(25 Jul 2015, 2:37 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Well, the X31 and X32 would use stand P and the X33 would fall in between a departing Sapphire service and the next one due to come in for a 7-8 minute layover. Got to remember that people know it's supposedly an express service however, a straight through route from Ashington to Newcastle would take just over 50 minutes as opposed to nearly an hour through trying to balance the books with one service taking the longer route between Ashington and Bedlington with the other doing the same between Bedlington and Newcastle. That is what is turning people off the X21 / X22 services and a clear rebrand and restructure is needed so people know the difference which would put things right. People on the Ryton corridor have no problem with a combined 10 minute service as well as a standalone 30 minute service. They know that if they need to get into Newcastle quickly, they can use Toon Link 11 and if they just want the first bus that comes, then they've got 8 services per hour to choose from.
And that is exactly why you don't work for any bus company. Why make things complicated - all I can see in Tommy's suggestion is a simple renumbering, which is easy to communicate to the passengers. Your backwards step would just confuse people and likely make the Ashington Sapphire the worse performing of the branding by actually losing trade! How many times - today it's about simplicating networks (hence the current ongoing consultation on Teesside to simplify the Netherfields services).