(10 Dec 2022, 11:21 am)Rob44 wrote In my view, and that of those in the office with me know they would rather a bus turned up the have loads and bells and whistle. As one lad told me i"ts nice to have a table, a nice seat and heat but it makes F**K all diffence to me when it doesnt turn up and im soaked to the skin  and freezing!"

As someone who gets the bus on a daily basis and as someone who is learning to drive, for me to keep getting the bus once I pass my test, It would have to have USBs, comfy seats etc for me to get it but also someone who lives on the outskirts of GNE's network in a sense. I feel with the tables etc is more to keep the current passengers. For me someone who lives in Seaham to get to Newcastle I would have to either get the 60 then the 65/61 (both reduced and then the 62 was axed) and the X6 but they're always rammed, then the X10 or stay on the 60 for 35m and then get the 56. Other than the X10 and occasionally the 61 depending on allocations don't have chargers. With timings, the 65 from Seaham arrives at DP 10 mins after the X10 leaves, the X6 20 mins after, and the 61 gets you there 5 mins before or 30 mins after but not to mention every time I've got the X10 from Dalton Park excluding on a Sunday, I've had to stand to Newcastle and tbh it's not that bad but I haven't been able to take advantage of tables, comfy seats, USB etc.

But if I lived in Chopwell, Rowlands Gill, Winlaton, Stanley, Consett, the 10's corridor. For any of them, I would be much more likely to get the bus to Newcastle even after all the cuts once I can drive because it would be so much easier, but with me living so far I would get the car as the connections are better. The last X10 I could get is 20:20, so I would miss a 65 and a 61A at DP so I either have to get picked up or wait an hour for a 61A then change onto a 60. 

I know GNE can't run services all over the place to everywhere, so an X1 extension to Seaham might not be bad for a trial run. 

So the latest bus I could get from Newcastle is the 21:45 56, which is late I'll admit but it gets into Sunderland with a 7-minute connection as the 23:30 only goes to Seaham so I would have to walk, but again not to mention the 60/56 doesn't have chargers that work.

Over the whole 56 fleets including the corporate (6087 and the Pride bus), I've found 3 sockets that actually worked out of all of them, obviously, it'll be very hard to check them all, every socket, every bus.