(29 Oct 2021, 9:05 am)Adrian wrote As predicted, another knock back for the project to reopen the Leamside line: https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1...side-line/, with the Government stating: "good potential in terms of transport and socio-economic benefits, the overall cost of the re-instatement (circa £600m) remains prohibitive”
As usual, there remains plenty of money when it comes to roads, with the A66 project for example being given £1 billion.
Inevitable and ultimately disappointing.
However, if I was to play devils advocate here and pretend I was in charge of a local bus operator - I would be all over the report, the data within in, use it all and take advantage of it.
If the report states there are enough people for a train load of commuters, day trippers and whatever else - what could I do commercially with a bus?
What sort of service could I run along that corridor to take people to the places the train would have done?
What can I do to ensure that those socio-economic benefits fall in to my bus operators purse?
What can I do differently with my current network? What can I add to the current network?
How can I take advantage of all of this free data that may not be worth an investment of £600m - but could be worth investing a few hundred grand of resource into?
Unfortunately, I've a feeling the bus operators mindset will be as closed as the governments...