(11 Jun 2022, 9:41 pm)Ambassador wrote I’d agree, we still have routes tailored to the 9-5 market and shopping in town market and although there is a market there….there is more potential and growth outside of that.
It’s a similar issue to what trains are having, serving a commuter market that is worth less and ignoring a wider leisure market worth a lot more.
As with trains, the external pressures affecting the sector (recruitment etc) will knock the confidence of passengers. You disappoint a commuter, they’ll try again. You disappoint a leisure traveler, business is lost
I disagree with this. There's a leisure market Sat and Sunday and the odd punter in the evening other than that there's nothing.
The problem with buses is they're dead between 9:30am - 3pm'ish, Monday to Friday and then same again 6pm'ish onwards - the majority of their operating time. People don't do leisure during those times so your not fixing the problems and having a Saturday / Sunday only timetable would be confusing as hell.
Regardless what people say there's still a peak time because there's still massive traffic jams every day at the usual spots and these aren't people going to a bingo hall, cinema or shopping at Team Valley. In fact in some places it's worse than it's ever been especially Moor Farm and the Tyne Tunnel. Going down the mugging off a commuter who could buy a annual ticket for roughly £1k a year to chase a leisure user who uses the bus once a week for £7 is down right suicidal.