TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I cannot believe that there is no money to be made in Shrewsbury on Sundays, given that there is money to be made in similar places like Carlisle.
But the lack of independents removes the incentive
The Whitby town services only run (roughly) 10am-4.30pm on Sundays, with a PVR of 1. And yes, it wouldn't surprise me if the town services make a small loss, although 75-100 journeys across six hours isn't an unreasonable expectation in the summer.
But it is clearly the X93/X4 and the P&R that keeps the town services running on a Sunday, as the staff needed to run and maintain the buses (even as an outstation of Redcar) are already up and in work.
As I said before, Arriva were operating various routes under tender. They knew the revenue and costs. Also, Minsterley Motors were also operating into the town; they also elected not to operate. Arriva Oswestry still operate to Wrexham on a Sunday but no longer to Shrewsbury (and would assume they rely on Wrexham for breakdown cover).
In terms of Whitby, I'm not certain what you mean in that the other routes keep the town routes running on a Sunday. It's not like Whitby has any fixed cost that they are soaking up - it really is just a marginal cost. There is no maintenance or supervisory presence on a Sunday in Whitby but clearly are able to make the £20-25 per hour for the marginal cost - each and every hour.
Why can't Shrewsbury achieve that whilst Whitby can? Is it tourist related? I don't know as neither Whitby local routes seem especially touristy though maybe there is an element plus seasonal workers? Perhaps in Shrewsbury, is there a relative lack of traffic and cheap parking?