The First group are a profit driven operator; that's the nature of the privatised public transport network these days.

With service pricing, provide it free and you'll get plenty of users, but of course no income ... price it crazy-high (let's say a Melksham to Bath bus fare of 30 pounds each way) and you'll get no users, so again no income.  The operators all try to balance the equation to maximise the income - or rather to maximise the profit - which lies somewhere between the two bounds.   Where First appear to differ is that they take the view that a lot of their customers have no choice, and that they can drive prices higher than most other operators seem to do.  They appear to be of the opinion that immediate profit is more important that having a good name for fair pricing which would bring them more users in the future (and I have to admit that their accountants may be right in this view).

The same thing on service frequency.  Especially if you have a monopoly on a route, why go to the expense of putting on an extra bus when people will wait a further 30 minutes for the next one?   They have to travel, so it doesn't really  matter if the bus is overcrowded in financial terms, provided that possible paying passengers aren't left  behind.

And again the same thing on convenience.  You mention the X5; alas - that WOULD add considerably to its journey time, so I don't think it's on, First Bus WAS going to extend the 234 in Chippenham up to the nice new interchange at the station (it was part of their Great Western bid), but now that they've won the bid that's "too expensive" unless they get a subsidy from someone.   For sure, they loose money occasionally - I used the National Express coach from London to Chippenham in place of the train the other week - saved myself a fortune over the train and git myself an easy cross-road connection, but even then I notice that the National Express coach was also operated by First

Coming back onto the X72 ... I understand that First proposed that it be increased to every half hour.  But the county council didn't come up with a subsidy for the increased service, so it's not happened.  Commercially, it will only happen if overcrowding gets so bad that passengers are being left behind all the time, or if the competition starts taking huge chunks of the business.

The Faresaver 272 service is now running in direct competition with the X72 from Bowehill and Melksham to Bath. It runs via Kingsdown and Batheaston rather than Box and the Batheaston bypass.  So far, so good ... but I do wonder at the logic of timing it just 2 minutes ahead of the First bus.  I can see the commercial argument in that they pick up casual passengers in prefenece to First, but the timing is almost a snub to regular users of the route who would dearly love to see alternating companies running a bus every half hour.