(29 May 2014, 4:42 pm)Dan wrote Is it a Stanley-bound one or a Sunderland-bound one?
If it's the latter, I can't provide an excuse for GNE. If it's the former, then it takes them between 10 and 20 minutes to get down the bank on Chester Road from 16:00 to about 17:00 - every weekday, without fail. The roundabout should be controlled by traffic lights and there should be two lanes for the bank and perhaps it wouldn't cause such hideous traffic each day.
I use the Lime 8 and 78 on a daily basis, like I do the 21. I don't travel on the 8 in the direction of Stanley every day, but on the many times I have on 'adventures', I can't name a single time it's pulled out at exactly 15 or 45 minutes past or to; even if late by just a minute or two.
I suppose that may also ought to driver changeovers, traffic etc.