(08 Jun 2021, 3:46 pm)big mac wrote The £1 fare will help although I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make to the taxis even if the bus services were better around that area.  I think it's more of a case of people simply don't use buses to go drinking like they used to.  I remember people absolutely piling on services like the 27 and the 639 on Low Fell in the 90s which just simply doesn't happen any more.

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I think that's part of the bigger problem and something operators need to address.
I've mentioned the 194 missing out a section of route in Fatfield at chucking out time and I'm sure the 27 was the same along Kells Lane/Dryden Road at one point.
It was as though operators didn't want to have to deal with passengers and discouraged people using them back from the pub.
Surely counterproductive?

As it stood until very recently, we all know it was often cheaper getting a taxi back from the pub. Especially if there's a group of friends out.
The evening deal last year and now the £1 fare are both cracking initiatives and along with a flexible, attractive network it may go a long way in repairing some legacies of decisions made in the past.

The Quayside seems to be having a bit of a renaissance (from what I've witnessed anyway) and even if it doesn't get back to 90s levels of popularity, I do still think there's enough people down there to sustain some sort of network. 

Taxi drivers are like bees to a honeypot. They go where the demand is.
If there's taxis, there's potential bus passengers.

We've seen soft improvements (fares and on-board features).
Let's see some hard improvements to the network.