ENCS passes are stupid and have seen many busy services axed as a result. If I remember correctly, the York express route was one of them. Always busy but as the majority were pass holders, it couldn’t sustain itself.
That's my go to example in discussions about ENCTS and it not paying operators fairly. Quite often running with full loads but still not bringing in anywhere near enough money to make it justifiable. Even Connexions had a go at it, and even with their lower overheads still couldn't make it pay.
I've said for years now that if operators were paid fairly for ENCTS use (as in they received the fare that a pass user would have paid) there'd be a lot more commercial services running now, and operators would be a lot more likely to experiment with new routes. As it is at the moment it's just not worth it.
Looking back at timetables from before the ENCTS pass was introduced makes for some depressing reading compared to what we have now. Lots of rural services connecting communities and a decent evening service in most places. Burnley & Pendle used to have buses running local services every 30 minutes until nearly midnight - Rosegrove still got a bus every 15 minutes). Mainline used to run every 15 minutes.
It isn't the fault of the bus companies or the people who use the passes they're entitled to, blame lies entirely on the government that introduced the scheme to win votes and didn't think the scheme through. It'd be political suicide for any government to withdraw the scheme now, or even suggest introducing a small fee for the pass. The latter I believe would go a long way towards self funding the scheme. Anyway, getting massively off topic here and I've deleted a lot already...!
But it is quite sad to think of what could have been if operators were fairly reimbursed!