TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
It is better to amend the bus service at the same time as opening a new tram line. That's what happened when the Croydon tram system opened and buses were reorganised to provide convenient connections with it. Whereas when Metrolink opened in 1992 GM Buses tried to compete with it by running express buses. Dublin is a reminder that regulation does not necessarily mean good integration. State ownership may well be worse for integration than franchising.
You can make the argument that the best time to amend bus services, with the exception of the most obvious duplication, is after a (re)opening occurs as the demand is then established. Mind you, I seem to recall someone (not you, I hasten to add) saying that Metrolink had barely impacted bus services so then the argument would be "why change"?
The other issue is perhaps a good news story. Such schemes are often given projected ridership that is invariably conservative and so passenger figures are higher. More cynical folk than me might say that they are soft targets so that it produces a greater measure of success but whatever the truth is, the estimates are often outstripped by what actually happens.