(13 Aug 2013, 3:43 pm)Daniel wrote Following on from discussion in the Go North East discussion thread, I thought I would draft out some of my suggestions here...
Assuming more people are like me and switch to the X9 from the X7 at Peterlee heading towards Middlesbrough, I would personally time the X7 so that it was 30 minutes before/after the X9. This would mean that the X9 did not arrive Peterlee earlier than the X7, and passengers would be best off staying on the X7 - providing they didn't want the WiFi and/or plug sockets and would prefer to wait 30 minutes in a bus station and get to Middlesbrough later than they should have done!
If Go North East were to do this, they could boast about having a thirty minute frequency between their services from Peterlee to Middlesbrough.
I would also ensure that a guaranteed connection at Peterlee to the X35 from the X9 was put in place - a better connection than the one at present. Again, this would allow for a thirty minute frequency between their services from Peterlee to Sunderland.
Ideally, Go North East need to run their service ahead of any competition from Arriva too - they should be aiming to steal the competition's passengers!
The whole idea of the current timing is it runs from Peterlee in front of the 21A (when the X7 turns up anyway...) and pinches all of the passengers for Wingate and Stockton. The same happens in reverse in that it operates through Station Town and Wingate towards Peterlee just in front of the 21A.
Of course whether the X7 is just pinching passengers off the X9 and therefore spreading the loads across 2 services who knows...