18 May 2017, 6:44 pm
#516
(17 May 2017, 9:17 pm)Malarkey Just going to go out on limb and say the evening service in Washington is an absolute joke, with a review of the network and timings altered to meet passenger demand and improve overall reliability.
So here is a example in it's finest form from my evening commute back home from work.
Today I was on my usual 11:30-19:30 shift to which I will catch the 20 at 19:50 from Doxford International to Houghton le Spring before getting on the 20:10 X1 to The Galleries, which usually gets into The Galleries at around 20:23, coincidentally at the same time the 50A departs to go Chester le Street, to which I have caught once in the past week, every other time pulling away as I got to the doors of stand c. Now if I lived in or around Pelton or Beamish for the sake of this argument, I could either wait 1 hour for the next 50A or catch the 82 to Birtley and then for a 21 to CLS to therefore make a connection onto either the 28/34 or 78 to get home, bit of a pain in the arse when a Driver could quite easily wait an extra 30 Seconds to see if anyone gets off and wants the bus before pulling away, but no they always pull away before you even get a chance to get off the other bus don't they.
Another example would be again catching the X1 but this time from Newcastle to Washington which arrives at 20:32, ohhh coincidentally the exact same time the 82 departs to go Birtley, the 4 departs towards Heworth ohhh and lets not forget the 4 in opposite direction towards Houghton, basically meaning anyone looking to make an onward connection onto the housing estates of Washington etc are faced with waiting upto 30 Minutes for the next bus, or worse case scenario if live in Chester le Street or beyond Penshaw heading into Sunderland you have an hour to wait for the next bus.
But if you worked at Doxford and lived in Chester le Street, it would be easier to get the 36 from Houghton at 20.33 - no need to go via Washington and potentially miss the connection?
The X1 is due to arrive at Washington Galleries from Newcastle at xx27 on an evening - which should give enough time to connect with a service departing at xx32
