(14 Dec 2024, 10:39 pm)omnicity4659 wrote £2.60 between Ashington and Newcastle, off-peak (so, after 0930). £1.70 with a railcard.
£2 between Newsham or Seaton Delaval and Newcastle, off-peak. £1.30 with a railcard.
Between Ashington and Newcastle
35 mins on the train.
45-55 mins on X20.
60-70 mins on X21/X22.
Between Newsham and Newcastle
20 mins on the train.
40 mins on X30.
45-60 mins on X10/X11.
Between Seaton Delaval and Newcastle
15 mins on the train.
40-50 mins on X7.
At peak times, I can save myself 35 minutes by getting the train from Ashington to Newcastle for 50p more than the bus, sounds fair to me.
So here's the thing then, those comparisons are using a mixture of peak and non-peak timings and fares, and you're including railcard fares which a significant proportion of the working population don't have access to.
The timings you have listed also assume you literally live at the station, which the vast majority of people don't. I'd propose that the majority of the people using a bus do live within a 5 minute walk of a stop (on the routes you've chosen).
You say that at peak times you can save 35 minutes using the train over the bus from Ashington to Newcastle, yet the X20 is only 20 minutes longer.
Obviously the post I had replied to was purely on the bus fares being significantly dearer, which they quite literally aren't for Ashington to Newcastle if you're comparing apples to apples (single to single). Of course if you're living within touching distance of a station then the train is more attractive, but most people don't given the locations of the stations. For those that don't, they still need to get to a station, which is either time, an additional cost, or both.