Most Profitable single route by Depot (Guessing).

[Tony]

I'd guess the 140/241 would be the most profitable at PN, as they are relatively short, operate (mainly!) with fuel-efficient B7RLEs, aren't high frequency (30 minutes during the day) but still get busy/packed (particularly the 140)

Then again what about the 9, surely NE would not operate such a route with such a high frequency during the day, without it being profitable.

The same with Matt's comments above, only one of those things makes much difference, the 140 is hardly a short route, fuel consumption on vehicles, which although important overall to the company, won't make that much difference to a route, and if you are doing profitablility by % frequency makes no difference at all to this question, although if you doubled the frequency without doubling the passenger numbers it would obviously drop.

It is possible for an hourly long route using a trident to be the winner, specially if people are getting on and off all the way along the route. It is also possible for a short 5 minute frequency route using Enviro 200s to win.

As Tony has already stated, it is not necessarily the high-frequency routes that are the most profitable, for the reasons I have suggested above.

[Tony]

I'd guess the 140/241 would be the most profitable at PN, as they are relatively short, operate (mainly!) with fuel-efficient B7RLEs, aren't high frequency (30 minutes during the day) but still get busy/packed (particularly the 140)

Then again what about the 9, surely NE would not operate such a route with such a high frequency during the day, without it being profitable.

The same with Matt's comments above, only one of those things makes much difference, the 140 is hardly a short route, fuel consumption on vehicles, which although important overall to the company, won't make that much difference to a route, and if you are doing profitablility by % frequency makes no difference at all to this question, although if you doubled the frequency without doubling the passenger numbers it would obviously drop.

It is possible for an hourly long route using a trident to be the winner, specially if people are getting on and off all the way along the route. It is also possible for a short 5 minute frequency route using Enviro 200s to win.
As Tony has already stated, it is not necessarily the high-frequency routes that are the most profitable, for the reasons I have suggested above.

[domino.99]

WN 126

[Stuharris 6360]

My question is do the Hybrids make any difference to the profitability of a route.

Obviously they are more expensive to buy, but are cheaper? to run.

I would if NE would ever consider buying Hybrids in large numbers or are they only buying them when they get them subsidised?

[Lukeee]

The staff bus must make the most profit as without it, many drivers would struggle to get to work, thus not been able to drive the bus in the first place.  8)

[Trident 4609]

WN 126

As stated above its not exactly the long distance routes that are the most profitable. Surely routes such as the 59 and 529 which aren't as long would be just as if not more profitable? (Correct me if i'm wrong ;))

[NXWM Spectra]

Also, the 1, 22 and 23 must be profitable to justify the large investment of large numbers of hybrids.

[Mike K]

Also, the 1, 22 and 23 must be profitable to justify the large investment of large numbers of hybrids.

I do wonder about the 22/23. Heavily used in rush hour but loadings can be quite light off peak. I'd be interested to know the full reasons behind the routes selected for Hybrid operation. The 22/23 are ideal candidates due to the stop start nature of the routes so from that perspective they make perfect sense but from a profitability perspective I don't know. Certainly when I lived on the 50 route, albeit 6 years ago, that always seemed to carry greater loadings at all times of the day despite the competition (Pete's Travel) and higher frequency.

[JB93]

97 for BC... even with a 4-minute frequency most loadings on a Trident are full. Much much much more profitable than the 98 and 99!!!

[Liverpool Street]

97 for BC... even with a 4-minute frequency most loadings on a Trident are full. Much much much more profitable than the 98 and 99!!!

Nobody pays on the 97. Its a free service.




::)

[Sh4318]

The 97 has such a high frequency with what I imagine is quite a big PVR and is always running, so I imagine running costs aren't cheap

[wbdriver]

97 for BC... even with a 4-minute frequency most loadings on a Trident are full. Much much much more profitable than the 98 and 99!!!

Nobody pays on the 97. Its a free service.




::)

just like the 74 and 75.........  :D :P

[PM]

301 must bring in a bit-busy buses, short route, quick turnaround and even with the competition on there, still seems busy

[Tony]

A full bus doesn't always mean lots of profit!

All figures below are ficticious and do not relate to any company or any route!

First of all look at how much it costs per hour to run a bus
£10 drivers wage
£10 fuel (14 miles in one hour at 7mpg and £5/gallon)
£10 depreciation/rental costs/insurance
£10 engineering/admin/garage
£40 total per hour to run bus

Now you have a double decker on a route that takes one hour from on end of route to other that carries 60 passengers during the journey, most traveling from town at one end to town at other end. Each paying an average 80p (yes although the single fare is £2 the average paid is much lower because of repeat use of day ticket/concessionary reimbursement/split of season tickets/child fares.

Total take £48 - profit £8.

Now you have a route like the 335/336 where the bus goes Walsall-Alumwell-Walsall-Alumwell-Walsall in an hour.

You use a midi bus so costs will be slightly less, so say operating costs £38 per hour. within that hour that bus does 4 journeys (two round trips). On each trip bus carries an average of 20 passengers at the same average of 80p each.

Total take is £64 - profit £36

This shows that a half full B6 could in theory be making 4 times the profit that a full Enviro 400 is making!

Again all these figures are for comparison, I do not know the current costs or revenue of any route so couldn't post them even if I wanted to.

[PM]

A full bus doesn't always mean lots of profit!

All figures below are ficticious and do not relate to any company or any route!

First of all look at how much it costs per hour to run a bus
£10 drivers wage
£10 fuel (14 miles in one hour at 7mpg and £5/gallon)
£10 depreciation/rental costs/insurance
£10 engineering/admin/garage
£40 total per hour to run bus

Now you have a double decker on a route that takes one hour from on end of route to other that carries 60 passengers during the journey, most traveling from town at one end to town at other end. Each paying an average 80p (yes although the single fare is £2 the average paid is much lower because of repeat use of day ticket/concessionary reimbursement/split of season tickets/child fares.

Total take £48 - profit £8.

Now you have a route like the 335/336 where the bus goes Walsall-Alumwell-Walsall-Alumwell-Walsall in an hour.

You use a midi bus so costs will be slightly less, so say operating costs £38 per hour. within that hour that bus does 4 journeys (two round trips). On each trip bus carries an average of 20 passengers at the same average of 80p each.

Total take is £64 - profit £36

This shows that a half full B6 could in theory be making 4 times the profit that a full Enviro 400 is making!

Again all these figures are for comparison, I do not know the current costs or revenue of any route so couldn't post them even if I wanted to.

Wasnt that one of the founding principles of petes travel-with short routes and quick turnaround of buses eg 404e/401e/402e etc?