(14 Apr 2022, 8:41 pm)mb134 wrote No you're right, but that new estate surrounding the hospital is going to be huge. I'd imagine you could loop it by adding 3-4 minutes to the running time. At the moment the shorts get 14 minutes to get from Ashington Bus Station, to the hospital, and back where it's realistically more than achievable in 8 or so - so add that loop in and you've still got a couple of minutes sitting time at Ashington.
The Widdrington's look a tad more difficult, but you could cut the sitting time at Ashington from the current 4 minutes to 2, and then slice a minute off at both Widdrington and Blyth?
Not to the houses that are currently being built by the Spine Road though?
Forgot about those ones, I'm hoping that they are joining the estate to the south west of the hospital to the brand new estate - if so, they can divert the 1, X20 and X21 through there and build a new stop opposite the hospital's main entrance for Ashington-bound services. Doing that would mean there's no stops missed.
If they connect the estates then there's no need for lengthy loops, just running straight through.