS.
Plus, what you have to remember is a lot of people may not have a lot of mobile data, so that extra 100mb (as pathetic as that amount is) could be really important to them.
(01 Mar 2020, 4:50 pm)Dan wrote In my opinion; providing a reliable bus service that goes to the places its users want to go to, maintains revenue. Operators have to do more to protect that revenue and grow it. Schemes such as Arriva's 'Sapphire' and 'MAX' - and more recently Go North East's 'X-lines' - aim to provide a better customer experience for the operators' passengers, with the view of boosting revenue.
It's not often I agree with Dan, but I 100% agree with having to provide a better customer experience.
But the issue is they have to maintain that enhanced customer experience, look at Arriva Sapphire for example, from my experience with the Arriva 6 it's a lucky dip whether the NSA works (most of the time it doesn't!), the buses are rarely clean, USB/240v sockets rarely work, and that assumes you even get a Sapphire spec bus on the route!
I think GNE do a much better job at this, with even their 'new' standard spec vehicles equalling, or even surpassing Arriva's Sapphire spec, so when a vehicle is replaced it's almost guaranteed to have the same features. (Unless it's the X21! Those new buses can't come soon enough!)