(12 Oct 2022, 12:06 pm)DeltaMan wrote They aren't assumptions, they are facts.

If I'm Bobs Buses and run a route making 100k profit a year between Wideopen and Haymarket, why should I spend an extra 500k on extra buses and drivers to extend it to the Central Station? Despite my route being intergrated with the Metro at Regent Centre and Haymarket?

I know exactly would happen. My reliability would go down the toilet for most of my customers due to the mess NCC are making of the roads and I'd lose a load of money to boot as i'd run virtually empty beyond Haymarket as there is no way you would generate extra customers to cover the shortfall..

These are the same issues Stagecoach will face when it comes to Blackett Street and Go Ahead faced when the HLB closed/NCC made a horlicks of Neville Street. You can't just poo poo these important issues just to get a soundbite about de-regulation or gaps that may cost a fortune to fill.

It's not about a soundbite at all.
It's not about poo-pooing any issues - particularly as the issues we've got, need resolving.

It's about utilising resource to fill a gap that has existed for bus passengers for years and hasn't been filled in a cost effective manner since.
Yes, the metro can work for some. For others, it doesn't. 
So how can we go about improving the situation? How can public transport operators make it more attractive? What can be done to ensure that people aren't inconvienced and are encouraged to make that modal switch?
Or as I mentioned previously, a case of sticking with the same old?

Covid was a missed opportunity to re-jig and re-think routes and the associated infrastructure.
Putting right the wrongs and adapting to changing passenger habits.

At what point do we sit down and acknowledge that the network we see, doesn't work for everyone and the constant fire-fighting needs to stop?