1 bus per hour compared to nearly 4 trains per hour; wonder who will win!
When you say "nearly four trains per hour", you presumably mean three trains per hour?
One of which takes fifty minutes (i.e. comparable to the time that the X10 takes)?
The X10 looks to serve a different market to the train - there's stops in suburban Barnsley plus a stop "south of the river" in Leeds - there's presumably free Pensioner travel (compared to the trains which now - shock horror - charge pensioners money - even the "freedom riders" of Barnsley
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I reckon there's maybe a market for both to succeed. Stagecoach are using written-down ex-National Express coaches, so I'd guess lower overheads.
Credit to Stagecoach for trying some new longer distance around Barnsley services - the half hourly X65 started running from Barnsley to Meadowhall in the summer (the half hourly bus from Barnsley to Sheffield was upgraded last month, becoming the "2" instead of the long established "265") - they run commercial nigh buses in Barnsley (which is more than First manage in "big city" Sheffield) - Stagecoach aren't just complacently trimming the operation each year without showing any innovation. I'm not suggesting the Grimethorpe services will be going "Gold" any time soon, but they are trying to expand what they inherited from Yorkshire Traction.
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