(04 Apr 2021, 6:01 pm)Storx I haven't checked which ones these are but I'm sure they're part of the massive interworking pattern that happens at Peterlee which sees a bus go towards Durham and fills in the local service out of Durham in one direction and does the short in the other direction. Sure the 202 is part of it from what I remember so it's not as easy to just change them round.
In this instance it would be, because the 202 would still run to the same times from Easington-Seaham, preserving the interworking patterns between the 202, 204, 208 and 265 - on the Peterlee end the 202 doesn't interwork with anything because it runs to Station Town. Likewise the short 208's are currently standalone. So my suggestion sees the 202 take the 208 route from Easington to Peterlee and back rather than taking the quicker route to Peterlee and continuing to Station Town. The Easington-Peterlee section of the 202 wouldn't be replaced because you already have the 55 and the Peterlee-Station Town section is replaced by the X6. Alternatively, the X6 could come off the A19 at Easington and operate the current 202 route from there - the 202 currently operates via Moorcock on the way to Station Town and preserves links across Peterlee - but of course that would increase the Sunderland-Peterlee journey time.
For those interested the interworking pattern at present:
202 - Station Town to Seaham
265 - Seaham to Durham
208 - Durham to Peterlee
208 - Peterlee to Durham
204 - Durham to Sherburn Loop
265 - Durham to Seaham
202 - Seaham to Station Town
As mentioned above, the short 208 journeys from Peterlee to Easington run standalone.
The 209 interworks with the :15 201 while the 210 interworks with the :45 201.
