Burnhope hasn't had a Sunday bus service for 15 years, has it? And I think hasn't had a bus to Durham for something over 50 years.
Tough for them to be cut off, of course, but its quite a small place.
I wonder if franchising will change this sort of thing - wouldn't be easy, basically down to needing more public spending (plenty of other calls on that). But it will definitely mean the finger couldn't be pointed at bus operators.