(15 Mar 2021, 3:43 pm)Ambassador wrote Hello, Joe Taxpayer here. 

I hear these services are rarely used and are point A-B and the people who use it will use it regardless of it being a Ford Fiesta or a Limousine.

On behalf of the overwhelming majority of people who pay taxes and don't go near secured services, please spend less of my taxes on this and just ensure that the people get from A-B at the cheapest option possible. Why I am paying for people to use wifi and have tables?

Best Wishes
Taxpayer

And I'd tend to agree with you. However, by not taking into account any quality,  you end up with bargain basement operators like GCT who don't even bother running the routes properly!
There has to be at least some quality taken into consideration, and operators such as GNE (and even Arriva and Stagecoach, if they were willing to invest) have the economies of scale advantage to be able to offer higher quality at a similar cost.
I'd be willing to bet if GNE were to use the same shitboxes that GCT have, they'd be able to offer an even lower bid, but unlike GCT, they have to worry about their image