But rail passengers aren't the audience. At the end of the day, there's no point doing news that the majority of your readers/viewers/listeners don't give a fig about. I can make a story about people with disabilities being unable to access the rail network 'front page news' (or whatever the equivalent is on the radio!) because it ticks all the boxes: policitcs, outrage, anger, feeling sorry for people, photogenic disabled children who can't use the train... etc. I simply can't do that with a story about overcrowded, short-formed, or cancelled trains simply because it is, to most people, irrelevant and boring. One gets clicks, one doesn't, and tis the one that gets the clicks that gets the coverage.
That is why I find it very, very hard to believe that there will be anything more than a very short, very limited derogation for Pacers in the new year. The government know they will get hammered in the press for it, while overcrowding etc. won't get anything like the same attention, even though it will affect more people.