(04 Jan 2023, 12:09 am)Ambassador wrote I guess my point is who is this trying to attract?

Me and Mrs A. Low Fell into town and back. There’s £6, not horrendous….but makes you realise how shockingly overpriced GNE were in the first place.

The hassle of missing journeys remains, overcrowding on poorly allocated routes and general inconvenience remains. This isn’t tempting drivers out of their car, it’s not value driven enough to save weekly ticket holders any cash. It’ll drag in a few leisure loads and one off types but not long enough.

Not sure what the aim of this government is tbh aside tick a few boxes .

I mean aside from it being a poorly thought out scheme from the start, I think you're spot on with what you say here. It's more papering over the cracks.

Whilst I appreciate operators wouldn't have had much say in the launch date of the scheme, perhaps it shows how out of touch the DfT are, thinking it's a good idea to try and attract increased ridership without sorting out the basics.

Using GNE as an example, their cheap fares and the £1 evening single were launched in late Spring/early Summer 2021 iirc. Even with bargain fares, even more so on an evening, it failed to attract the levels of customers to make them sustainable. 

I'm all for a Government who would invest heavily in proper public transport, but I think the rationale that these 'help for households' fares is doing that, is just pure propaganda.