(20 Apr 2020, 5:37 pm)mb134 wrote Regarding passenger numbers at the other side of this, I'm not overly sure there will be a dramatic immediate change.
On the first day back in "normality" folk will want to be getting out and about, going to the pub for drinks, going to town with friends etc - a bus companies dream. For ANE, I imagine there will be a number of people wanting trips up and down the coast to Seahouses/Whitby/Scarborough. Football will return, another huge day for bus companies in and out of Newcastle. Workers for restaurants, bars etc will all return to work, as will those working in shops and the like.
Office workers may well carry on working from home, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised to see them all back in. All of the office workers I know have been saying that productivity has dropped through the floor since this all started. Similarly, universities and schools will all be back. Speaking as someone who's just sat their first honours exam, the past 3 weeks have been absolute hell not having a library available, so students will return to using buses in the same volume as they were before.
More specifically looking at pricing - people who don't have to use the bus for short trips won't. If its a 5 minute walk to the stop, with the bus taking 10 minutes to the next town, and people have access to a car then they'll drive it 99.9% of the time. Where you're far more likely to convince "leisure passengers" onto the bus is into the city centre, where it's more likely that they'll be going for a few hours, maybe a few drinks. To these passengers, pricing, frequency and atmosphere will be most important in getting them to return. Couples or groups of friends are hardly likely to be requiring tables for their afternoon/night out in town, but they will appreciate comfortable seating and a pleasant ambience. The actual design of the bus helps a lot here, personally I think ADL have got it spot on with windows etc whereas the shallower Wright windows make the bus feel smaller and less airy.
The problem is there won't be an immediate return to normality. Not everything will reopen at the same time, not everything will reopen. People won't just suddenly start getting on buses and trains - especially if face mask guidance comes in. People will remain wary and will likely stick to their car.
We're still in the realms of shielded and the elderly being isolated until 2021.
Pricing won't be the problem. Survival will.