(24 Nov 2013, 10:50 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Story of 'Red Arrows' X2 (to the best of my recall), when the branding started back in 2006, it used ex-National Express coaches branded 'Red Arrows' with the original batch of Citaros (5275-83) ordered, originally expected in early 2007 (ie on 56 plates) alongside the OmniCitys. However, when there appeared to be a delay, the OmniCitys destined for Chester-Le-Street for the 21/22 (5262-74) were diverted to Washington to work the X2 (and X1 when it started) until the Citaros were delivered. I believe it stayed the same (with the addition of the X3) until 2009 when the X1 was increased to every 10 minutes.
Yes this is spot on - so to use Dan's argument that if a service is upgraded to the "best single decker" in the fleet it must make a fair amount of money - the X2 must have been profitable.
And re: how unfair it would be to cut the 2A/2C to every 15 mins from every 10, it's a tad worse don't you think that in the real world GNE entirely cut the X2 service affecting anyone who lived on Chester Road corridor, in order that they could increase the frequency of the X1. I'd personally prefer to see a bit of passenger choice (e.g. X1 & X2) with both services running less frequently than one route getting a flagship service, at the expense of another being cut in it's entirety.
Incidentally, the 2A/2C didn't get 'upgraded' to Citaros, as the service didn't exist before the Citaros arrived.