(07 Apr 2014, 3:03 pm)Dan wrote I honestly don't get why there is such a huge uproar about the X3. I mean, these service changes have been in place for two and a half months and I'd have assumed that would be enough time for people to get over it, but crikey...
Because Go North East also introduced service X36 on a higher frequency, nothing major has changed for passengers travelling between Sunderland City Centre and Boldon, Heworth, Gateshead or Newcastle.
Comparing the old X3 to the current X36, there is not much of a difference in journey times. Although the journey time has increased a little, I find that the X36 timetable is a lot easier to stick to. In addition to this, an increased layover has been given to drivers in Sunderland owing to the interworking of services X35 and X36. The most notable change is that service X36 is now allocated different stock to what was previously allocated to service X3. These vehicles are newer, and this should also assist with reliability. These vehicles are branded and this immediately pushes service X36 up the route hierarchy (generally speaking, branded services are more of a priority than corporate liveried services).
The only people who have a right to complain are the ones who boarded the service between Seaburn Metro and West Boldon (Addison Road - near the Post Office). These people have lost their direct service to Heworth, Gateshead and Newcastle - though the passenger numbers were incredibly low on this section anyway, hardly any of which were fare paying customers. They still have service X3, but to most it will be pointless. They also have service 9 which now runs at a higher frequency, and can take them to Boldon ASDA, connecting to an X36. I agree that connecting to another bus isn't as appealing, but it is still relatively easy to get to the places they could before.
Simply put, service X3 exists for operational convenience. It interworks with scholars which means that Go North East don't have to have the scholar service as a standalone service. I've said before that I think it'll be withdrawn when we get to the summer holidays. Whether Go North East drop the scholar(s) that the X3 currently interworks with when it comes to September, or whether they will look at a different way of fitting it in, I don't know.
If passenger numbers weren't 'a joke' on service X3 previously, it would still exist in its previous form now. Go North East are a business, and services have to make a profit. Much like other industries, the product is quite often discontinued if it isn't making a profit.
It's not just me sick of hearing about the X3 and Arriva's X93 then?
The X3 has been a failure ever since it started. I'm really surprised it's lasted this long. I used to use the service every other day, at different times of the day, for a few month. I generally had the bus to myself from Sunderland until Heworth, where you'd get a few waiting for the next bus between Heworth and Newcastle, regardless of what it was.
The problem with connections though is that it forces customers to buy a day ticket, unless they're regular users. I'd say this decreases the appeal of public transport for occasional users. We've already got ticket overload in the North East, but perhaps there needs to be ticketing options available to take into account connections, i.e. the old A to B/Bus2Bus tickets.