(01 Sep 2022, 4:48 pm)Dan wrote Since when was giving up classed as 'thinking outside the box'?

Sigh. Was parking 8 buses on the quayside the only possible way to market the service?  Thinking outside the box might have involved some other, less human resource intensive ideas.   It might have required a pragmatic approach of while we might like to do this and have all eight buses lined up, we could probably manage with one, given we are inconveniencing huge volumes of customers across our network - and use the other 7/8 of the PCV holders to reduce that inconvenience.  It might have involved use of digital.  Or it might have involved direct mail as others have indicated they have found effective in the past.  Thinking outside the box would in very general terms involve looking at what is the most effective way to achieve the aim, given the context. 

While others on the forum may well criticise a lack of marketing, my personal view is that at the minute, it probably makes next to no difference for the vast majority of people.  So personally, I would have just done a soft launch (as has been done many other times) and focussed on providing the very best service possible for existing customers, by doing everything possible to minimise cancellations.  But what do I know, I'm not managing a failing company.