(25 Mar 2023, 4:02 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Have this from the mouth of the Commercial Manager who arranged the changes
That 57 isn’t meant to be on the website.
It was dropped in favour of a revised 58 - which I believe will not serve Thornley and run direct from Wheatley Hill to Wingate.
The timetables on Arriva's website are always a mess, some of the new ones have Saturday and Sunday but no Monday-Friday times for example. Someone's obviously uploaded the original new 57 timetable - still no sign of the 58 timetable.
Doesn't surprise me that it's skipping Thornley. Operationally Arriva seem determined to reduce the PVR by a specific amount. Currently the PVR for the 49/49A/57/57A is 9, the original 57 was a PVR of 2, and a 15-minute frequency on the 49/49A a PVR of 3, so a reduction of 4. The new 58 seems to be a PVR of 3 - going off the arrival and departure times shown on the 59 timetable - and it seems like they've cut out bits including Thornley, parts of Kelloe and Bowburn to make sure it can be done standalone.
The change to the 49/49A was only registered at the same time as the 58 on the 9th of March, not when they originally registered these changes back in February. So I reckon they've reduced the frequency on the 49/49A to provide the extra bus needed for the 58 and have made sure the 58 can fit in a round 3 hour circuit - arriving at Durham and departing 5 minutes later.