(16 Mar 2014, 7:17 pm)citaro5284 wrote Where is the 6% growth coming from? If I am right the Sapphire brand operates between Darlington and Durham with no competition from other bus companies, so the revenue cannot be coming from nicking passengers from someone else. If I am a car user, free wifi and power sockets would not get me out of my car on these 2 points alone.
Have Arriva done any marketing, reduced the fares or is there any bus priority on this route to make it more attractive, or are people choosing this service over other Arriva services in the area and have these seen a decline, and if not I am puzzled as to how 6% growth can be achieved.
I believe its organic growth based on the increased reliability and premium product. I'm not aware of any fares incentives or anything like that though?
It's been marketed though as you would expect with an increased product. However you're correct in saying there's no competition on the route and the diversion into the DurhamGate development wouldn't account for that growth alone.