(23 Aug 2023, 6:56 pm)deanmachine wrote We argued that point when they cut the later 56s between 3 and 5am, yes they were probably losing money but you occasionally had Nissan workers who worked a bit later who we no longer cater for, which is happening again with the 2am from Sunderland to Concord in September. Even if it was a service losing money the rest of them were making so much money I think it just benefits having a true 24 hour service, giving night worker customers reassurance that if they missed their bus there'd still be something in an hour to take them home. I think those type of services need to be funded though, a for profit company won't keep a loss making service on even if it benefits them in the long run.To be fair, operators have been cross-subsidising later loss making trips off the back of very busy daytime services for decades. They just don't get the 'credit' for it as punters don't see that.
Things go south when those later trips then effect the bottom line because daytime passengers are down, and the buffer for running quiet trips is removed.
For what it's worth, that issue would be the same under any model of operation.