(04 Nov 2014, 7:00 pm)Andreos1 wrote That was the reason for starting the thread.
Not sure any of the questions have ever been answered, but many examples of the fares have been given.
I don't think the original questions have ever really been answered and this thread has more so been a thread where we have all discussed single/return fares deemed to be expensive or anomalies in pricing structures. There have - to my memory - been a couple of 'positive' posts regarding fares, suggesting that something has been really good value for money, but these have been few and far between.
As an A-Level Business Studies student, I have been taught that 'value' depends on the person and their financial circumstances. If I did not possess discount cards to entitle me to cheaper travel on buses, as a student who is not earning an income, I would find adult fares very expensive indeed. However, I'd guess that most members of this forum are actually employed, and that they would deem adult fares better value for money than me, in a lot of cases.
I think that the bus operators in our region all set high prices for their single fares and it has been suggested in the past that this is linked to the reimbursement for Concessionary Travel passes. I would also suggest that single tickets are very irregularly purchased though - not because they're expensive, but because most people who go somewhere tend to return at some point that day. As I said above, 'value' will depend on the person, so it would be difficult to suggest one way or another whether return tickets are value for money, but it's been discussed in the past that day tickets which offer travel between the same destinations aren't a lot more expensive than return tickets. I personally think that Go North East's day and weekly saver tickets - especially Route Savers - are great value for money. Competition doesn't always influence these prices as some routes have (or had - some now do) competition at all yet there are still great deals to be had. A recent example I can think of is the "919 WeeklySaver" (the new GNE service which operates between South Shields, Jarrow and Cobalt Business Park): this was priced at roughly £4 more than the cost of using the Tyne Tunnel tolls alone, before even considering fuel costs.
I think travelling on buses hits the unemployed the hardest - though I seem to recall a fairly recent government scheme being in place to assist those on Job Seekers' Allowance to be entitled to cheaper bus fares providing they're going to/from the Job Centre or to/from an interview? I think I first saw details about it on a Stagecoach bus, so not sure whether it was a universal thing or not, or even if it's still around...