(17 Nov 2022, 10:40 pm)mb134 wrote The remote reliefs aren't massively different to what happens now at Ashington with Morpeth. I'd be incredibly surprised if rotas, and maybe even routes, were not changed to make it more efficient. It increases costs, but nowhere near as much as locating new premises in Newcastle would. Arriva will have people who have looked into costings behind this and if there was a serious issue with all of the work becoming hugely unprofitable then I can almost guarantee it wouldn't be happening. 

I believe the minibus situation has been addressed previously, with whispers of new stock early next year. 

The actual profitability of those routes is almost irrelevent in terms of recruitment. The recruitment is needed for the network as a whole, that new driver could end up driving an X10 just as much as they could end up driving a 52. If those routes are making money, hell even if they're making a small loss, there is a clear need for them for the strength of the overall network. Say if the 52 loses £1k per week, but 50 people per week connect onto it using £25 weekly tickets bought on an X10 or X11 to get them to Cramlington initially, then overall for the business they're £250 up. If that 52 doesn't exist, those people then might not be able to get to work using the bus, so those 50 £25 weekly tickets are immediately gone. That's a fairly simplistic way of putting it and cuts some things out, but you get the gist. I'd also clarify that I have no idea how profitable those routes actually are, but given their frequencies, areas served, and that Arriva haven't binned them off suggests to me that they see them as important to their strategy. 

Internally the MMCs are categorised as E400s as far as I know. The 1/2 should really have new investment, they both make a decent chunk of money and have had scraps for years in terms of vehicles, new E200 MMCs would be ideal. 

Ok, but looking at it this way, GNE's driver numbers are only starting to recover, admittedly after some deep cuts.

But can Arriva sustainably get driver numbers back to pre 2020/21 levels between now and March to run as close to a full service as possible?

If the 'money makers' keep getting services cancelled, passengers will go elsewhere never mind the £25 weekly tickets and connections onto the 52. Not forgetting that the ABTRL is not too far away either.

To be fair, the 1/2/57/57A are okay routes, but the rest even with connections on offer are borderline and a drain on the business.