(10 Jul 2025, 8:33 pm)Storx wrote Not sure the Angel is a fair comparison, considering you can get all the way to Brandon and includes the X21 between Durham and Newcastle aswell (and in fairness I've made comments on how the Angel is a rip off before anyway).
£20'ish is a fair price, and is roughly the same price as the respective Stagecoach ticket (£19), Metro A+B - similar distance (£20.30) or GoNorthEast (£21) for similar journeys. £27 is not competitive at all considering the vast majority of journeys are from Wideopen and South and £5.40 a day for the length of those journeys are not reasonable by any stretch of the imagination. £4 a day, considering connecting journeys pretty much don't exist - is a fair price imo.
(Train / Pop (Inc. Metro) / Bus)
Ashington
Weekly: £24/£30/£36
Monthly: £92.20/£105/£137
Yearly: £960/£985/£1370
Blyth/Seaton Delaval
Weekly: £20/£26.90/£36
Monthly: £76.80/£98.30/£137
Yearly: £800/£904/£1370
That's the prices, the Arriva fares are just completely mental, especially at Blyth and Seaton Delaval. Also the train fares are subsidised is nonsense, as the government is subsidising the £2.50 fares aswell, not to mention the likes of BSOG and other handouts they're getting so it's much of the same really.
Your initial point though was that Arriva "have nothing" left in T&W, where in reality they operate two of the best served corridors in the region (GNR and Coast Road). Evidently they see their offering as something of that value, and the majority of people will also move to simply buying 2x singles a day (if they aren't already).
Moving onto the train pricing, quite frankly you're continuing to compare apples to oranges. I remember this discussion being had prior to the line opening, and the prediction that the Arriva Northumbria network would be decimated. Posts to the contrary indicating that the Morpeth and Cramlington corridors are two of their strongest, and compete with trains, were palmed off by yourself. Maybe they know what they're doing with their pricing more than people on the internet?