(23 Nov 2014, 11:49 pm)Jimmi wrote I'm not sure if the X7 would have much demand on a Sunday as there is no East Durham services to connect to. Also I don't think that the Arriva 21 gets many passengers on a Sunday, I think if it wasn't for a decent amount of passengers travelling between Darlington and Newton Aycliffe I think it would probably not even be financially viable.You're right, and this is probably the reason why service X7 is so much of a commercial success (especially when compared to service Arriva's competing X21).
Without the local services feeding into the X7 at Peterlee, I fear the only major demand on a Sunday would be between Sunderland and Seaham, and this is already achieved (albeit in a longer period of time) by "Drifter" service 60. I'd imagine you would get a few local hops in the Peterlee area just to get the pensioners to ASDA and the like, but nothing special.
I've used service 21 from Darlington to Peterlee on three or four occasions on Sundays now at different times of the day. I've always been the only passenger to do the full journey, and passenger numbers have been more or less near the mark of ten on the entire journey. It seems to pick up a few in Darlington and these get off at Newton Aycliffe, then there's nothing until you get closer to Peterlee where it also picks up a few.