(30 Oct 2014, 10:34 am)Kuyoyo wrote 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.
So really it should be 7/X7 IF IT followed the Arriva example...
Ya live and learn
