(08 Feb 2015, 6:46 pm)Michael wrote I still think it should of gone in Park Lane both ways..
Stand H - Silksworth
Stand K - Washington
I actually think the new 2/2A services are better off not serving Park Lane...
I'm not sure of the exact cost, but for each departure in Park Lane, Go North East has to pay Nexus about 60p. Those travelling from Park Lane up to Chester Road have an enormous amount of buses to start with, and keeping the 2/2A on Holmeside only provides a bit of competition with Stagecoach's 16.
Let's say the departure charge is £0.60 and it did serve Park Lane in both directions. This would be 12 departures per hour, which is a total cost of £7.20/hr. Let's say there's 12 departures per hour between 7am and 7pm, accounting for any other departures outside of these hours. That is £86.40 per day. There are 52 Sundays in a year, so let's remove these altogether. 313 days multiplied by £86.40 = £27043.20 just to allow services 2/2A to serve Park Lane.
This saving, paired with the lower running costs (Optare Versas are more fuel efficient than Mercedes Citaros), could allow Go North East to use this increased profit to serve as justification to form the basis of capital expenditure to Go-Ahead. Go North East's orders for this financial year are confirmed now, so I highly doubt we'll see new buses arrive this year, but in the future, who knows..?