There's been a lot of discussion on here about route numbers and how they are in a right mess, and I fully agree! You have the 1 serving North Tyneside mainly but then have the 2 serving Sunderland, the 4 mainly around Washington and Houghton, and then the 5 around South Shields. It's just all over the place. How about something this: -

North Tyneside - 1-50

Gateshead area - 50-100

Consett area - 101-150

County Durham area - 151-200

Washington Area - 201-250

Sunderland area - 251-300

South Shields - 301-350 etc

This is just an example. Ok there may not be 50 bus routes in one area but this would make room for any potential new routes for each area in the future. Routes to major attractions such as the MetroCentre should start with the letter of the main attraction it serves, so the X66 would become the M1 for example. All Xlines would be renumbered but retain the X at the start. Just a thought.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/2...carbuncle/

I've mentioned this in other threads (ECML possibly), but it probably deserves one of its own.

1550 (NK14 GFY) & 1552 (NK14 GGA) has been repainted at Bus & Coach World Blackburn into Journey Mark's

1550 - https://flickr.com/photos/62607125@N08/5...ateposted/
1552 - https://flickr.com/photos/62607125@N08/5...ateposted/

Photos by Chris Hinds.

So i had a thought to what the 24's allocation will be.
We'll either have the Violet Citaros that are coming off the 55 if they do not go on the Blue branding
or typical Streetlites.

I wonder if the 24 will get branding in the future obviously when GNE have the money and time to do it

Had no idea where to put this so stuck it here

Mouth of the tyne festival return to Tynemouth on the 8th/9th&10th July

A park and ride shuttle we be in place from the car park near Tynemouth Sea Life Centre running every 20 minutes. No idea who's running it

Road closure includes Tynemouth front street

A screenshot of the map has been attached. Admins can move it to somewhere else on the fourm as didn't know where to put it

Does anyone know why the amount of seats free has disappeared off bus times, I never realised how much I appreciate that feature

The upcoming cuts got me thinking about how much of a success xlines has or hasn't been. Since it was introduced there have been the following changes.

X6 dropped from the brand.
X21 reduced back to half hourly from every 15 minutes to Durham.
X9 withdrawn.
X10 reduced to 2 hourly on Sundays.
X47 dropped from the brand.
X45/46 reduced from 4bph-3bph then x46 withdrawn. 
X30 extended to Consett then extension withdrawn.
X30/31 frequency reduced from every 15 minutes to half hourly.
X20 upgraded from minibus to full size singles.
X20 Sunday service introduced then withdrawn between Sunderland and Durham.
X72 introduced.

Bearing this in mind I am interested to hear as to whether people believe xlines has been a success or not and to what degree. This is intended as a debate not just a p*ssing contest. Feel free to let me know if I have missed any changes and I will amend the list.

The two week closed line between St James & Tynemouth will not have a single metro replacement running. All tickets and passes will be accepted on all buses that call close to the station. This being routes 

Arriva 306
Go North East 1,19,310
Stagecoach 12,22,39,40,62,63,317

GNE service 1 is the only bus to follow and call near all the stations with the 317 in second. 

With no Metro Replacement for two weeks. Does this mean that these services will be upgraded to decekrs for the two week period while the line is closed

Spotted two coaches belonging to NX Travel Solutions parked up in Riverside earlier, any idea what these are here for? Extras for the NX services to and from Newcastle?

I’ve flown from Newcastle Airport for decades and only just realised there’s a bus stop outside the terminal. I didn’t realise the airport was served by buses at all.

Stagecoach X78 stops on Ponteland Road but I wouldn’t class that as the airport. I wonder why they don’t use the proper airport bus stop? I’m sure people would use the bus over the Metro, workers / people who live in the west end of town. It wouldn’t add much to the journey time and I bet it would make the bus more attractive. No one wants to walk from Ponteland Road with luggage in all weathers.