I was thinking about how this money could've and should've been used, rather than reintroducing pre-COVID frequencies on routes that could've managed without them.

Firstly, introduce ticketing such as the PoP card, but used as the Oyster Card down in London. Same pricing, tap on/off caps on the day ticket. This technology is not hard and just takes some willpower to implement. Heck and standardise the ticket machines used by the operators, so this could have been done even quicker. I'm sure the big 3 (plus more) would not complain about free or heavily reduced brand-new ticket machines. So standardised tickets mean Qualifying Agreements are made redundant because this would be the norm. 


This would've been a good suggestion to use BSIP money to improve lots of local connections... And focus on Corridor Qualifying agreements such as Newcastle (Coast Rd, West Rd, Great North Rd), Sunderland (Chester Rd, North Hylton Rd, Durham Rd) & Durham.

Secondly, streamline operational areas and try to create new links either by merging current routes or creating new ones. For example, East Durham  (a random area chosen) changes could be...
X1 - Peterlee terminating services extended to Hartlepool (timed with the 61 instead of the 23/24 x15 mins freq)
X6/X7 - X6/X22 merged to make hourly connections from Sunderland to Darlington(old X21)/Middlesborough
60 - merged with 24 to create links South Shields - Parkside
61 - 22/23 merged so that it would be Sunderland to Hartlepool (vital links currently only unavailable by bus)
62 - 61/9 merged Jarrow to Murton
63 - 22/49 merged Langley Park - Peterlee

64 - 64/24 merged Arnsion Centre - Peterlee
65 - 64/65 merged Arninson Centre - Seaham

201/202/206/208/209/210 Peterlee locals work off the 63/64 as the X6 no longer terminates at Peterlee
Simple changes to numbering/routing make everything easier to understand and create new/more links...

Thirdly, invest properly in safety features at stops/stations/interchanges and reduce evening fares (which were extremely popular during GNEs useage of these).
Such as £1.50 single for local journeys and £2 for longer distances (a rough example)