(08 Aug 2013, 2:34 pm)Andreos1 wrote(08 Aug 2013, 1:23 pm)cbma06 wrote(08 Aug 2013, 11:36 am)Andreos1 wrote(08 Aug 2013, 11:31 am)ifm001 wrote As far as I can recollect the 124 services was operated only by winlaton and started to operate when the 4775 4788 batch of vectas were delivered new. These were L reg so circa. 1994
I first became aware of it in the summer holidays when I was down Chester.
Pretty certain it didn't last long at all.
if I remember correctly that Ok Travel gived into GNE shortly afterwards, I remember that GNE gived Ok Travel a hammering along the 160/161 route between Sunderland and Herrington with the 61 every 15 minutes running in front of the Ok travel 160/161, 61 route stopped at Hetton-Le Hole from Sunderland.
Cant remember them competing in those areas, but I never had the need to be over that way then.
I remember the giant brown dashboarded Optare/Dafs that OK had going that way in rhe late 90s and Redby working a bus through Success to New Lambton
The timetable for the 61 appears somewhere in the Bygone section offering cheaper fares, greater connectivity and other such promises. Did competition provide the catalyst for the introduction for the 242 between Sunderland, Ryhope and Washington? I used to enjoy exploring new areas on buses when I was in my teens and this service definitely would have been of interest as I don't think, until recently, I'd ever explored Tunstall, Silksworth or Doxford Park. Yet, I can't recall ever noticing this service in timetables and seeing it in operation. I used to explore Sunderland quite often too after a lengthy journey from Winlaton on the 638.