I was just about to post something that Andreos1 has touched upon.

Is it just me or do buses today seem to be generally more unreliable than vehicles of yesteryear?

Somebody mentioned the 28/709/728 being a torturous route but is this really the case? - From Durham Road in Birtley, it ventures towards Ouston (or Urpeth Grange - I can't remember) where there's one bank. From there, it's Pelton, High Handenhold and Beamish where, granted, there is gradual incline but nothing I would consider severe. After Beamish, it's uphill to West Pelton, downhill to Grange Villa, uphill to Pelton Fell, then downhill into Chester. Again, I wouldn't consider any of these hills massively big when compared to, say, Swalwell Bank, Blaydon Bank, Shibdon Bank or Sheriff Hill. These hills have not suddenly materialised over the last ten years so, presumably, vehicles like the Optare Solo, the Nationals, Atlantieans (sp?), Bristols, MCW Metrobuses and ECW Olympians managed to operate on these type of route, albeit slowly, without any real problems.

Of course, living in the internet age, we learn of reliability issues concerning buses instantaneously through Facebook and the like when passengers complain about disruptions to their journeys. In the past, most of us wouldn't have had access to this information unless we were on a bus which broke down or whatever. So, back to my question, were buses really more reliable in the past? Or is it the case that they were just as 'unreliable', but, due to the lack of widespread coverage, we were not as aware?