Re RobisDave:
The difference in the network is not just because of the population. It also reflects that Tees Valley and its councils until recent times had basically abandoned subsidising buses to meet social needs - choices taken under the impact of cutbacks in funding for councils under the Cameron/Osborne "austerity" from 2010. It's only a few years since Houchen was insisting the local bus network was nothing to do with TVCA/him. Until relatively recent things like TeesFlex and service 1/2 etc which use special government funding, pretty much all the services in TV have been commercial (not subsidised) aside from services from Durham and North Yorks funded purely by those councils. (Darlington did spend some ring-fenced government funding on the local service 16 after it ceased to be commercial.)
Only pretty well-used services are able to survive commercially. That is basically why for years evening and Sunday services in places like Hartlepool have been so thin or absent, and why in East Cleveland links that the community would value have disappeared. It has contributed to Tees Valley seeing among the biggest declines in bus travel.
Councils in Co Durham and T&W (and Greater Manchester) had similar pressures from austerity from 2010. While they had to make considerable cuts in the buses they supported, they did not stop subsidising buses from core council budgets, and the different scope of the networks in these areas is plain to see. The improvements under franchising in TfGM are partly due to more government funding, just like TV latterly has more funding for bus services.
RE: Arriva North East: Upcoming Service Changes