(26 Jan 2022, 2:26 pm)Bazza wrote The question is why?

What was GNE doing wrong?  Does it show that all the gimmicks (Branded routes, constant rebranding,  fares, special routes, hi spec buses etc etc) made no positive difference whatsoever to the bottom line of the balance sheet? Perhaps even had the opposite effects due to the extra costs incurred.

Probably more to do with the routes imo. Arriva and Stagecoach have some very strong corridors (X10/X11/X21/X22/X15/X18/306/308/6/7/63/64/X93/1: Arriva), (1/39/40/62/63 and so on: SNE). Apart from the 20, 21, 56, 60 and X1. There's nothing that really stands out in terms of making a fortune. On the otherhand they have some very weak routes, (82/83/11/42/42A/5/26/28/29/Peterlee locals).

Not sure there's much you could really do with some of the routes realistically as there's just not the demand and over the years they've butchered the network to a level where there's literally nothing left to butcher.

It doesn't help there's the Metro / Arriva and SNE dominating most their areas neither with the routes you realistically want.

(26 Jan 2022, 2:33 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Is their still going to be a bus at Kingston Park like the 42A? , and is the Q3 getting curtailed at St Peters?

All of the services I use are getting destroyed - 42A, Q3, X84/X85. Hopefully the 74 survives.

Interested to see what the new fares will be, and hopefully they are still good. 

Might be Arriva for me in the future for North Tyneside, GNE for Gateshead and Durham.

I replied to the PM you sent but can't say too much. There's still services over there though.