07 Mar 2022, 4:49 pm
#207
(07 Mar 2022, 10:51 am)Kuyoyo Looking at the timetable
Peterlee journeys leave Newcastle during the day at xx11 and xx47, the Dalton Park journey departs at xx35 with the xx23 and xx59 terminating at Easington Lane.
Easington Lane terminating journeys have 14 minute layovers at Easington Lane while the Dalton Park trip and the Peterlee journeys have 5 minutes turnaround at the southern end of their route.
The last weekday journey to Dalton Park leaves Newcastle at 1632 (presently 1734) while it will be 1535 on Saturdays (presently 1719). Peterlee meanwhile goes from a last Newcastle departure of 1810 weekday (1749 Saturdays) to two later journeys at 1905 and 2230 From Dalton Park, the last trips are 1719 weekdays and 1707 on Saturdays (currently 1905 weekdays and 1836 Saturdays).
Sunday service is uplifted to every 20 minutes between Newcastle and The Galleries - from there, two an hour continue to Easington Lane from where one an hour extends to Peterlee. Sunday evening journeys remain hourly but the 2300 from Newcastle is extended to Peterlee
Is the X1 trying to do too many things at once? The Sunday service whilst a good uplift from Newcastle to Washington, it means Washington to Easington Lane is left with two buses an hour still but now not equally split, with a 40 minute gap, arguably a lot worse than they have now.
Dalton Park link seems to have been cut a lot too, I almost wonder why they’ve bothered continue it? Looking at the timetable seems to be just operationally convenient.
I still maintain that the X1 is confusing now “X1 to Easington Lane, Dalton Park, Peterlee, Washington Galleries” you sort of need to know the exact route of each variation, just to know will this one get you home!
The 55s days seems to be numbered. The X1 offering two buses an hour means it’s not as needed on that Houghton to Peterlee corridor as much. Plus it’s been took out of Doxford International outside peak times, so is just doing exactly the same as the 20/X20 do on daytime runs. So it’s now just duplicating other routes across all sections. I wonder if once the 20 goes back to normal timetable, it’ll be a case of “the 55 is no longer needed as we’ve increased our popular X1 and 20 services across all sections of the 55 route”. Peterlee to Sunderland passengers have the X6 as the quicker option in any case.
