As for Bedlington Station......if Arriva re-routed the X21 back via Hartford Road (40 mins instead of 45 via Nedderton), would only be 8 minutes slower than the train.

Also, could there be scope for the X9 route to do the X10 route between Shankhouse & Newcastle? Again, could make it competitive from Bebside.

Only issue with both of the above is which secondary services could pick up the slack