(28 Feb 2013, 7:24 pm)Adam Malarkey wrote Fatfield bridge isn't the only problem, there is also the road bridge at the bottom of Barnwell that 2A/2C/M1 go under after Fatfield Bridge.
GNE could quite easily re-route the M1 so that it goes down the Motorway like the X1 and have it come off at it current diversion and have it go along the riverside and back onto its normal route at the opposite end of the bridge.
Plus there wouldn't be major loss with re-route as the 2A/2C can cover the Bottom of Barnwell and the 3 stops leading to Fatfield Bridge, Plus the service operates every 10 minutes. On top of that No-one really gets on or off at those stops mentioned anyways.
So with that being said Buying double deckers for the M1 would be welcomed by myself as a regular user of the service. I remember about 2 years ago there was talk of putting bendies on the service but that was scrapped due road layouts in Houghton le Spring and Concord.
The M1 seems to be growing in popularity at certain points of the route, but I can't see it justifying deckers.
I still think the M1 and X1 should operate some sort of circular route between Houghton and Shiney Row though. It has been suggested a few times in the past and would reinstate the lost link between Newbottle and the schools in Washington. It would also reinstate a direct link from Fencehouses and Bournmoor to Newcastle.
The timings would work, journeys wouldnt be any longer - but if deckers were used, as you say Station Road from the railway bridge at Penshaw to the bridge at Fatfield would be missed out.
As ever the cynic in me suggests GNE make too much money by forcing people into buying more expensive, multi-journey day tickets over a single.