(09 Jan 2015, 7:03 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote They may combine every 10 minutes but:
- Passengers on the X21 are having to suffer longer journey times because of it and poor reliability.
- It doesn't truly combine in Bedlington leaving 15 minute gaps causing reliability problems on the X22.
- The X20 can be a very unreliable service at times.
- The vehicle type is not suited to the X21 / X22 unlike the heavy duty B9TL.
- Limited connections south and west of Newcastle.
- No radio control in event of breakdowns, emergencies or delays.
- The X51 / X52 would only take 52 minutes from Ashington to Newcastle (or just under or over 1hr mark during peaks)
- The X31 / X32 was proven and well used and the X51 / X52 would offer a similar format.
- The X51 and X52 would offer a more frequent service than the X21 (upto every 15 Mon to Sat / 30 eve and Sun) and provide the most frequent and fastest service between Bedlington Red Lion and Newcastle.
It's like if I was travelling to Blaydon, Ryton or Crawcrook from Newcastle, I would use the most frequent and fastest combined group of services (TEN) then if I wanted any local links along route such as Scotswood Rd or Newcastle Business Park, I would use less frequent Toon Link service 11. I wouldn't expect GNE to come up with silly detours and combined frequencies for the sake of it
The journey would only be a few minutes difference at best. Your proposed services would suffer from their own reliability issues, if it was anything more than that. Is reliability really that poor? With them being Sapphire services, I can't see it being the case for very long, as Sapphire offers a money back guarantee.
Normal passengers aren't going to be too fussed about vehicle, as long as it looks smart and presentable, and feels comfortable, which the Sapphire services do. Again, they're not going to care about the lack of a two way radio, as they most likely won't know.
You mention limited connections south and west of Newcastle, but wouldn't GNE passengers suffer the same fate in Bedlington and Ashington?