(28 Dec 2014, 10:05 pm)Jimmi wrote The sandwiching of the X21 between the 22/23 is an afterthought which I think could lead to it's demise, what I think Arriva should do is have two X21s an hour with one connecting from the 21 and the other from the 21A and time it so the services leave Park Lane every 10 minutes, flaws in this plan is the 21A runs just behind the X7 and it would be tricky to get the departures from Peterlee to Sunderland right due to the difference in journey times on the 22/23/X21. Another suggestion would be to retime the 21/21A so it is not running on top of the X7, problem is the 1/5/5A, 8/8A, X1 and possibly the 7 would also have to be changed to keep the 7/8 frequency between Darlington and Newton Aycliffe.

Certainly don't think that the market is big enough for six Arriva services per hour between Sunderland and Peterlee - I think that the current five is too much, if I'm honest, as Arriva already have buses leaving Sunderland empty throughout the day... Have noticed some growth on the 23 since the new buses came in, but it hasn't been substantial.

It's always going to be awkward fitting the X21 in around the streamlined 15-minute frequency of the 22/23 though - and at the moment it would seem that Arriva's only choices are to put the X21 in front of one of the 22/23 services and those services suffering as all the passengers will go for the X21 instead, or keep things as they are at present with the X21 only leaving with a couple of passengers at the most out of Sunderland...