(26 Jun 2022, 9:21 pm)Adrian wrote Probably equal distance from Deptford or Washington, and it's just one bus all day, isn't it? So the light mileage is going to be minimal and certainly not much different to the early 4s starting at Houghton.
Perhaps should of explained a bit more, I was thinking of driver changeovers and should a vehicle need changing during service. There’s quite a few routes that involved dead mileage for early trips, X6s starting in Peterlee, Bishop Auckland or West Auckland early morning X21s etc. But most are able to swap vehicles, change drivers in a central interchange or suitable location near a depot - 4s at the Galleries, Chester Front Street for X21s, X6 at Sunderland Park Lane.
Can’t help but feel the closure of CLS depot means a lot more routes feel ‘isolated’ - 71, 34 in particular. And perhaps makes the already isolated routes, such as the 204 and the 40,41,42 Cathedral services in Durham, even more so. Having to do remote driver change overs that involve dead mileage on top of start/end of day light running, surely just then means these routes are struggling to cover costs before they even begin. I can’t help but feel the 65 reductions are at least in part down to the need for extra light running or the fact the 65 struggles a bit from being away from a depot and that ‘regulating’ the route is harder.
Whilst I can understand GNE outgrowing a building or needing updated facilities, the lack of depot in the central Durham area (Chester-Le-Street or Durham) which is an area dominated by GNE, seems to be more about cost cutting than any sort of operational convenience.
