(28 May 2022, 5:12 am)Dan wrote Yes, indeed - the 18 and 35 in Newcastle too, and had proposed to do the same in other communities such as the 8 and 18/19 in Sunderland, 30 in South Tyneside, and so on… though the latter changes didn’t come into effect in reality but have presumably been postponed to take place at some point later this year when Government support dries up.Until this week, I wasn't aware that the DfT decided that 80% of pre-pandemic passengers is now the "new normal" and that they want to know by July 1st what bus networks in some parts of the England may look like when BRG runs out later this year.
The Stagecoach network is completely different to that of the network Go North East operates, and, as reluctant as I am to do it publicly, it goes back to a point that Andreos1 has made in the past that I do agree with, in that the network has to do something meaningful for customers for everything else to work. Perhaps Stagecoach’s cross-city services which provide not just a link to cities but also their hospitals, schools and nearby towns and suburbs are what more customers want and need.
That said, even Stagecoach has some complete dross which if they are in financial difficulty (albeit to a lesser extent than other operators in the region) then it is understandable why they have looked to withdraw some of these services - and well done to Nexus for maintaining service provision in the areas which would have been impacted by this decision.
Stagecoach understandably receives less criticism because their cuts haven’t been anywhere near as large or as frequent - and perhaps it has something to do with the fact they’ve approached their customer communications differently. I suspect following the changes Go North East and Stagecoach made in March, local authorities insisted on a different and more customer-driven consultation approach this time around, and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year pans out in relation to further cuts and what communications are made.
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I am not saying I agree with the changes, but I think with that in mind, these GNE changes are a forerunner to what ANE will most certainly do given the profile of the network they run and what SNE may do in areas like Hartlepool and parts of Stockton and South Tyneside.