(19 Mar 2024, 1:15 pm)Adrian wrote I really don't think that'd be the case. At that time of the evening, the X1 is very much a 'drop-off' service between Gateshead and Houghton, and it only serves a handful of stops anyway. 

As much as I have sympathy for drivers getting an earful from customers, I don't think it's a good enough reason to avoid taking action to get a bus back running on time. 

This was just a single example too. There's plenty of times that we've seen extremely late 21s or 56s going into Newcastle, instead of transferring them onto the one behind and turning at Gateshead. Doing that saves the bus about 20 minutes, and is usually all it needs to get back on time. 


I think the X1 needs to go back to every 10 (or even 12) minutes, that's the problem. I don't think BSIP money should be funding that, when most buses between Newcastle and Washington are packed.

If you're going to use BSIP money to develop an express, then it should be a Washington Galleries to Heworth express. Concord to there isn't too bad, as it's around a 17 minute journey time, but the Galleries acts as a hub to other services feeding it. Running non-stop, you'd probably be able to do the journey in 15 minutes.

The spokes feeding it (generally the 8/82/84/85) would have a maximum journey of about 12 minutes before either reaching the Galleries or Concord for an (X4*)/4, so if you managed your connections correctly, you'd be laughing.

I'd actually take the Ayton part from the 50 and add it to that, and you should still be able to run a half hourly service with 2 buses.