Personally, I think when Quality Contracts comes into it all - I'd like to see (presuming all other counties or areas join outside of Tyne and Wear, to make things easier and a lot better on the whole) a certain fare rate. Something like;
Travel within Tyne and Wear - £1.50
Travel from Tyne and Wear to Northumberland - £2.00
Travel from Tyne and Wear to County Durham - £2.00
And so on...
Also, I'd like to see the 'half' (as my grandad used to call it

) fare of 90 pence for a child changed. With the fairly recent fare rise of 5 pence by Go North East (something to do with drivers having issues with change?), it's only fair (given it's only 10 pence difference, and they are generally easier to come across in change) that the child's fare is rounded up to £1.00.
Just my suggestions, obviously I don't follow Quality Contracts, or the constant debate, but I do pick up they wanted to introduce some sort of fare boundary?