(20 Mar 2018, 12:14 pm)Northern4555 wrote X11 Newcastle Durham hourly,then ontodarlington to reinstate a direct bus between Newcastle Darlington lost years ago by GNE. —x12 Newcastle to middlesbourgh ,hourly between Newcastle and Durham. every 30 mins or less, Durham - middleborough. X11/12 will give Newcastle/Durham a 30min service between both services.
(26 Apr 2018, 12:51 pm)S830OFT wrote X11: Middlesbrough - Teeside Park - Stockton - Norton - A19 - Peterlee - Seaham - Sunderland. New service to provide new fast links to Middlesbrough and Stockton from Sunderland, Seaham and Peterlee. This service will opetare hourly Mon to Sat and replace service S1 in Stockton.
X13: Blyth - Cramlington - Bedlington - Morpeth. This new route will replace service 43 between Cramlington and Morpeth.
X14: Newcastle - Regent Centre - A1 - Stannington - Morpeth - Longhorsely - Rothbury - Thropton. This service will be revised to serve Stannington recreating a link to Morpeth.
X17: Thropton - Rothbury - Cragside - Alnwick - Alnmouth Station - Amble.
New route providing a link with Rothbury.
X19: North Shields - Tynemouth - Whitley Bay - Seaton Sluice - Blyth. New route providing a route along the coast.
X20: Revised to terminate at Amble.
X14, X17 and X20 will all interwork on most journeys (although X14 and X17 will operate every 2 hours)
(13 Jun 2018, 8:42 pm)S830OFT wrote 56: North Shields - Tynemouth - Whitley Bay - Monkseaton - Northumberland Park.
New service linking Whitley Bay with Northumberland Park. This new service will allow service 306 to no longer serve Whitley Bay. This service will operate every 30 minutes.
(14 Jun 2018, 6:35 pm)Malarkey wrote Some suggestions for Newcastle to Darlington Express ServicesTicket prices would have to drop to compete with the GNE 21/X21.
X6 - Newcastle - Gateshead - Chester-Le-Street - Durham - Tudoe - Spennymoor - Bishop Auckland - Cockfield - Ingleton - Darlington - (Hourly)
X6A - Newcastle - Gateshead - Chester-Le-Street - Durham - Tudoe - Spennymoor - Bishop Auckland - Tindale - Shildon - Darlington - (Hourly)
X7 - Newcastle - Gateshead - Chester-Le-Street - Durham - Croxdale - Ferryhill - Newton Aycliffe - Darlington - (Hourly)
X13 - Newcastle - Gateshead - Chester-Le-Street - Durham - Sedgefield - Stockton - Harrogate Hill - Darlington - (Hourly)
Alongside X12 services will run on a combined frequency of up to Every 10 Minutes between Newcastle, Durham and Darlington operating Monday to Saturday daytime.
(16 Jun 2018, 12:25 pm)JM03 wrote Ticket prices would have to drop to compete with the GNE 21/X21.There should be no need to reduce ticket prices as Arriva prices are lower than GNE 21/X21. Example GNE Durham - Newcastle return £6.50 while Arriva offer unlimited travel between Durham and Newcastle with an X12 route saver for only £5. GNE Chester le Street to Newcastle single £3.60 while Arriva charge £3.10.
(16 Jun 2018, 1:55 pm)GuyParkRoyal wrote There should be no need to reduce ticket prices as Arriva prices are lower than GNE 21/X21. Example GNE Durham - Newcastle return £6.50 while Arriva offer unlimited travel between Durham and Newcastle with an X12 route saver for only £5. GNE Chester le Street to Newcastle single £3.60 while Arriva charge £3.10.
Prices are similar on the Durham to Bishop Auckland section with a GNE Auckland Castle ticket at £5.20 compared to a Sapphire 6 ticket at £5.00.
If Arriva were to increase the service frequency as proposed in the above service suggestion they could justify a small fare increase.
(16 Jun 2018, 1:55 pm)GuyParkRoyal wrote There should be no need to reduce ticket prices as Arriva prices are lower than GNE 21/X21. Example GNE Durham - Newcastle return £6.50 while Arriva offer unlimited travel between Durham and Newcastle with an X12 route saver for only £5. GNE Chester le Street to Newcastle single £3.60 while Arriva charge £3.10.
Prices are similar on the Durham to Bishop Auckland section with a GNE Auckland Castle ticket at £5.20 compared to a Sapphire 6 ticket at £5.00.
If Arriva were to increase the service frequency as proposed in the above service suggestion they could justify a small fare increase.
(19 Jun 2018, 9:31 am)mb134 wrote Which gets messy when kids are around the cut off mark.With savvy kids in T&W getting unlimited Bus, Metro, local rail and Ferry travel for £1.10 a day.
Either way, £1 from both companies makes them the exact same price for kids...
(19 Jun 2018, 7:03 pm)BusLoverMum wrote Not when you factor in the cost of getting the teen card.
(19 Jun 2018, 8:08 pm)mb134 wrote What is that, £5?Back to the Durham newcasNew corridor, frequency and reliability. Works the other way Durham to spennymoor, although arriva is 2 buses. Buggered if I'm standing at 4 lane ends for 28 minutes because I've unavoidably just missed the X21 (though I did just that with the 6 many times at its most disrupted)
So as you can have it in theory for 14 years ("valid for any young person until their 19th birthday", and you don't pay until the age of 5), it works out as pretty much nothing.
At most it's fractionally more than GNE, and that's only because Arriva are avoiding the scenario of awkward confrontations with drivers about age (I'd argue making the passenger experience more pleasant for everyone involved), and revenue protecting.
If you also take into account some of the journeys you're able to do with a teen card (X15/18, 685), then that minimal fee really isn't too bad.
Going back to the original point, Arriva have cheaper fares for adults on the mentioned services, and their child fees are all but identical, so what's everyone's issue with them?