I've been intrigued by this thread and its intelligent and informed posts.
One point that I feel has been missed is that bus companies appear to have a standard pricing policy, especially large groups. In my experience, as a driver and trade union representative over 28 years, is that routes have suffered because of fare rises therefore losing footfall to other modes such as taxis because the company has priced itself out of the market.
We all understand that the industry has to react to be commercial therfore the bottom line is to make a profit. Most companies hide behind the hallowed day or weekly tickets as their bargain/ promotional offer but why don't they adopt a strategy like most supermarkets and retailers do by pricing route by route?
I have found in the town where I live the service has shrunk massively since before covid. It had a steady fleet of between 65 and 70 buses for many years butthis is now down to a shade over 40. Surely this level of decline cannot be sustained.
My experience with customers is that local taxis are the same/cheaper but more importantly more convenient because
1. They provide a door to door service,
2. Frequencies have been slashed and
3. Reliability because of operational issues.
Why don't operators seem to look at each route individually and price accordingly, such as route X has a ceiling price of £1 whereas route Y commands a premium so we can charge £2, for example, because of the differing demographic. Supermarkets do this all the time selling a tin of beans for say 80p in one ara or 95p in another. By doing this they make their product affordable thus selling more.
One point that I feel has been missed is that bus companies appear to have a standard pricing policy, especially large groups. In my experience, as a driver and trade union representative over 28 years, is that routes have suffered because of fare rises therefore losing footfall to other modes such as taxis because the company has priced itself out of the market.
We all understand that the industry has to react to be commercial therfore the bottom line is to make a profit. Most companies hide behind the hallowed day or weekly tickets as their bargain/ promotional offer but why don't they adopt a strategy like most supermarkets and retailers do by pricing route by route?
I have found in the town where I live the service has shrunk massively since before covid. It had a steady fleet of between 65 and 70 buses for many years butthis is now down to a shade over 40. Surely this level of decline cannot be sustained.
My experience with customers is that local taxis are the same/cheaper but more importantly more convenient because
1. They provide a door to door service,
2. Frequencies have been slashed and
3. Reliability because of operational issues.
Why don't operators seem to look at each route individually and price accordingly, such as route X has a ceiling price of £1 whereas route Y commands a premium so we can charge £2, for example, because of the differing demographic. Supermarkets do this all the time selling a tin of beans for say 80p in one ara or 95p in another. By doing this they make their product affordable thus selling more.