(01 Aug 2015, 2:55 pm)R852 PRG wrote The grieving process is a harsh and unforgiving route, but I'm getting there. Got my eye on 4920 at the moment. Fast as a bastard.

(01 Aug 2015, 3:07 pm)R852 PRG wrote You work in Gateshead, you tell it yourself.

As for 4923, that, we can agree on. Always a pleasant ride.

(01 Aug 2015, 3:07 pm)mb134 wrote I understand the pain, took me forever to get over the departure of 7413. I've got my sights set on 7505 and 7524 currently, although Tommy is insistent on taking the former away from me!

(01 Aug 2015, 3:09 pm)Dan wrote Even retains the vintage seat moquette for you, Marcus..!

Whilst off-topic, I think I prefer this discussion rather than the service suggestions with the X21/X22 which have been done a thousand times.

(01 Aug 2015, 3:09 pm)R852 PRG wrote I could only be loyal to one. I wouldn't like to juggle A-Levels with two relationships.

• Order 9 new ADL Enviro400 / Dennis Trident 2s for routes X21/X22(becomes X41/X42) rebrand 7522-8 as "Sapphire Express" and re-number as X41 & X42. No route or timetable changes while these are trialed with the current timetable to see if it needs tweaking in any places etc. 
  
• 7501-5 get branded as 35/35A along with 1579-81 which will be refurbished to Sapphire spec for 35/35A which will be upgraded to a 10 minute frequency - Mon-Sat daytimes. As the 35 no longer interworks onto route 100 the frequency can be upgraded with just one more bus(?). 
  
• Route X20 (Newcastle-Alnwick) gets upgraded to MAX with deckers from another Arriva division, these will be branded as "Explore Coast & Castles", and promoting the link to South East Northumberland. This route would remain hourly and use the X18 route between Widdrington Station and Alnmouth Station, where the X18 & X20 will call at Alnmouth Station, while the X20 goes straight to Alnwick while the X18 calls at Alnmouth Village then Alnwick (or whatever it is currently) to have a 30-minute frequency between Widdrington & Alnwick.
  
• So the X18 & X20 get promoted as "every 30 minutes between Widdrington and Alnwick, with hourly extensions to Alnmouth Village"
  

(07 Aug 2015, 10:01 am)GX03 SVC wrote Here's my suggestion for routes X18, X20, X21, X22, 35, 35A.

• Order 9 new ADL Enviro400 / Dennis Trident 2s for routes X21/X22(becomes X41/X42) rebrand 7522-8 as "Sapphire Express" and re-number as X41 & X42. No route or timetable changes while these are trialed with the current timetable to see if it needs tweaking in any places etc. 
  
• 7501-5 get branded as 35/35A along with 1579-81 which will be refurbished to Sapphire spec for 35/35A which will be upgraded to a 10 minute frequency - Mon-Sat daytimes. As the 35 no longer interworks onto route 100 the frequency can be upgraded with just one more bus(?). 
  
• Route X20 (Newcastle-Alnwick) gets upgraded to MAX with deckers from another Arriva division, these will be branded as "Explore Coast & Castles", and promoting the link to South East Northumberland. This route would remain hourly and use the X18 route between Widdrington Station and Alnmouth Station, where the X18 & X20 will call at Alnmouth Station, while the X20 goes straight to Alnwick while the X18 calls at Alnmouth Village then Alnwick (or whatever it is currently) to have a 30-minute frequency between Widdrington & Alnwick.
  
• So the X18 & X20 get promoted as "every 30 minutes between Widdrington and Alnwick, with hourly extensions to Alnmouth Village"
  

Let's hope this suggestion doesn't turn into a multi-million pound investment into E400MMCs and that.

(07 Aug 2015, 3:00 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote I know that the current routes are OKish, but the furthesy distance shoild benefit from quicker journey times. This will be happening with the X18 and GNE did this with the 10 rerouting it via Willies Well rather than via Stonyflat Bank (now 10B) to give improved journey times from the Tyne Valley to Newcastle and Metrocentre.

(07 Aug 2015, 3:06 pm)Tom wrote The X18 will still be serving Alnmouth Station from the 6th September.

(07 Aug 2015, 3:53 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Oppps, but you get the point? Northumbria ran the X31 ok, Arriva ran the X31 and the X21 in it's present guide ok and now, if people want to go to Newcastle from Stakeford for Bedlington, they use the X22 or if from Newbiggin, get the 35 / 35A and change onto the X20 either in Ashington or North Seaton. Uner 1hr 15 is fine but taking nearly 1hr 20 (1hr 30 at peak times) does take the p**s a bit.

(10 Aug 2015, 12:07 am)coldav wrote Also I know that people from the west end of Ashingtonp prefer to  use the 35 to Morpeth then the express to Newcastle rather than find the nearest X22 stop.

(10 Aug 2015, 3:04 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Well it's happened like this:

- 2009: Red Meat and X31 / X32 = 4x quick buses ph from Ashington to Newcastle + 1 super fast bus ph.

- 2010: X20, old X21 = 3x quick buses ph from Ashington to Newcastle + 3 super fast buses ph.

- 2011: X20, old X21 = 3x quick buses ph from Newbiggin and Ashington to Newcastle + 1 super fast bus ph from Newbiggin and Ashington to Newcastle.

- 2012: X20 = 1x quick bus ph from Ashington to Newcastle.

To be honest, the X22 isn't the problem and infact, patronage has improved slightly since the 2012 change. The X21 is the main problem and Arriva need to:

- Reroute the X21 past the Hartlands and have the X21 / X22 leaving Ashington at 5/15 intervals but every 10 mins between Bedlington and Newcastle. Another service could serve Nedderton and form part of the Wide Open / Newcastle corridoor

(10 Aug 2015, 12:07 am)coldav wrote Also I know that people from the west end of Ashingtonp prefer to  use the 35 to Morpeth then the express to Newcastle rather than find the nearest X22 stop.

(10 Aug 2015, 6:36 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Well, go on Arriva's page and have a look at the number of complaints back in September 2012 when they first changed the X21. That says it all and it's not just down to the 57 plates, journey times are also a factor.

If the X20 was to do a no show in Ashington (running about 15 minutes late), people would just wait for it because it does the journey in 40 minutes as opposed to 57 minutes. Now, if the X21 was rerouted and the X20 did the same, people would just get the X21 because it would be able to do the journey in 52 minutes as opposed to 57 minutes.

(10 Aug 2015, 7:45 pm)mb134 wrote If enough people didn't like it, and complained, Arriva would have changed it in all likelihood. 

I think people will know and understand why Arriva send it that way- so that it serves a whole side of a town, including Red House Farm, the Hazelmere estate, and a high school, as well as an entire village in Nedderton. 

If I was waiting at Ashington, I'd be straight onto the X21 if the X20 didn't show.

(10 Aug 2015, 5:35 pm)mb134 wrote That seems very unnecessary in my opinion, the X22 journey time from Ashington is well under an hour, similar to the 35 and X14/5/8 combination. 

Couple that with the hideous reliability of the Morpeth express services, and the patchy 35 reliability (in my experience), I can't see many advantages to going about it that way. I'm not sure on this, but is it more expensive doing that as well? 

Final point, I'd prefer to get a nice bus, with e-leather seating, NSA's, WiFi, sockets etc, than a 15 year old ex-London double decker on the 35, then a unbelievably busy MPD on the X14. Not sure why anyone would prefer the latter?

(23 Aug 2015, 2:12 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote I've just come up with an idea. If Arriva are struggling to source extra DECENT deckers for the X20 and have a good few pulsars spare, here's what I suggest they do. Arriva would need 13 MAX spec pulsars in total (4x for the X20 and a further 9x for my suggestion):

- X20 would continue as it is with no board changes.

- Current X30 would be renumbered X89. No other changes would happen to this service.

- Service 35 between Morpeth and Newbiggin would remain the same but with extra running time to improve reliability during Monday to Saturday daytime. Evening and Sunday journeys would continue to interwork with service X21.

- Service 35a would operate hourly Monday to Saturday daytime between Morpeth and Newbiggin Front Street. Buses would then call at the Cresswell Arms with a bit of layover time before changing into service X30 between Newbiggin Cresswell Arms and Newcastle via Woodhorn, Wansbeck Hospital then the same route as the X20 to Newcastle. Through fares would be available to and from Woodhorn anywhere on the 35a route and through fares onto service X30 would be available anywhere between Sandy Bay and Cresswell Arms. More info about the X30 further down. Extra running time would also be given to service 35A to improve reliability.

- Service 35B would operate hourly Monday to Saturday daytime via the current 35A route. Extra running time would also be given to service 35B to improve reliability.

- Services 35/35A/35B would continue to provide a great 15 minute frequency between Morpeth and Newbiggin Front Street. Services 35A (X30 between Cresswell Arms and Woodhorn) and 35B would continue to provide a 30 minute frequency between Morpeth and Woodhorn albeit a slight timing deviation (every 24-36 minutes) between Newbiggin Front Street and Woodhorn.

- NEW service X30 would operate of 1x 35A board per hour from Newbiggin Cresswell Arms to Newcastle via Woodhorn, Wansbeck Hospital and then the same route as the X20 from there to Newcastle via Ashington, North Seaton, Regent Centre and Gosforth High Street. Through fares onto service X30 would be available anywhere between Sandy Bay and Cresswell Arms.

Benefits from Service Changes:

- Improved reliability on services 35, 35A, 35B and due to new service X30 helping out, service X20. Improved layover and running time on services 35, 35A and 35B.

- New fast service from Newbiggin to Newcastle and also a new direct service from Woodhorn to Newcastle.

- Increased frequency between Wansbeck Hospital and Newcastle with services X20 and X30 running every 30 minutes combined.

- All journeys on services 35, 35A, 35B, X20 and X30 would operate using MAX spec single deck Pulsars.

Here is an example board (note that the timings haven't been customised to the X20 but it would work out fine):
- Service 35a from Morpeth to Cresswell Arms (00:00/00:45)
- Service X30 from Cresswell Arms to Newcastle (00:48/01:45)
- Service X30 from Newcastle to Cresswell Arms (01:52/02:49)
- Service 35a from Cresswell Arms to Morpeth (02:52/03:37)
- Service 35 from Morpeth to Seacrest Road (03:45/04:30)
- Service 35 from Seacrest Road to Morpeth (04:37/05:22)
- Service 35b from Morpeth to Woodhorn (05:30/06:15)
- Service 35b from Woodhorn to Morpeth (06:22/07:07)
- Service 35 from Morpeth to Seacrest Road (07:15/08:00)
- Service 35 from Seacrest Road to Morpeth (08:07/08:52)

(23 Aug 2015, 5:43 pm)R852 PRG wrote Nice to see a change in your ideas, Davey. Although could you explain the logic in renumbering the X30 as the X89? If the X30 is now a new service number, I'd not re-allocate it to an express version of another service.

(23 Aug 2015, 5:45 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote I gave the express from Newbiggin to Newcastle an express number to keep it close to the X20. The X89 would make perfect sense from Blyth and Newsham as the Spine Road is called the A189 and the key benefit of the current X30 over the other the X10 / X11 is that it serves the Spine Road rather than Crammy.

(23 Aug 2015, 5:47 pm)R852 PRG wrote It would make perfect sense to number a service after the last two digits of the road it takes? In that case let's renumber the 21 as the 67.

(23 Aug 2015, 5:47 pm)R852 PRG wrote It would make perfect sense to number a service after the last two digits of the road it takes? In that case let's renumber the 21 as the 67.

(23 Aug 2015, 5:47 pm)R852 PRG wrote It would make perfect sense to number a service after the last two digits of the road it takes? In that case let's renumber the 21 as the 67.

(23 Aug 2015, 5:51 pm)GX03 SVC wrote It barely runs along the A189 anyway, once it joins the A189 at Moor Farm it turns off at the next turnoff.

(23 Aug 2015, 5:47 pm)R852 PRG wrote It would make perfect sense to number a service after the last two digits of the road it takes? In that case let's renumber the 21 as the 67.

(23 Aug 2015, 5:53 pm)Jimmi wrote Well Arriva did renumber the X14 as the X66 as it runs along the A66.