(02 Jan 2015, 5:37 pm)Malarkey wrote Unfortunately my Phone died after the above post en-route to the MetroCentre, after going along Askew Road the Driver made the rather idiotic decision of going onto Motorway past the Dunston turn off and joining the A1 to The MetroCentre, I think had he took the X66 Route it would of saved him 10 Minutes as we got stuck in Traffic on A1 and again coming into The MetroCentre, so rather than Departing 6 Minutes Late as I had predicted he left almost 20 Minutes Late.

3943 had originally been on the X88 circa 1pm at Washington Galleries, come 2pm it was an Ex London President which is the one I got on to the MetroCentre, the President was then replaced by 3943 for the 15:18pm from The MetroCentre which was again Late due to Roadworks on the A1, The Driver took the Normal Route back to Washington until the Roundabout at the bottom of Eighton Banks, where he decided to go off to Left and along past the Mill House and onto the X1 Route into The Galleries, which I thought was rather odd as he should of continued around to the Right and down the Motorway between Oxlcose/Blackfell, again this would of saved him a few Minutes, by this point I dont think he really cared as either way he going to be Late.

Upon arrival into The Galleries Connections 4 Citaro "5359" did the 15:55pm X88 from Washington Galleries to Time Correct the Late Running 3943, Personally I dont think what I have experienced today on the X88 will change anytime soon and I would advise that GNE use the Alternative Route taken to MetroCentre as Detailed in Previous Posts both there and back rather than using the A1, Perhaps putting in a Vosa Registration to amend Route and Timetable would be a good idea as Reliability of the Service is Awful at the Moment. 

Unfortunately the X88 doesn't have large layover times on the timetable and I have witnessed late running even when there has been no problems on the A1.

Unfortunately there isn't alot that can not be done as going down the A1 can make it late but running different routes can also cause delays to the service all they could do is add extra running time to the service which would require extra buses to cover the service. It's not just the X88 that has this problem the X22 and X24 also have this problem and the worst thing about the X22 is it interworks with the 14 so it can be delayed too, the X24 doesn't have many problems if it arrives back in Durham late as it has a 34 minute layover before its next trip.

Sadly the roadworks are expected to last until March 2016 which sounds so depressing.