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Originally Posted by DundalkStudent
Regarding the business viability: demand does not just always appear at once. It can build up over time as more and more people become aware of a permanent service that is easy/beneficial or that becomes so based on later developments.
It is similar to the case of the m50. When it was first built everyone asked me why I drove on it? Sure the back roads are faster and no toll. Plus there's nothing on it/ around it that you need to get to. Then all the businesses and apartments started locating themselves there because there was good infrastructure links. And now, you know the rest of the story.
Look at the "greater dublin" commuter lines. On the run into dublin from Dundalk, twice as many people (plus) get on at balbriggan than any other station before. What's wrong with Gormanstown station you ask? Nothing except the price drops significantly between the two as balbriggan is in the short hop and Gormanstown isn't. So you have people living in Gormanstown and further afield driving to balbriggan and getting the train there. I'd do it if I could! A massive demand was created by a permanent situation that was easy/beneficial. I don't think that demand would just exist on its own.
IE need to do the proper research / strategy work to build a vision of where they want to go and what they want to do and then move toward that. Now, perhaps they've already done that and they've decided city commuters are their target market and where they will direct their energies strategically. But they'd want to be careful because it's a case of eggs and baskets.
As a service provider you should want to diversify your revenue bases so that you're not held to ransom by one type of customer such that tipping points and dips don't cause catastrophies.
Now THAT is good business sense.
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The NTA are in the process of revising the fare structures over a period of time to try to eliminate disparities, but you are always going to face that problem where a suburban fares matrix and intercity matrix meet. The border has to be somewhere!!