(03 Apr 2021, 1:23 pm)Adrian wrote I think people are massively over-thinking this. Its a one-run a day service, clearly designed for a day-trip/tourist market to Whitby and Scarborough.
Not being able to use the X11 as an alternative to the X9/X10 service is not going to piss people off to the point of using the train. There's an X9 that leaves Newcastle 8 minutes earlier, and from a completely different place, and an X10 that leaves 22 minutes later. The walk to Newcastle station, waiting for a once-an-hour train to Middlesbrough (that takes longer! and will cost you £12 return) is hardly worth the tantrum.
It doesn't need to be integrated into an already simple to understand X9/X10 service. There is a frequent enough service between the two destinations and is easy to remember that it departs at xx.02 and xx.32 from Newcastle or xx.15 and xx.45 from Middlesbrough each hour. How do you integrate a one a day service into that? You really can't.
I don't understand the points about branding confusion. The service departs from different places at all the bus stations it serves and the destination will tell you where it's going. If you're suggesting "just because it's Xlines", then what about the X7 Pulsars from Newcastle to Blyth and the X12 Pulsars from Newcastle to Middlesbrough? I'd be surprised if a single customer has ever been confused enough to get those two mixed up.
If you don't want to go to Whitby or Scarborough, then use the existing services and existing ticket range available.
It's not just the livery, it's the branding as a whole.
Here's a hypothetical scenario:
Let's say GNE wanted to run a once a day service from Newcastle to Barnard Castle.
They already have a service called the X21 so they think why not call it the X22 because it goes a similar direction.
It serves Chester le Street, Durham, and even Bishop Auckland along the route, the same as the X21 (albeit a different stand)
They even use the same buses that they use on the X21
But because it's a 'special' service, you can only use X22 tickets on the X22, even on common sections of the route.
I think we can all agree that would be a stupid idea, and would cause major confusion to passengers. So why is it different for the X10 and X11? The number is only incremented by 1 so surely it must just be a normal service!
They could have called it anything, heck even the X69420, but no, they picked X11
(03 Apr 2021, 1:30 pm)Ianthegoon wrote I think the branding confusion point was being made because the X11 and the X9 / X10 share both branding AND destinations - the punter can look at the front, recognise it as "an X-Lines that's going where I want", and attempt to get on.
Exactly