(30 May 2020, 2:12 pm)L469 YVK wrote Travel patterns will likely change post Covid19 with more people working from home or working fewer days per week. With the X21 running every 15 minutes, a 10 minute frequency on the 21 would more than suffice.
Furthermore, the X21 PVR is indeed 12x vehicles.
- Durham boards = 4x (30 min freq 2 hour round trip)
- West Auckland boards = 8x (30 min freq 4 hour round trip)
They've cut the 2 boards from the X21 rather than the 21 which makes sense as Michael said. It makes sense as they carried fresh air most the time anyway. The core of the 21 is between Newcastle / Gateshead and Birtley, it's very quiet after there so having the X21 every 15 minutes skipping it all didn't make much sense really.