(15 Dec 2024, 11:49 am)PH - BQA wrote All I'll say to those is that generally people are buying day/weekly/monthly tickets out of them being cheaper than 2x singles, which is no longer the case.
I would imagine that a decent percentage of commuters using this line to get into Newcastle will be on flexible working arrangements/4 day work weeks, or in other words won't be commuting 5 days per week. If we say that they're on a 4 day work week, and they're in the office for all 4 of those days, then it looks something like this on the bus for those from Ashington/Blyth/Delaval to Newcastle:
Daily - £5
Weekly - £20
4-weekly - £80
'Annual' - £960
For the annual cost I've done it over 48 weeks, as most people will have 4 weeks holiday across the year where they don't need to commute.
Those costs are either cheaper than the train or equal to it (for the annual cost) for Ashington to Newcastle. For Blyth/Delaval, the daily and weekly costs are not a huge difference at all, only when you get into buying an annual ticket do you see a significant saving.
Sorry this slipped through, still cheaper though. Obviously that's assuming 4 day weeks though. I don't know the averages but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a fair few who are more than 4 days. Doctors, university staff, shop workers, students etc.
In reality for those living near the railway line and aren't based immediately outside Haymarket there's very little reason why anyone would choose the bus over the train unless they're a bus enthusiast.
It's the same frequency, more expensive, takes longer and as it's a bus is less reliable in terms of external issues, again more talking from Bebside / Newsham and Seaton Delaval here rather than Ashington.