(17 Mar 2015, 6:11 pm)mb134 wrote My main annoyance, and why (I think it was me) I raised the point, was that there clearly is a legal way of making up time, as there is a group of drivers who are always on time, so they are clearly doing something right, which is also sensible and legal.I don't think everything is down to the vehicles allocated to a service as there is a Sapphire driver at Belmont on the 7 who always drives really slowly and has been doing so for a while, he was on the 7 I got yesterday and arrived in Darlington around 4 minutes late then left Darlington about a minute late and was back on-time when we got to Harrowgate Hill, Ashleigh House but we ended up arriving at Aycliffe Village 3 minutes late by driving slowly although we also got stuck behind a horse too. We were about 4 minutes late leaving Aycliffe Town Centre.
To me, this suggests that some drivers simply do not want to run on time, for whatever reason this may be, which is also clear to see once you board the vehicle, taking too long to open/close doors, pulling away slowly, driving below the speed limit even when they are late.
So, although I agree that the vehicles aren't the best, and better vehicles could be used on the route, I think there is another reason behind the late running. I guess it could be a mixture of driving style and the vehicle though?
On a previous occasion we arrived in Durham Bus Station 6 minutes late, despite this being a morning journey with extra running time but no traffic so if anything we should have arrived early not late which caused me to miss the X21 to Newcastle and I'd have missed the X2 as well but thankfully it was late. He has made me miss several connections in Durham and annoyed other passengers by driving so slow.