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Post by selbybus on Aug 19, 2022 16:30:37 GMT 1
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mattb7tl
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Post by mattb7tl on Aug 19, 2022 16:36:04 GMT 1
Amazing news!
I wonder how close or far companies are from getting pre-pandemic passenger levels. Arriva and First seem to keep that kind of information private?
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Post by squeaky on Aug 19, 2022 21:12:41 GMT 1
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Post by rwilkes on Aug 20, 2022 10:00:00 GMT 1
Most of the returning passengers are paying passengers so income wise it is not a bad for bus companies as if it was the same ratio as before
I suspect a lot of OAPs, having been housebound for months during Covid, will be afraid of leaving the house let alone going on a bus
In the longer term, new retirees will presumably be pleased to get a bus pass and use it, as htey wil be used to getting out and travelling
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Post by stephen01 on Aug 20, 2022 12:12:37 GMT 1
Most of the returning passengers are paying passengers so income wise it is not a bad for bus companies as if it was the same ratio as before I suspect a lot of OAPs, having been housebound for months during Covid, will be afraid of leaving the house let alone going on a bus In the longer term, new retirees will presumably be pleased to get a bus pass and use it, as htey wil be used to getting out and travelling Working in the NHS for YAS PTS i can confirm you're spot on but it's not just the elderly. |
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Post by dwarfer1979 on Aug 20, 2022 20:34:01 GMT 1
Most of the returning passengers are paying passengers so income wise it is not a bad for bus companies as if it was the same ratio as before I suspect a lot of OAPs, having been housebound for months during Covid, will be afraid of leaving the house let alone going on a bus In the longer term, new retirees will presumably be pleased to get a bus pass and use it, as htey wil be used to getting out and travelling The general figures I was getting before the School Holidays from a couple of business in the shires was 80-85% of total passengers but that concessionary passengers was barely getting to 70% so the as you suggest the fare payers are much closer to 100% return - but these are businesses running a higher proportion of marginally commercial or supported work rather than the higher volume urban work of the big groups. The recent drop won't just have been the school holidays but also covered the two periods of heatwave where temperatures were so high that people were avoiding going out (not just on buses but anywhere - during the record temperatures it was noticeable that when I came home from work around 1630 there was no one in the parks or gardens anywhere) which would have dampened demand somewhat. What it appears is that urban networks are recovering better than rural or interurban and high volume commercial is performing better than marginal or tendered (again related to these routes being more reliant on concessionary passes). There will be variability depending on how ingrained bus use is in an area, how easy car use is as things return to normal (parking & traffic), what the demographics of the area (both employment and societal) as well as how proactive the operators & councils have been on promoting the return. The question mark is the driver shortage, if an operator has been badly affected and is loosing too many trips then recovery will be killed early and may be falling back as people give up on the disruption. In the bigger markets the top payers are probably recovered on this, the middle payers will have stabilised and may be on the recovery route whilst the lower payers are in a mess - in the smaller rural markets operators are probably finding a new stable staffing levels but it is lower than it was before the crisis so you are seeing operators thinning marginal work just to get their requirements to match their current staffing level as there just doesn't seem a prospect of getting back to where they were. Of course if you can get your wages higher you can step up to another group which steps up that stable level but these businesses are running work that simply can't bring in enough income to make that wage improvement without a lot more money from central or local government over a long period of time. |
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