(02 Apr 2023, 5:47 pm)Malarkey wrote I think in regards to partnerships the 21/X12/X21 needs looking at with them being tightly timed together between Durham and Newcastle with timings shown below with all services often running together with more often than not the X21 being late due to works on the A1 and then also running together with the 21 Durham/Brandon Boards so I think the timetable for the 21/X12/X21 needs to be streamlined to a Bus operating roughly Every 10-12 Minutes between Durham and Newcastle which would offer a an improvement on the current service.

Current Timings

xx:10 / xx: 40 - 21 Departs Newcastle for Durham/Brandon
xx:13 / xx:43 - X21 Departs Newcastle for Durham
xx:20 - X12 Departs Newcastle to Durham

xx:05 / xx35 - 21 Departs Durham for Newcastle
xx:15 / xx:45 - X21 Departs Durham for Newcastle
xx:20 - X12 departs Durham for Newcastle

Suggested Revised Times

xx:10 / xx:40 - 21 Departs Newcastle for Durham/Brandon (Timings Unchanged)
xx:20 - X12 Departs Newcastle for Durham (Timings Unchanged)
xx:00 / xx:30 - X21 Departs Newcastle for Durham (Revised to operate 13 Minutes Earlier than current timings throughout entire route)

xx:10 / xx:40 - 21 Departs Durham for Newcastle (Revised to operate 5 Minutes Later than current timings throughout entire route)
xx:20 - X12 Departs Durham for Newcastle (Timings Unchanged)
xx:00/ xx:30 - X21 Departs Durham for Newcastle (Revised to operate 15 Minutes Earlier than current timings throughout entire route)

Obviously you'll notice a 20 Minute gap between xx:40 and xx:00 and would suggest increasing the X12 back to operating Every 30 Minutes as numbers from what I have seen in the past few weeks have been strong with buses being almost fully seated, Arriva have been picking up at more stops between Chester-Le-Street and Low Fell than they are meant to if the driver has seen passengers waiting at stops for a 21 from the odd occasions I have gotten the X12 as there seems to be more than enough layover time built into the X12 timetable.

Disagree with this personally.

The X21/X12 are one bus route, the 21 is another bus route and they should be timed separately. They're not really interchangeable as the 21 is so slow in comparison.

Something like the below would be better and fixes the other messy areas around there.

Durham to Bishop Auckland
X21: Every 20 Minutes, Newcastle to West Auckland
6: Every 20 Minutes, Durham to Cockfield
--- Combined Every 10 Minutes ---

Durham to Brandon
49: Every 30 Minutes
49A: Every 30 Minutes
21: Withdrawn
-- Arriva tickets usable on X12/X21 due to new partnership --

Durham to CLS
X21: Every 20 Minutes
X12: Every 30 Minutes
21: Withdrawn
-- Not Combined But Tickets Accepted On Both --

Newcastle to CLS
21: Every 15 Minutes

Newcastle to Angel
21: Every 7.5 Minutes

GoNorthEast and Arriva tickets are valid on:
X21: Newcastle to West Auckland
21: Newcastle to CLS
50: CLS to Durham
X12: Newcastle to Durham
6: Durham to Cockfield

It's a much better use of resources, have one bus focusing on the urban area and the other's focusing on the extreme areas similar to the 43 and X10/X11 between Newcastle and Cramlington / Blyth. The 21 is a bit pointless nowadays since the X21 stops everywhere; the 21 similar being pointless doing Arnison as it's duplicating the 50 and causes delays on the rest of the route.