(21 Feb 2023, 8:59 am)54APhotography wrote If the buses near you go a distance it's a win. numbers on X34 and 50 are well up, X24 busy all day with more chester road users. A visit to the Ale Gate at Alnwick usually adds up to 13/14 quid. 7 with the offer as its £2 Haymarket to Alnwick, driver said its £2 to Berwick as well! Mind you would be there long..

The problem is, that this £2 cap becomes like crack cocaine to bus users, if there's no long term plan for it. It's now extended for 3 months, but what happens after that? Some people will see three-fold fare 'increases', after spending 6 months getting hooked on £2 cheap singles. We saw the issue with GNE making fares almost too cheap, then a new MD coming in and wanting them hiked back up.

I also don't think it's been as popular as the Govt are making out. If it was, then there wouldn't be so much of an outcry over the Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) money coming to an end. Thankfully that has been extended as well, but we'll now get to May and the same outcries will come.

Bus networks in some areas, including the North East, need a massive overhaul and development, but no business in their right mind would do that with funding being so short-term.