(22 Aug 2022, 2:10 pm)omnicity4659 wrote In an ideal world, Northumberland County Council along with other councils in the country, would have a fleet of vehicles which are responsive to the community's needs. No need for private companies to profit off unprofitable routes, or for local residents to put their hands even deeper into their pockets for a charity or small operator to run routes that they already pay Northumberland County Council through Council Tax to provide.
The money to provide these services is there. And it's there in abundance. The council isn't sat there looking into their wallets for the last few pennies. It's up to the council and central government to find ways to provide more of the services that they are paid to provide, and to reduce costs through cutting out waste (ie profit).
Spirit Buses was too ambitious in the start, although it focussed on the core Rothbury-Alnwick service, and the loop of Coquetdale with about 40-50% of passengers making local journeys. The Elsdon journeys (population of ~250) were never going to work. The Wallington journeys were a daytrip via bumfuck nowhere (the amount of people who live on the route could be counted on your fingers). And there was 2 buses on a Sunday to Morpeth and back which always looked empty.
Honestly, can't disagree at all but aren't councils banned from setting up bus companies as part of Bus Act (forgot it's full name) so it would be rather difficult to do. Even known personally I think it's ridiculous, I think the same with the Nexus services especially the likes of the W1 etc which will never be profitable and just go around and around operators and finding a timetable is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
It's a shame Nexus / NCC and DCC can't come up with a joint one to operate the subsidised services with cross boundary services services like the W1/58 and 101/688 which could easily make a case of being joined but don't because of cross border issues to just pick 2.