(24 Feb 2014, 10:00 pm)aureolin wrote I appreciate that, and also appreciate that what I've said may not work. But there again I'm an outsider looking in. There must be a solution out there, as the current approach of "do nothing" is as equally unsustainable going forward.

Evening services are nowhere near the levels of patronage as years gone by, its hard to justify running anything past 9-10pm on Teesside, the passenger numbers just aren't there, and the services make a loss on an evening. It's just there as added value to the network really. There's not even a chance of increasing frequencies when passenger numbers are so low. Unfortunately people don't go out on a night using public transport any more, with families taking the car etc. There's not even the numbers of concessionary pass holders going home from the club any more either, and what's left is dwindling quickly unfortunately.
Even major trunk routes like the 36, 63 and X1 struggle badly with loadings past 10pm - with the X1 financially backed by Durham University and used by their students mainly (hence the overnight services on a Saturday morning).