(11 Jan 2015, 6:17 pm)Kuyoyo wrote More a day ticket that could be used all day (as it's also valid on 1/1b) plus for the fare paying passengers, a guaranteed daily service from the provider helped more than merely being timed 5 minutes in front.

The majority of customers on the X1 were (and possibly still are) OAPs. The reason the X1 got these passengers was because the X1 was timed five minutes in front, and this was therefore the main reason why the X1 was successful.

Arriva had the upper-hand with the onward connections in Darlington, which is why they had more fare-paying customers anyway... Go North East got the ones who could come in on a Go North East bus into Bishop Auckland, and the ones who wanted a direct bus to Middlesbrough, but that was it.