(23 Jan 2014, 6:21 pm)Michael Could say that for most of the routes with rubbish buses... few examples - X7,17/17A/57/69/69A

(23 Jan 2014, 8:41 pm)pdiddy And the X21... which is desperate.
loads of breakdowns again in last 10 days

(23 Jan 2014, 8:35 pm)GMitchelhill I wouldn't say the 19 has suffered much to be honest. Considering it has had its route extended twice. Firstly to Cramlington, then onwards to Ashington.

And to add, the Cobalt Clipper would have taken some passengers away from the 19 as passengers who might have previously gone to Cobalt on the Metro to Northumberland Park, then the 19 from there to Cobalt may now catch the 309 from Newcastle to Cobalt instead.

(23 Jan 2014, 9:14 pm)Tom Anyone know where the X3 will turn around in Monkwearmouth and Fulwell, don't know the area well, but have no idea of possible places that the X3 could turn around in, possibly the new retail park in Monkwearmouth (were Tesco Extra is)?

(23 Jan 2014, 9:26 pm)Dan At Fulwell, I think the bus will commence and terminate from the same bus stop nearby The Millers Inn (you'll know the relatively big roundabout if you've been on the X3 before).

(23 Jan 2014, 9:14 pm)Tom Anyone know where the X3 will turn around in Monkwearmouth and Fulwell, don't know the area well, but have no idea of possible places that the X3 could turn around in, possibly the new retail park in Monkwearmouth (were Tesco Extra is)?

(23 Jan 2014, 9:28 pm)Michael Only place i can think of is the roundabout at St Marys, if the X3 uses bigger buses the turning circle in tescos might not be big enough.

(23 Jan 2014, 9:28 pm)Michael Only place i can think of is the roundabout at St Marys, if the X3 uses bigger buses the turning circle in tescos might not be big enough.

(23 Jan 2014, 9:32 pm)Kuyoyo The stop listed on the timetable is after Tesco.

(23 Jan 2014, 9:35 pm)speedwheels22 Wht they still running the X3 all I ever see on that service is oap should be name the oap express when the chages will come I will dowt the bus will be the same full of oaps

(23 Jan 2014, 9:29 pm)Tom Thanks Micheal! I don't know the Sunderland area very well, so would have no idea. I'd imagine the X3 will just use a Yellow MPD on Saturdays, with a Solar through the week due to the X3 interworking with scholars.

(23 Jan 2014, 9:49 pm)Dan The weekday allocation is more likely to be a B7TL if interworking with scholars.

(23 Jan 2014, 9:51 pm)Tom Ah, just thought it was replacing the scholars runs from the 26 (which was previously a SPD, terminates at Boldon Asda I believe).

(23 Jan 2014, 8:04 pm)Davey Bowyer It's amazing to think that 7 years ago, the 309 was just a poxy little half hourly single decker route that required heavy subsidy of the Cobalt to keep operating. People didn't use it because "it went around the world". But despite the fact that Cobalt Business Park made funding cuts and the 19 fell foul of them, GNE have grown the 309 to become stronger and stronger over the years without over depending upon CBP. The changes they made back in November 2010 have certainly made a difference with a unified and strong corridor through Battle Hill supporting both services 309 and 310. GNE have grown the customer base in Cobalt and you even have people getting on in Newcastle stating destinations such as Foxhunters and Seaton Sluice. With the way Arriva's 308 is heading with it's poor timekeeping and reliability, the 309 is going to continue and grow in the long term. Arriva will have to explain to the Commissioner why the 308 can't keep to time and they will eventually have to increase the timetable by a couple of minutes therefore giving GNE the upper hand.. If GNE up the marketing on the 309 and with the new Volvo's, the 309 will grow to become one of GNE's major routes.

(23 Jan 2014, 10:18 pm)Adam Last week in my Business class, we came across an idea that may explain why GNE keep some of their not-so-well-used services. (I know this may get quite dreary and quite confusing but please bear with me. It's also a good excuse for some revision).

Anyway, the idea is based on a thing called Contribution, (calculated by taking the Selling Price away from the Variable Costs), which helps a business to see how well a product (or service in this case) contributes to the overall Fixed Costs of the company.

Even if a product or service is making a loss, that can be a good thing (but only in the short-term. If in the long-term, then the company will seek to change its strategy to increase the profitability of that product/service that is making a loss, hence many changes to some bus services, such as the X3) as it can help to maximise the profitability of other bus routes as the total Fixed Costs will be "shared out" equally between more bus routes. If the product/service was to be withdrawn, then the equivalent amount of Fixed Costs would need to be "shared out" amongst the rest of the routes, increasing that figure for each service.

As an example, if a business has 3 products/services (for argument's sake) and has Fixed Costs of £30,000 evenly spread out (i.e. £10,000 each). Product A makes a profit of £12,000 and Product B make a profit of £3,000, but Product C makes a loss of £5,000. I know it sounds as if Product C should be withdrawn, but let's see what happens.

Product C is then withdrawn, so the Fixed Costs that Product C contributed now have to be spread equally into the remaining Products, A & B.

Now, the £30,000 of Fixed Costs has to be equally distributed between Products A & B, so their Fixed Costs are now raised to £15,000 each. That means that the profit of Product A has reduced to £7,000 (original profit (£12,000) - £5,000 (share of increased Fixed Costs), whilst Product B now makes a loss of £2,000 (same calculation).

So then, it is better to continue producing Product C as it helps to increase the profitability of the other products/services :)

Sorry......