If I may take this topic further....
What I posted above is really a fix that doesn't require a total gameplay/UI redesign. It would simply allow me to narrow the desired passenger missions, to better make use of the Passenger Ship specialty.
But IMO what is really, truly needed is indeed a redesign of the Passengers gameplay system. A step away from the Missions based mechanics we currently have. A gameplay design where my ship is opened for hire based on either 1) each seat paying (essentially our current bulk passengers), or 2) each cabin being chartered (present VIP missions).
How it could work:
Opening the Passenger Lounge would let me set a price for what a passenger must pay for each seat in a particular cabin. Optionally, I set the price for chartering the entire cabin. The maximum I can charge per-seat or cabin is limited by both:
A) the quality of the cabin itself, increasing from Economy, Business, First Class, and peaking at Luxury
B) the destination distance, more for longer distances (but perhaps harder to fill to maximum density)
Coupled to the price I set is a transit time (within which those Passengers must arrive). If I pick a price per seat/cabin that is below a certain threshold (and maybe not too profitable, either), the time is pretty long. Maybe several days. As I increase the price I demand for each seat/cabin, so does the passenger's expectations/demands for prompt arrival increase. Perhaps as little as 1 hour or less. Since price and time are coupled, a CMDR can set to fill up the cabins based on a longer or shorter arrive time, to suit their play session time, if they wish.
Next, for each cabin, I'd have a drop-down menu of systems, from next-door up to maybe 200LY away. I choose one system, and that cabin will only be accepting passengers traveling TO that system. Not every system may be in the drop-down, either. Sometimes the demand for a particular system may be low (due to BGS states, or whatnot), and the Lounge is not currently booking for that system. So maybe that gets me 20 to 40 systems to choose from.
The Passenger Lounge would then display the number of Passengers currently lined up to book seats and/or cabins at my current pricing and destinations, organized by cabin. If I'm pleased with a cabin's level of bookings at my chosen price/time/destination, I can click on the "Confirm" button for that cabin, and that cabin will immediately board passengers. I can then adjust the pricing or destination for any remaining unfilled cabins, and again wait a few seconds to see how many passengers are prepared to book, and then "Confirm" each cabin when the pay is looking like the best it's going to get.
Each system would have passengers with varying willingness to pay and transit time demands, based on a variety of factors: BGS State, wealth, and population of both the departure and destination systems, is a good start. The distance of the trip is another factor, and potentially the destination station.
Really good pay and volume would be passengers departing AND arriving in wealthy, populous systems in Boom state, around maybe 100LY apart. As each of those best-case criteria is reduced:
A) The passengers would pay less on that route.
B) Fewer passengers are interested in booking.
At the other end of the scale, you could find good pay working to take good pay for transporting people fleeing a system that's in Lockdown, Civil Unrest, or Famine. A few rich people fleeing at high pay, or many fleeing at lower pay. For a more high style of passenger, you might set pricing higher to charter the entire cabin, and get paid nicely for carrying just 3 or 4 Luxury cabin charters 100LY to 200LY. Perhaps short haul routes with many Economy cabins offering budget rates, filling to 100% capacity could be a competitive earner, thanks to quicker turn-around time.
But the key thing in this would be, IMO, that there is no static route that pays good. Such a system would put a focus on several (IMO good) things:
1) Work a fairly predictable area of the bubble (since I can pick and choose my destinations), if desired.
2) Paying attention to changes in the BGS, learning and adjusting my routes to follow the money flow.
3) The ability to outfit a ship for a specific class of cabins and passengers, and focus fully on routes catering to those fares.
4) Adding deeper value to the variety of cabin types, and even to the passenger ships themselves.
5) A sense of fluidity and life to the galaxy, with many existing factors directly influencing my choices and play as each week passes.
6) Choices in whether it's more profitable to run many passengers by offering a lower fare price, or fewer at a higher price. Choices in the distances I travel for each booked cabin.
Basically something that becomes a sort of game within itself. And has me playing Elite while I'm doing it.
And this leaves questions about places like Maia and Colonia. Those may be outside the range of many systems in the bubble, what happens to those destinations?
I'd be thrilled to see Frontier use these to make use of the existing "Tourism" economy stations. Tourism stations would be the go-to place to get passengers looking for destinations in Colonia, in the Pleiades, or those looking to take exploration trips to Tourism Beacons throughout the galaxy. Even the current type "Sightseeing Tour" type missions could be on offer there, too.
Thus rather than having to wait and hope to find such exploration/tourism missions randomly generated at random Passenger Boards through the bubble, CMDRs know exactly where to look for these specialties. A tourism economy station. An explorer wanting to head out and take along a few high paying Explorer passengers can simply stop at a Tourism station, choose a destination, and find fares waiting. Quickly. And be on their way.
