The 4 PM bus from Zitsa to Ioannina arrived on time having just completed the reverse leg. Precisely nil passengers got off. Going back the bus was far fuller. This time the driver had for company both myself and a little old man aged about 93 who reminded me of Geriatrix in Asterix the Gaul. No doubt this little old man also claimed to be ten years younger.
And so here are the economics of these two bus trips:
Costs: drivers wages for 90 minutes plus time until his next journey, depreciation bus bought in 2004 (see below), diesel costs covering 60 mountainous miles, brake fluid costs, central overhead at bus company. I am not sure what that totals but I bet you it is far greater than revenues: 5 Euro 40 cents.
If Ken Livingstone was running this bus company his answer would be to get the taxpayer to subsidise the purchase of new bendy buses (to go round corners on mountain roads) and to run three times the current three services a day in order to stimulate demand. In the real world the sensible decision would be to cut the 4 PM service and run with just the 2 Pm and 9 PM services. But that is not going to happen.
The reality is that most folks in Zitsa either have cars or have access to one via a family member. There are only c600 folks here most of the year. And most of them have no real need to leave the village very often. So there is no need for three services. But a private bus company still runs them. Perhaps that is because in 2004 the Greek Government gave the bus company a 48% grant to replace its entire fleet as long as the new buses were sent on loan to Athens for the Olympics.
The “legacy” (expect to hear that word used in ever more angry terms in the UK over the coming months and years) is that there are now too many buses to meet demand. But it is just a bit embarrassing to have to admit it. And (assuming that a bus has a 15 year life and so is only half depreciated) for the bus companies to have to mothball, take a mammoth asset write-down and expose balance sheet weakness might cause other problems. I am guessing on the last part but as each day goes by I find Greekenomics ever more perplexing.