(20 Dec 2021, 8:54 am)Andreos1 wrote Why would the 16 need to be removed if the E1 was introduced?
There is a small portion of duplication (far less than say the GNE 2 and 78) and unless the E1 was extended to Hastings Hill, then I'm not sure there would be any cause for concern.
Start and end points are different
From reading the BSIP, I think the argument here would be that you're adding resource into a service unnecessarily which would duplicate the offering of other services on this corridor.
The days of direct bus services here, there and everywhere are gone. Operators had already started to move away from this in favour of the hub and spoke model, but now Government guidance reiterates this, I cannot see it being likely that any operator would extend a service on an already heavily over-bussed corridor.
It is difficult to quantify how many extra passengers you would carry by offering a direct service like this, but in my own opinion I think it is unlikely that you will generate an extra £100k in revenue to pay for the extra bus (assuming it can be done in one bus - this could even be two).