(24 Feb 2014, 5:36 pm)Dan wrote It does kind of link in with what Andreos1 has said in the past. I agree and disagree with the point made, but if Arriva are withdrawing the local estate links and just sticking to the main roads (thereby cutting passengers off from their services), passenger numbers are going to fall.
Services 22, 23 and 24 may have been rather prosperous indeed at one point, but perhaps passenger numbers have fallen after these local estates have been cut out from their operation. I can't help but feel that since the X7's commencement, Arriva have tried to bring back passengers by new fare deals and the like...

It's not just Arriva doing that. GNE have also been guilty of it over the years. Both, in most places, provide a cracking service during the day Monday to Friday though. It's just a shame that the majority of fare-paying passengers are unable to take advantage of this.

In my own situation I have 8 buses an hour to Durham during the day. After 6pm I have 2 an hour, one of which is ran by another operator, so I can't use without paying extra. On a Sunday or Bank Holiday I have a bus every 2 hours. I'd therefore argue that the service I have is dire, as it doesn't exist when I want to take advantage of it.

When I lived in Washington it was a similar story. The 194/M1/4 being decimated on an evening, the W4 being withdrawn, and the W5 becoming once an hour. I lose the enthusiasm for going out socially on an evening when it involves a 20-30 minute wait in a bus station between buses.

There's a bigger picture here though surely? If you spend your time alienating your paying customers by the reduction of services and they'll find alternative transport. This tends to result in more cars on the road, not to mention less people buying weekly/monthly tickets, as they no longer commute by bus either.