(30 Oct 2014, 10:27 am)marxistafozzski wrote Excuse me for being numb here...
What exactly does split registration mean, in the case of the X7 does it basically mean GNE operate two seperate X7's...An X7 from Sunderland to Peterlee and an X7 that operates between P'lee and M'boro...
Does that make sense?
The full Middlesbrough to Sunderland route is over the 50km (about 34 miles) restriction that requires vehicles to be fitted with a tachograph (as per the X9/X10, X15/X18 and X93). It also restricts the driver's hour as they would be on the European hours (maximum single stint is 4 hours 30 minutes, compared to the 5 hours 30 minutes on domestic driving hours). By splitting the service, it avoids the need for a tachograph and also frees the drivers shift pattern up.
Officially here, the Arriva routes done like that (X4/4, X1/X2, 21/X21 and 85/685) are the way it should be done - 2 different legs with different service numbers. However, Stagecoach's split routes across the county are just split using the same route number throughout.