(20 Mar 2018, 7:38 pm)Driver9*** Early days yet but having 3 extra mins each way and not having those shitty electric buses on them should help.
The timetable looks better but, I think adding the following would bulletproof the reliability (although the 306 PVR would also need an increase too):
- North Tyneside Hospital > Billy Mill towards Newcastle = 1 minute (8 minutes)
- Billy Mill > Willington Square towards Newcastle = 2 minutes (8 minutes)
- Willington Square > Billy Mill towards Blyth = 2 minutes (8 minutes)
- Billy Mill > North Tyneside Hospital towards Blyth = 1 minute (7 minutes)
Also, would Arriva not consider running a parallel X38 running every 30 mins Mon-Sat and missing all stops between Billy Mill to Newcastle? Have E-mailed them in the past about it and they said it wouldn't save enough time but with the 308 now being run to 'manageable' times, it could provide a significant saving over the 308.
308 from Blyth to Newcastle (with ammendments above): 1hr 9mins
308 from Newcastle to Blyth (with ammendments above): 1hr 6 mins
X38 from Blyth to Newcastle: 57mins (17 minutes between Billy Mill and Newcastle)
X38 from Newcastle to Blyth: 54mins (17 minutes between Newcastle and Billy Mill)
* Layover for X38 would be 5 minutes in Blyth and 7 minutes in Newcastle
The X21 and 21 between Durham and Newcastle work well together with the X21 taking care of the punters who just want a quick journey whilst the 21 takes care of the hop on hop off punters as well as the ever popular CLS to Newcastle corridor. Don't see why an X38 wouldn't work and it wouldn't even need a decent vehicle type as such, maybe starting with a single decker with a few double deckers thrown in the mix later on if the peak time runs prove popular.
