(27 Dec 2013, 7:44 pm)busman101 wrote I can come back a bit on the Team Valley situation as I caught the 937 to Chester-le-Street on Monday teatime and was one of 3 passengers on it & its usually a lot busier than that, so that does suggest that passenger numbers at Team Valley drop like a stone in Christmas week.
You might have been looking at my twitter feed as I commented on the 21 being like the Tokyo Metro and whilst it was heaving, it looked like extra buses where sent from Chester (as the bus I was on passed 2 empty buses heading to Newcastle) and the drivers did well in getting as many on as possible.
I don't know if the X31 has run before, but the two I saw leave Eldon Square weren't well used at all and one of the buses would have been much better used on the 21 instead.
There's a few things to look at if the Toon end up at home again next Boxing Day, but there's still been steps forward as I can remember the 21 being every 20 mins on Boxing Day & it's now every 10 mins - can't be many places (outside London) that have a 10 min frequency on a Boxing Day.
Spooky you mentioned it about the 21 as I was referring to the x1.
That is at least two comments about two different services being over crowded!
Glad it seems lessons have been learned relating to services into/out of Newcastle and the match/shoppers.
Hopefully the services can be adapted depending on who is at home on Boxing Day, with services behind spread about a bit, rather than concentrated in the same areas.
Having the 21 every 10 mins is great.
It gets crowded on a normal match day - if there are even fewer buses to relieve the pressure on it, then it will be like the Tokyo Metro!