In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:
In article , charles
wrote:
In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:
In article , Another
John wrote:
In article , "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Surely there is no point in running empty buses just in case
someone need it?

That was the whole point of public services: they were there. You
knew they were there, and you knew you could rely on them, and (in
the case of buses), you could rely on a regular, frequent service.
So people used them -- and I for one would use them again, if any
of those attributes still existed around here.

But if the busses are running empty, it's rather obvious people
aren't using them. And saying you would use them if they were there
it what everyone says - but strangely didn't use them when they were
there.


This was the argument used by Beeching to remove branch lines. Change
the train times so that they are useless - don't make connections, etc,
and then claim nobody uses them.

Not sure that is entirely true. The local line when I was a kid -
Deeside, from Aberdeen to Ballater, never once broke even in its entire
life.

Do remember who often stayed at the end of the branch line.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England