(23 Feb 2014, 6:05 pm)palatine3833 wrote I have no idea where people are getting the impression that everyone has about the 23/24 not doing very well between Sunderland and Peterlee. I did the 1737 23 to Hartlepool on Thursday and took £41 on one trip alone, which doesn't sound a lot, but considering that there were 36 passengers on at one point is quite good justification of new buses. Strangely, there seem to be more people using the 23/24 to travel from Sunderland to Grangetown and Ryhope than there used to be, even when there are both a 60 and 61 sitting on the stands alongside.

Although the X7/X35 connection does give a similar journey time to the 23, that is only an hourly service whereas Arriva can boast a 15 minute service from Sunderland to Hartlepool, with the 23 running direct and the 22/24 connecting at Peterlee.

You had standees on the 23? If I'd have seen it for myself, I'd have collapsed. Seriously, I have never seen it with more than approximately 10 passengers, and that is the peak journeys around the time you mentioned. The early morning runs (from 8am) run almost empty compared to Go North East's services which operate full to the brim (Sunderland-bound especially).

I only ever travel between Ryhope and Sunderland and I'll only use the 23 if that turns up before the other services along that corridor. I can't account for a large number of the journeys, but the ones I can account for are the ones where services are usually at their best. From there I can only account for Saturday day time arrivals in Peterlee and Hartlepool, and they're really not the best...

Well, I hope the increased passenger numbers between Sunderland and Grangetown/Ryhope aren't POP card holders. They may be refused travel, made to pay bus fare despite having the correct ticket or humiliated in front of (very few) other passengers.

(23 Feb 2014, 6:11 pm)tyresmoke wrote Let's not forget that the 23 takes 70 minutes in both directions, and thats with a direct service rather than a connection that, in times of disruption especially, could go wrong. If you are travelling from Hartlepool for example then GNE's comparative journey time is 89 minutes versus the 70 minutes that the 23 takes, not to mention an earlier service on a morning for those who use it to get to and from work.
Brand new vehicles to be launched in the summer on service 23 will compare well with the Scanias used on the X35 I'm sure, to be of a similar size and operating at a similar frequency.

Is this a suggestion that with the new vehicles will come a decreased frequency? Oh dear.