(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
The X21 is only 5 minutes slower than it used to be, how can anyone complain about that, really? I mean, if you have to be somewhere, get an earlier bus.
The way I look at it:
X20- A somewhat unreliable service (from my experience), infrequent, quick journey times from Ashington to Newcastle.
X21- Quick journey times from Ashington to Bedlington, quick journey times from Bedlington to Newcastle (30-35 minutes, absolutely nothing to complain about, it's pretty much 25-30 in the car).
X22- Slightly slower between Ashington and Bedlington, emphasis on the slightly. Bedlington to Newcastle in 30 minutes (at peak times, less on evenings and Sundays).
Both the X21 and X22 are generally very reliable services, with quick journey times. The X21 serves the west of Bedlington and Nedderton for a reason, and the fact it has been like that for three years now suggests that it is working. I really don't think you can complain about the X21 route, it's a bus service, something designed with passengers in mind, so while to a certain extent it does need to be relatively quick, that isn't the aim.