(18 Oct 2022, 7:19 am)Adrian wrote I wonder what the business plan and forecasting was for that. I'm assuming they'd have one, or why would you dive head first into the risk? I don't think the price reductions were a bad thing, but that's with the knowledge I'll never see the forecasting for it.

There's a bigger question for me in that if you've failed to grow the business with cheap fares, what hope do you have with skyrocketing fares? The problem with everything they're doing now, is that they're going for the easy options and attacking the customers they already have - or at least have for now, but maybe not for much longer...

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See personally I always thought it was a bit of an odd move. The company barely made profits before Covid so if you're going to decrease your revenue then it would suggest you expect the numbers to go way beyond the numbers before Covid which even the more optimistic person could never see.

Otherwise your going to have make cuts somewhere which has now happened which would counteract against the price cuts in the first place. Personally I'd rather have a 30 minute service paying £1.50 more than an hourly service but maybe that's just me which has been the case for some routes ie. Burnopfield to Gateshead or the unique sections of Stanley to Newcastle.

I'm not aware of any other companies which took the same approach (excluding government/mayor/council schemes) and I'm not really surprised either as it's a massive gamble. A bit like reducing taxes and hoping for growth which backfired.

Personally I'd hate to be the MD of GNE as it's in a bit of a rut now, you've cut everything to the extreme, the ticket prices are arguably too cheap, there's still driver shortages and you're still not making money. It's a bit of a grim place.