(04 Mar 2021, 12:47 pm)streetdeckfan wrote For me, the biggest barrier for using the bus for everything is definitely ticketing. 
As I've said before, most of my travel can be done with GNE despite the only GNE service in my area being the X21 (during normal times I'd be up and down to Newcastle several times a week). But the rest of my travel I really do need an Arriva ticket, so I'm stuck buying both an Arriva and GNE ticket separately.
I'm not paying £11 a day for the Network One ticket since it's cheaper for me to buy both day tickets.
They say they're going to introduce a Durham SmartZone ticket, but I'm guessing it won't be any use for me since it'd then still have to buy another ticket to use when I go up to Newcastle.

The thing is though, I honestly can't think of a way to solve the problem in a way that would be better for my use case than just buying an Arriva and GNE ticket!

I think ticket prices and offerings are part of the solution. 
However I don't think they're THE solution. 

I've been a long-time advocate of more attractive pricing and feel GNE have made a start on improving their package.
Whether other operators look to improve theirs, time will tell. 
I've called out ANE on some of their offerings in the past, elsewhere. An example of this would be a family ticket between Redcar/Saltburn and Whitby.
A trip of 20 or so miles requires a regionwide ticket - the same ticket would get you all the way to Berwick and back (assuming connections and journey times worked).

However, routes and connections are more important imo.
In another thread I mentioned the 78 and X21. Someone travelling from the Bournmoor/Lambton Estate/Biddick Woods type area to Durham takes 20mins in the car or the best part of an hour on the bus (including connections). Then there's the trip back after work. Two hours of the day lost vs 40mins in the car. 
Is it that unrealistic to expect the trip on the bus to work out similar (slightly longer perhaps)?

For the purposes of balance, the same can be said about getting to Redcar or Saltburn for a day out at the beach. It's 20mins in the car from the likes of Ingleby Barwick or Marton - yet more than an hour using public transport, including any time changing and hanging around in Boro. 
Then there's the trip back. 

The tickets can be as cheap as you make them. Install as many bus lanes and priority measures as you want. As many pleather seats as you can squeeze in, plugs, WiFi, pointless tweaks to blinds, funky liveries and some green leaves on the side - public transport is never going to win in those two cases unfortunately.
That's just two examples. There's many, many more.