The 74A terminates at Matfen on a Sunday. It also starts/finishes at Newcastle. If this is also a separate contract then there is no reason why Arriva or even Stagecoach can't bid for this tender. However, if both services are included in the same tender, then there would be a lot of dead mileage running to Hexham and back during the week.
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I am lead to believe, that the Sunday 74A Starts at Hexham as service X84, and finishes at Hexham as X84. This is why the times of X84 are at 'strange' times. The additional trips on X84 are meal relief trips I believe.

My opinion is that the 74A on Sunday should be operated by Saltmeadows using a Solo, and the X84 should be retimed to provide more convenient times, and be run by Saltmeadows as well using a solo, or a Quaylink. (with trips Newcastle-Ovington only).