(07 Aug 2021, 8:48 am)DeltaMan wrote Its a fair point about synchronization times to meet trains - that is an issue across the industry. I think it could be done with the 71 at Seaham based on present arrivals and departure, certainly to and from the Houghton side. However you are then at the mercy of Network Rail and the mandarins at DaFT as if they change the train times, even by a couple of minutes it can throw your neat bus schedule out the window!
I think there has to be an acceptance that at some point you have to stop throwing good money after bad. When you've posted a loss of £4mil and other operators have just about made a minor profit in similar operating circumstances, I imagine things are rightly reexamined
I'd have loved to have seen the business case for the latest version of the 71 and the predicted revenues versus capital expenditure.
I'd then happily laugh in the face of the wild claims made and send that person back to bus planning school.
There's throwing money after bad and then there's the 71.
15 years of someone, somewhere persevering, tweaking it slightly, tweaking it a bit more and cutting the resource, giving up for a bit (see 36 extension from Houghton), before coming back for a bit more and somehow convincing the powers that be, that after all the failed efforts previously - this version was going to work.
All whilst being part of a failed legacy of the Omnis on the 21 debacle.
As for the mandarins at the Dft and their timetable changes impacting on a bus service.
Imagine the mandarins in bus op commercial departments impacting on more than just rail connectivity...