When the 35 got the Mercs in 2008, it was one of Go North East’s flagship routes and ran every 10 minutes. I remember in 2011/ 12 that apparently the routes took too long to get from Houghton to Sunderland so they had an A, B and C variant as well. After the changes in 2014, they made it become a 35, 35A and 36, but the Mercs couldn’t do the 36, something to do with being operated out of Chester or cars in Fence Houses. The passenger numbers fell, which might’ve been because of the frequency. Then the Mercs got taken away from the 35 and many people switched to the 20. I think this goes to show that nice buses and decent frequency attract passengers. I would like to see Go North East ‘revitalise’ these services (obviously once Covid 19 has played out) and I think it would be a good money maker for them.