(21 May 2022, 1:58 pm)Unber43 wrote You can say you can get X but then connect with X bus. (everyone does, but no one thinks about the price)

But that all great but it costs money for which, £1.80 from Sunderland - Peterlee (which is VERY cheap). Peterlee-Houghton £1.80 then Houghton to Sunderland is £1.80 it is double the fare. Which isn't going to make people jump for the bus. and Houghton & Hetton aren't the best places to change over for buses. They're not the nicest. Especially into the late evening.

As I've said before, I think that the very cheap fares that GNE are now offering is simply meaning that there isn't enough revenue to make the services commercial any longer.
Passenger numbers would need to have more or less doubled for GNE to break even on the reduced fares, and they clearly haven't as almost every change on the consultation says "....do not carry enough customers to cover the costs of carrying them".

I suspect that passengers would be happy to pay fares closer to the old ones to keep the services running, rather than cheap fares and no service (or reduced service and/or the need to change buses mid journey).

I wonder if the X1 and 20/X20 will have good connection times in Houghton?
and will GNE sort out the poor headways that they have all over the network - it will be really bad if, with fewer buses running, the ones that remain all run close together.