Arriva North East: Service Suggestions
Arriva North East: Service Suggestions
(09 Mar 2021, 5:30 pm)mb134 Yeah there is the 418, but I believe it still uses Solos - not ideal for the loads you'd hope to get (or have the potential to).
I had thought about running the X15 shorts up, but then you'd miss out on a direct journey from Ashington/Ellington/Lynemouth and some of the caravan parks around there, for the sake of Felton and Shilbottle? If done properly you'd ensure a connection from the X15s onto the Berwick X18s at Alnwick. My initial suggestion was more to target villages and towns up the coast than to target the Newcastle section anyway, so from Ashington north the most you'd be on the bus for would be 2 hours which is similar to the X93.
I tried to think of a way to find the time to get the X20 suggestion to Bamburgh, I think as you've shown on that link the only way to really do it is miss out Craster, but then that's potentially one of the main places you'd want to send it? By my reckoning you'd need to find approximately 20 minutes, and there's nowhere along the route where you could realistically cut if you're wanting to promote the coast. Even omitting the Craster section would only gain about 14 minutes.
Edit: I do like your way out of Alnwick. I've often thought that with a bit of creative thinking it would be great to find a way to serve the entrance to the Gardens directly and market the hell out of it. Folk going in cars seeing a double decker stopping outside during the summer on a reasonably frequent service would likely think about it for their next visit, especially if they live on the route. Most X18s that don't extend to Berwick have 8 minutes layover at Alnwick Bus Station, if we assume it's a 5 minute diversion to the Gardens then it is certainly doable.
(09 Mar 2021, 5:30 pm)mb134 Yeah there is the 418, but I believe it still uses Solos - not ideal for the loads you'd hope to get (or have the potential to).
I had thought about running the X15 shorts up, but then you'd miss out on a direct journey from Ashington/Ellington/Lynemouth and some of the caravan parks around there, for the sake of Felton and Shilbottle? If done properly you'd ensure a connection from the X15s onto the Berwick X18s at Alnwick. My initial suggestion was more to target villages and towns up the coast than to target the Newcastle section anyway, so from Ashington north the most you'd be on the bus for would be 2 hours which is similar to the X93.
I tried to think of a way to find the time to get the X20 suggestion to Bamburgh, I think as you've shown on that link the only way to really do it is miss out Craster, but then that's potentially one of the main places you'd want to send it? By my reckoning you'd need to find approximately 20 minutes, and there's nowhere along the route where you could realistically cut if you're wanting to promote the coast. Even omitting the Craster section would only gain about 14 minutes.
Edit: I do like your way out of Alnwick. I've often thought that with a bit of creative thinking it would be great to find a way to serve the entrance to the Gardens directly and market the hell out of it. Folk going in cars seeing a double decker stopping outside during the summer on a reasonably frequent service would likely think about it for their next visit, especially if they live on the route. Most X18s that don't extend to Berwick have 8 minutes layover at Alnwick Bus Station, if we assume it's a 5 minute diversion to the Gardens then it is certainly doable.
