That's interesting . . . it goes to show that some RBG routes were worthwhile . . . I was referring more to networks such as in Suffolk and Norfolk, where the majority of routes didn't survive for long.
To be fair, there were exceptions to the rule. However, I remember the RBG monies heading into North Yorkshire. Sunday service from Richmond to Barnard Castle... A route that had 5 return journeys M-S and had NEVER had a Sunday service. I could go on.
In Somerset, you had a number of services that gained Sunday services and some of those uplifts have survived (along with the increase in Sunday retail) so Taunton to Bridgwater and Taunton to Wellington remain. However, whoever though Yeovil to Chard on a Sunday was a good spending of money...
I like what Norfolk is doing with the money (in the main) with slight uplifts in evening city routes in Norwich, a better evening service on the main route in Yarmouth, and what is really a replication of the Kickstart ethos in routes to Fakenham, Bungay and North Walsham. Plus they're investing in capital schemes like bus priority and better connecting hubs (though I don't know why they're bothering with Hunstanton).
I do think he's nothing but a slash and burn merchant. I'm fairly obviously not a regular Go user these days but I couldn't believe how bad Go was when I was back in the north east in June. It was like I'd gone back in time to what Arriva North East was like in 2012-2016.
You must be getting confused. His tenure at Arriva was the most secure. It was Jonathan May who slashed the network - announcing the closure of Bishop, Peterlee and Alnwick depots on the same day. With that, you had services being axed, or so impacted by complex interworking, they ceased to be viable.
At least under Featham, there was investment (noticeably absent under the Steve Noble regime) and some attempt to grow patronage with Sapphire, Max and Frequenta.
As for the X16, Wooler goes from two buses a week to one bus a day to/from Morpeth. The bus times work better for workers and work better for college students but not so well for the Wednesday shoppers. But overall I'd say it's an improvement.
The times work well for workers and college students.... Is that something that people have been crying out for? Somehow, I don't think workers are spending two hours travelling from Wooler to Newcastle.
I've just used the example of paying Stagecoach to run the 39/40 and those examples are really just as bad.
There's no reason why that frequency couldn't run commercially on the 1. It always used to, at least on the Buddle Road-Coach Lane section, except in the summer months when the students went home.
This is the point.
Passenger numbers are down by 15%. The objective of BSIP is to get services back on their feet, and to make them more attractive and sustainable. They could run the 1 commercially but if it was your business, you wouldn't do it. The government got that so hence why BSIP was created - it essentially underwrites the commercial risk until such time as the service is self sustaining.
If I go back to Kickstart, it was interesting which ones survived and which ones didn't. Arriva introduced an extra 518/X18 to make the Morpeth to Newcastle route 4bph. They may never have taken the risk but with Kickstart funding and some investment on their side, that move worked until Covid (although the run north to Widdrington was proven not to be sustainable). The X47 was a Kickstart route too IIRC.
Few firms are going to risk putting two extra buses onto a route (for example) when passenger figures are depleted.
, I decided that it would be perfect to talk about the BSIP, what each council will do with their funding, and what will be improved/affected by the new plan.