(14 Dec 2016, 11:35 am)Michael wrote The 18 in Sunderland currently running 12 minutes late, was supposed to be due at mine at 11:23am.Not that bad for christmas season.
23 is also running in 2's
I'm getting used to GNE X70s and X30/1s especially.. they get so much lost milage because of journeys before, and because there are no regulation vehicles for the X30/1, unlike the 6 and X70/1 where there is an extra bus for fuel consumption and regulation. The buses will always leave on time for northerns, but if newcastle is gridlock - the spare bus can't arrive to leave ontime. Especially in the evenings, this causes an X70 to run light to Stanley, and an extra bus at consett to run light to newcastle. It's a similar story with the X30/1s, but they haven't a spare vehicle. To make up time, they must regulate something back up to Stanley from newcastle (Contracted around East Stanley/Kip Hill) to be sent back down to complete the contracted sections of the route.
Because of the frequency of buses at night, this means that both the half-hourly X30s (1 X31) and hourly X70 can be lost milage.. In human terms this means there is no bus between newcastle and Sunniside (Only the 6, which can be up to 30 minutes late), and only the hourly 16/A between Dipton and Consett.
Recently, the lost milage has occured around 7PM-8PM, sometimes longer. It's no better during the day, because there is hardly ever a spare bus which can be out for 4 hours to do a 6 in then an X70 out, then return to stanley.
It's annoying because I'm always out in the evenings - but I just take the 6 in both directions, or walk to Whickham for the 97 to town if things really go wrong.
Stanley should gain a vehicle or two (or have riverside provide a vehicle or two) and do what the TEN spare buses do, and just lay over in the metrocentre car park. The V7s and V8s provide quick links from Stanley to Metrocentre for a spare driver to get, even in the evening, and there's nothing delaying those given the route they take. Would fix a lot of problems with lost milage...
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