Jimmi certainly didn't paint a pretty picture of Arriva's services on Teesside today - but I'm not one to tar the company with the same brush due to bad experiences on one specific service.


When I have had to use services 23/24 outside of Tyne & Wear in the past, I've had no major issues. By and large, the services have been on time. My experiences with other Arriva services are limited, but are similar to services 23/24. Time-keeping did seem to be an issue on the Quorum Express, though this has seemed to improve after umpteen amount of changes (which I still hear passengers complaining about).
I've always found the attitude of most drivers to be unpleasant, though this is replicated across all three operators. I do feel that bus drivers are under-paid for what they have to go through on a day-to-day basis, which could in part explain the poor customer service given by these drivers.
Branding is a major issue for Arriva at the moment, now more than ever as there is a growing 'hierarchy' of services: Sapphire > MAX > Normal. The mis-allocation of buses really does need to be nipped in the bud.
Of course, we all know my thoughts and feelings on the lack of knowledge some drivers have of the ticketing options in Tyne & Wear, and I needn't elaborate, as I've done that one to death!

(23 Sep 2014, 8:17 pm)aureolin I don't know the area around East Durham much at all, but I'd think anything they're running into Sunderland would perhaps suffer from the same problem as the X2 down Durham Road. 

We know the passenger flow on Durham Road is thick and fast, and also that there's a massive gulf between what you'd see in the figures for the  21 and for the X2. Problem with the X2 though, is that between Pity Me and Eldon Square, there is not a single other Arriva connection in sight. Some 50 minutes of travel time, with god knows how many stops. 

If there were say a few local services in Chester, a few in Gateshead, and the odd connection to Washington? Probably a completely different story.

That being said, it doesn't cater for drivers not knowing the product, and it's a disgrace that this is still being mentioned on here. It must have been at least a year ago since Dan first complained to Arriva. If you're not going to look after your customers, then another operator will be more than willing to.

(23 Sep 2014, 8:17 pm)aureolin I don't know the area around East Durham much at all, but I'd think anything they're running into Sunderland would perhaps suffer from the same problem as the X2 down Durham Road. 

We know the passenger flow on Durham Road is thick and fast, and also that there's a massive gulf between what you'd see in the figures for the  21 and for the X2. Problem with the X2 though, is that between Pity Me and Eldon Square, there is not a single other Arriva connection in sight. Some 50 minutes of travel time, with god knows how many stops. 

If there were say a few local services in Chester, a few in Gateshead, and the odd connection to Washington? Probably a completely different story.

That being said, it doesn't cater for drivers not knowing the product, and it's a disgrace that this is still being mentioned on here. It must have been at least a year ago since Dan first complained to Arriva. If you're not going to look after your customers, then another operator will be more than willing to.

(23 Sep 2014, 8:23 pm)Tom I'd like to see a Chester-le-Street-Fence Houses-Houghton-Sunderland service.

I don't know the area around East Durham much at all, but I'd think anything they're running into Sunderland would perhaps suffer from the same problem as the X2 down Durham Road. 


We know the passenger flow on Durham Road is thick and fast, and also that there's a massive gulf between what you'd see in the figures for the  21 and for the X2. Problem with the X2 though, is that between Pity Me and Eldon Square, there is not a single other Arriva connection in sight. Some 50 minutes of travel time, with god knows how many stops. 

If there were say a few local services in Chester, a few in Gateshead, and the odd connection to Washington? Probably a completely different story.

(23 Sep 2014, 8:43 pm)DaveyBowyer In terms of the Quorum Express reliability, I would put the following services in Northumbria I know off for being late in order of unreliability:
53, 52, 43, 45, 54, 44, X20 / 20, 57, 57A, X5, X4, 308, X22, X21, 

(24 Sep 2014, 3:14 pm)cbma06 Should take a audit at Peterlee bus station not Sunderland interchange, true boardings of arriva services is better at Peterlee not all passengers travel all the way to final destination at Sunderland interchange

(24 Sep 2014, 3:18 pm)Dan But the whole point I'm making here is that the current level of passenger numbers is not sufficient to justify an express service from Sunderland to Peterlee - it's clear that Arriva are wanting to take patronage from Go North East by offering a very similar service, and boils down to competition between the two companies not being to benefit to customers, and rather to get back at the other operator for introducing a competing route elsewhere in the region.

Monitoring the loadings in and out of Sunderland is the only way to determine what the passenger numbers will be like on the X21, as in reality, the only thing that should happen is that further passenger numbers are taken from services 23/24, to boost loadings on the X21...

(24 Sep 2014, 3:34 pm)Tom How do you know people from Wingate and Sedgefield won't use the direct link to Sunderland?
You don't know that the X21 will fail. 

But the whole point I'm making here is that the current level of passenger numbers is not sufficient to justify an express service from Sunderland to Peterlee - it's clear that Arriva are wanting to take patronage from Go North East by offering a very similar service, and boils down to competition between the two companies not being to benefit to customers, and rather to get back at the other operator for introducing a competing route elsewhere in the region.

 Monitoring the loadings in and out of Sunderland is the only way to determine what the passenger numbers will be like on the X21, as in reality, the only thing that should happen is that further passenger numbers are taken from services 23/24, to boost loadings on the X21...

(24 Sep 2014, 3:36 pm)Jimmi Yes, you do kind of have to view the passenger numbers from Sunderland, but if the 21/X21 is marketed as a through service like the 21/31 & 21A/31A used to be you will have people travelling from further than Peterlee using the service.
The X21 may take some passengers from the 23/24 (well 22/23 from next month) but the people of Wheatley Hill have been wanting a service to Sunderland again, everytime I've used the 24 not many people have done the full route. Passenger numbers and passenger trends will likely to change when the 22 starts going to Sunderland instead of the 24 and the 21/31 used to carry a decent amount of passengers between Wheatley Hill and Sunderland in the past.

What I would do after or before Arriva made the changes is:

 service 23 same route but diverted to go into Dalton Park replacing service 24 ( or new 22).
 service 24 (or new service 22) terminating at Peterlee but then once an hour continue to Sunderland as X21 providing a 30 minute service X21, timetable would have to be adjusted to fit the 30 minute frequency for X21.
 so to Sunderland their will be service 23 every 30 minutes going the full route and all stops and their will be a X21 every 30 minutes to Sunderland aswell as express