(12 Jan 2014, 12:39 pm)Dan wrote Newcastle I agree will bring in the money, which is why a great deal of Enviro 400s have been purchased. Even still, you're looking at the latest batch (Hybrids) being from 2011. It's 2014 now.
South Shields... I agree less. Don't get me wrong, it will bring in a lot of money (there wouldn't be much point having its operations otherwise)... But I can't help but feel that if they were to play around with services and perhaps introduce a few more, they may be better off. They'd stand a higher chance of bigger profits and they would therefore be able to re-invest it into the fleets to provide customers with better vehicles.
In regards to plans putting profits before customer demand... I definitely disagree. Customers are who GNE get their profits from - if the demand is there and great enough, a service will be operated. If the demand for a service is small and it's not generating profit (run by run), that specific run will be axed. While it's great some operators justify operating underused services by looking at overall profit levels or looking at services they connect to, it's just not a particularly effective way of actually making a great deal of profit if you ask me.
Bus companies must provide a SERVICE and it should be the profit of each route on which it is judged rather than on a run-by-run basis; to provide a SERVICE you must accept some journeys will be less profitable but are essential for the service. Passengers need stability and constant changes make it extremely difficult for them and more likely that they'll change how they travel - go via rail or car if they can - as in much of their area GNE's competition is not from other bus companies but from other modes of travel. They aren't looking at their business as an overall NETWORK, with each route providing a SERVICE enabling people to get where they're going more or less when they want. Recent changes for example have cut the 1840 (approx) X21 from Newcastle to Bishop Auckland and curtailed the 1820 X7 from Middlesbrough at Peterlee instead of Sunderland - buses at times like this are essential if you are to provide a SERVICE. GNE are in a spiral of decline, they cut services so less people use them so they cut services .... this happened a few years ago but then with Peter Huntley came innovation and improvement, now we're back to decline and the 26th January changes highlight this. Yes, the economy has been difficult, but we're supposed to be over that and Go Ahead share price is well up. So come on, we need a much more positive approach and an overall NETWORK of comprehensive SERVICES.