(27 May 2022, 8:21 pm)Shrek wrote I heard a month ago that Go Ahead had been pushing other companies to make cuts that would save Arriva/Stagecoach money that would also help GNE when they made their huge cuts. Basically they're hoping other companies making cuts will save their own bad PR. This was one of the moves they'd been pushing for. Very clever by GNE management. Make other areas suffer so you can maximise profits. I respect and hate your management in equal degree.
Completely false, nothing short of a rumour with absolutely no substance.
I think you will find all three operators are in a dire state financially (Stagecoach the least, Go North East the most), and that as part of the BSIP process there are active conversations taking place about rationalisation of certain corridors. I assume someone has twisted this into the dirty rumour in your post.
Naturally operators are reviewing services which have a poor financial contribution as they deem that they cannot sustainably operate these any longer. Whilst Go North East are making these cuts first, they are absolutely not pushing anyone else to do it too, the other companies will be doing it off their own backs.
The big difference is that Go North East is proposing to make these changes while there is still some level of Government support (BRG funding), while the others are presumably waiting it out until the end. The funding is of course designed to bridge the gap for revenue so that operators don’t make cuts while the market is recovering. That said it probably isn’t enough to prevent some operators being loss-making, and I’d imagine many of the proposed temporary changes at Arriva will in fact be permanent.