(03 Apr 2014, 3:06 pm)G-CPTN wrote Whoever decided that the bus should leave before 5pm surely determined that the service was doomed . . .
With a half-hour later return departure that service would probably be alive and flourishing with regular passengers.
And an 8 hour layover?
I don't know what time the 888 departed from Newcastle a year or so ago (TBH - I thought it had ceased long before then), but a timetable I have from 1997 shows that it left Eldon Square at 16:15 for its return journey to Alston.
I agree, whoever decided to schedule the service at that time probably contributed towards its decline. However I'm absolutely amazed that it lasted around another 15 years before it was eventually axed given its dwindling patronage.