dennis@home wrote:

On 20/04/2017 23:50, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Steve Walker wrote:
Its never essential to run empty buses.

but someoen might get on at the next stop.

They could certainly run much smaller, less polluting minibuses on
underused routes, as they used to do some years ago.

Quite. Or even a subsidised taxi service if only a few use the route.


Far more sensible considering that the real essential users probably
can't walk to the bus stop anyway.

Since a lot of such journeys are regular, and there are common
destinations for many of them, using a pre-booked minibus to pick up
multiple passengers makes this much more economical than a straight taxi
service. School buses in rural areas, or 'dial a ride' schemes,
inevitably subsidised, are examples.



--

Roger Hayter