This speculation about Weardale wanting Northern out of their Crook depot is incorrect. The revenue they receive for stabling, fuelling and cleaning the Pronto and OK buses is welcome and the reduction in number from 15 to 10 will make it more manageable as with both the GNE and Weardale vehicles the depot has been rather full.
Further to my post earlier today, I'd still like to see the Pronto re-branded as the OK Expressway using the current Wright/Scanias (with two extra buses liveried as 6 are required plus one spare). Single deckers would cope with most journeys and I've not been on a full Pronto decker. However I would only run one per hour from Bishop, (possibly as OK1 rather than X21 - which has been Weardale's number for their Newcastle bus for decades), but speed it up by limiting stops between Bishop and Durham then stopping only at Durham County Hall and Hospital plus once in Chester-le-Street. To give the 30 minute express frequency between Durham and Newcastle I'd run the other one per hour from Crook (OK2), again limited stop throughout. Aim for long distance passengers on this service and leave Intermediate passengers between Bishop and Durham to the Arriva 6 and between Durham and Newcastle to The Angel. Finally, as I said earlier, I'd get a couple more MPDs in OK Way livery (3 plus one spare) and run the 18 (as OK3) between Coundon, Bishop, West, Evenwood and Cockfield every 30 minutes.