(31 Jul 2026, 9:13 pm)realseb265 wrote Personally, I think the X6 should be extended to Hartlepool to fill a gap the 23 left when it got curtailed to Peterlee.

Agreed, however, it would still be competing with the 23 between Peterlee and Hartlepool, which I think GNE want to stay out of.

342/343 Wallsend- Kingston Park (342) Cramlington Hospital (343)- short 342's renumbered to 343 and extends to Cramlington Hostpital Grounds via Four Lane Ends and West Moor, then runs the same route as the 342 to Burradon, then via Weestlade Road, Dudley Lane, Cramlington Shops, Northumbrian Road, Village Road, part restoring links lost through the withdrawal of the 42/42A and offering better links to the Hospital

Since the 16/16A/47/X5/X15/X45 is a bit of a mess with the changes over the past 5 years I think this possible suggestion could try and relax some issues more on the Newcastle/Metrocentre corridor.

16: Replace the X5/X15 for the Consett to Castleside corridor. To replace the X5/X15.
Redone 16A: Consett to Durham via Lanchester, Burnhope, Annfield Plain, Stanley and Sacriston. It would be an extra bus to Lanchester from Consett but would replace the 6 from Stanley to Burnhope. It would fix the issues raised from the no Sunday bus in Burnhope.
47: Consett - Chopwell extension removed. However, extended through to Winlaton, not serving the Bus Station and rejoining back at Swalwell Roundabout.
Reintroduce the X46: People would rather have this than deal with overcrowded X45s or the long 47 ride.

X5/X15: Extended to Chopwell. Its a wild suggestion but once the X5/X15 reach Consett they will then go on to go through Genesis Way, Shotley Bridge Hospital, Ebchester Bank/Hill, Blackhall Mill and then Chopwell turnaround. This suggested extension would provide those living on the 10A route a connection at Chopwell and Blackhall a new connection over to Durham. It would be a faster journey than heading over to Newcastle or Gateshead to catch the X12/X21 or 21. Both routes would cover the Consett to Shotley Bridge Hospital/Chopwell corridor but overall it would benefit mainly Chopwell and Blackhall of a new city connection to Durham

(01 Aug 2026, 3:59 pm)V514DFT wrote 342/343 Wallsend- Kingston Park (342) Cramlington Hospital (343)- short 342's renumbered to 343 and extends to Cramlington Hostpital Grounds via Four Lane Ends and West Moor, then runs the same route as the 342 to Burradon, then via Weestlade Road, Dudley Lane, Cramlington Shops, Northumbrian Road, Village Road, part restoring links lost through the withdrawal of the 42/42A and offering better links to the Hospital

I had a similar idea - heres the timetables I made if anyone’s interested

I made the 342 more direct, not serving Benton Asda, reduced the M71 to hourly and made a new shuttle bus - 344 between Kingston Park and Dinnington. 342/344/M71 interwork with 3 buses 

343 covers Benton Asda as well as holystone park and reinstates the Wallsend-Cramlington Link, it runs on its own with 2 buses, although 1 early morning 342 runs onto the 343 for the rest of the day.

342/343 depart Killingworth and Wallsend every 30 mins roughly
If you’re travelling to Kingston park on 342/344/M71 you have around 30-40 mins for your return journey which is also nice. 

These changes only increase the PVR by 1 and keep most of the links bar the airport, however having gotten the 342 from hazelrigg to Kingston park and back today today I can confirm nobody got on or off AT ALL anywhere between Hazelrigg and Kingston park both times, so I think users of the 342 would much rather it do straight to Kingston park as the Airport diversion is extremely annoying.

I think the whole idea behind the 342 serving the Airport again was to reinstate what was lost when the 42A was withdrawn (before that the Nexus 353), but yes i get where you're coming from

(01 Aug 2026, 3:59 pm)V514DFT wrote 342/343 Wallsend- Kingston Park (342) Cramlington Hospital (343)- short 342's renumbered to 343 and extends to Cramlington Hostpital Grounds via Four Lane Ends and West Moor, then runs the same route as the 342 to Burradon, then via Weestlade Road, Dudley Lane, Cramlington Shops, Northumbrian Road, Village Road, part restoring links lost through the withdrawal of the 42/42A and offering better links to the Hospital

See if I had a free card I'd swap everything round and do something like

342: Morpeth - Bedlington - East Hartford - Cramlington - Killingworth - Forest Hall - Wallsend (Every 30 Minutes)
43: Curtail at Cramlington
353: Extend to Airport

Having double deckers on the 43 between Cramlington and Morpeth is overkill as an understatement and the route over Cramlington overs nothing anyway as it's just a long X21/X22, depending where you are. There's no real lost links now the 19 exists which is just a faster 353 from Cramlington but there's a fair few new links generated.

You could make a case for flipping the 342 and 353 around in Forest Hall aswell tbh so the 353 serves ASDA and the 342 doesn't have to do a detour to turn around. Unsure how many at the Palmersville side use it though.

(01 Aug 2026, 7:38 pm)Storx wrote See if I had a free card I'd swap everything round and do something like

342: Morpeth - Bedlington - East Hartford - Cramlington - Killingworth - Forest Hall - Wallsend (Every 30 Minutes)
43: Curtail at Cramlington
353: Extend to Airport

Having double deckers on the 43 between Cramlington and Morpeth is overkill as an understatement and the route over Cramlington overs nothing anyway as it's just a long X21/X22, depending where you are. There's no real lost links now the 19 exists which is just a faster 353 from Cramlington but there's a fair few new links generated.

You could make a case for flipping the 342 and 353 around in Forest Hall aswell tbh so the 353 serves ASDA and the 342 doesn't have to do a detour to turn around. Unsure how many at the Palmersville side use it though.

I can tell you now flipping the 342 and 353 wouldn't go down well, the 342 has served ASDA since (atleast) the days of the 319 and to be honest is no different to when the 343/344/355 detoured to the bus stop that used to be outside the Pennine Showroom, even the 322 did it back in the day when it ran to Four Lane Ends, yes you can argue that some people would get off at Killingworth to do their shopping at Morrisons, but not all people do and do prefer ASDA, you'd also be cutting off Forest Hall South (before/after the flyover) and Benton if the 342 was stopped from serving ASDA, there's likely other reasons as to why it wouldn't be wise, but on an unrealated topic, if its any service that needs sorting out, its that stupid routing of the 356 when its bound for Newcastle, it also usually turns up at the same time as the one bound for Whitley Bay, there is no reason why it can't do what the Arriva 351 used to do around Feetham Avenue/Meadway, it used to use the bus stop's on the other side of the road as a guide as to where to pickup/drop off, in a perfect world the 355 would be every half an hour to maintain the 1 stop that would be left out if the 356 were rerouted when its bound for Newcastle

(01 Aug 2026, 7:38 pm)Storx wrote See if I had a free card I'd swap everything round and do something like

342: Morpeth - Bedlington - East Hartford - Cramlington - Killingworth - Forest Hall - Wallsend (Every 30 Minutes)
43: Curtail at Cramlington
353: Extend to Airport

Having double deckers on the 43 between Cramlington and Morpeth is overkill as an understatement and the route over Cramlington overs nothing anyway as it's just a long X21/X22, depending where you are. There's no real lost links now the 19 exists which is just a faster 353 from Cramlington but there's a fair few new links generated.

You could make a case for flipping the 342 and 353 around in Forest Hall aswell tbh so the 353 serves ASDA and the 342 doesn't have to do a detour to turn around. Unsure how many at the Palmersville side use it though.

353 (53 back then) used to when the roundabout was there and was taken out of Asda which annoyed quite a few people who I knew who used to use the 53 to the asda since it was an easy quick shop to get to if they prefer asda. Which a lot did and didn't favor traveling and walking down to Asda at Cramlington 

I always said they should have sent it back via the asda either u-turn in the asda car park or send it to the range roundabout further down to u-turn. I do wonder if this was to be brought back would it give some people the link back

---

(01 Aug 2026, 6:01 pm)V514DFT wrote I think the whole idea behind the 342 serving the Airport again was to reinstate what was lost when the 42A was withdrawn (before that the Nexus 353), but yes i get where you're coming from

Nexus and the Airport have had an odd history 

I remember for (cant actually remember how long it lasted) but I remember before becoming the 42A the 353 was pulled out of serving the Airport all together and would just bypass it without serving it

I cant or still dont understand why they did it in the first place only for it to be sent back in there when the 42A was introduced then cut once again when the 342 replaced it but then again when the 342 was introduced it was just a quick way of saying "eh cut it from Airport" 

Im assuming this was done cause the M71 was withdrawn so maybe driver hours wouldn't match up and they would have had to be taken off somewhere other than Wallsend so just decided to cut the Airport part. Mad nothing replaced it so the Airport Dinnington & Kingston Park link was left abandoned for 3 years before finally coming back

(01 Aug 2026, 8:31 pm)V514DFT wrote I can tell you now flipping the 342 and 353 wouldn't go down well, the 342 has served ASDA since (atleast) the days of the 319 and to be honest is no different to when the 343/344/355 detoured to the bus stop that used to be outside the Pennine Showroom, even the 322 did it back in the day when it ran to Four Lane Ends, yes you can argue that some people would get off at Killingworth to do their shopping at Morrisons, but not all people do and do prefer ASDA, you'd also be cutting off Forest Hall South (before/after the flyover) and Benton if the 342 was stopped from serving ASDA, there's likely other reasons as to why it wouldn't be wise, but on an unrealated topic, if its any service that needs sorting out, its that stupid routing of the 356 when its bound for Newcastle, it also usually turns up at the same time as the one bound for Whitley Bay, there is no reason why it can't do what the Arriva 351 used to do around Feetham Avenue/Meadway, it used to use the bus stop's on the other side of the road as a guide as to where to pickup/drop off, in a perfect world the 355 would be every half an hour to maintain the 1 stop that would be left out if the 356 were rerouted when its bound for Newcastle

Aye no arguments about ASDA, they'd both serve it. I meant flip them around like:


btw I was thinking about your hospital links and I'd be tempted to split up the 19/342 into loops and takeover the 354 from Killingworth to Gosforth. Something like:


318/319: North Shields - Cramlington (Hospital) Loop
320/321: Killingworth - Gosforth - Kenton - Kingston Park - Airport - Dinnington - Seaton Burn - Dudley - Killingworth Loop

They're both subsidised services so be nice to try and actually do something with them rather than funding the same services which aren't commercially viable and make new links which are seriously missing right now.

There's a fair few new links there to major points like:
Forest Hall - Quorum
Kenton - Quorum
Kingston Park - Kenton
Gosforth / Kenton - Airport
Gosforth - BT / Quorum West

What you do with the 335/342/353/354 I'd let someone else decide.

The 318/319 around here locally would be very popular tbh.

(01 Aug 2026, 12:04 pm)deanmachine wrote Agreed, however, it would still be competing with the 23 between Peterlee and Hartlepool, which I think GNE want to stay out of.

Well not if they go different ways. X6 could go the current 23 route whereas the 23 could be changed to go The Highlight, Maritime Avenue, Church Street, Town Centre, Ward Jackson Park, High Tunstall, Bishop Cuthbert, Hart Village, Castle Eden Village then into Peterlee.

Had an idea for the 352 the other day

(01 Aug 2026, 12:04 pm)deanmachine wrote Agreed, however, it would still be competing with the 23 between Peterlee and Hartlepool, which I think GNE want to stay out of.

Yes, however it could go via the A19 fast which would be more appealing for people

(08 Aug 2026, 12:09 am)realseb265 wrote Yes, however it could go via the A19 fast which would be more appealing for people

It's longer the A19.

I know franchising isn't here but imo the X6/X22 should be merged, with one of them heading back to Darlington and the 55 restored by Hetton merged onto the 23.

ie like:


It's the way it was for years and is much superior than now. No offence to Peterlee town centre but it's a complete s**thole and is not the sort of place anyone wants to go unless they have no choice so terminating buses there is a bad place imo. The 32 is pathetically slow from the likes of Hetton to Sunderland aswell and is unacceptable imo.

It sorts out depot issues aswell since the X22 is running from Stockton atm and frees some space at Belmont to take some of the Durham area work ie. the 7/X12

(08 Aug 2026, 7:17 am)Storx wrote It's longer the A19.

I know franchising isn't here but imo the X6/X22 should be merged, with one of them heading back to Darlington and the 55 restored by Hetton merged onto the 23.

ie like:


It's the way it was for years and is much superior than now. No offence to Peterlee town centre but it's a complete s**thole and is not the sort of place anyone wants to go unless they have no choice so terminating buses there is a bad place imo. The 32 is pathetically slow from the likes of Hetton to Sunderland aswell and is unacceptable imo.

It sorts out depot issues aswell since the X22 is running from Stockton atm and frees some space at Belmont to take some of the Durham area work ie. the 7/X12.

Whilst your at it maybe increase the 62/62A in order to speed up the 61, or do whats in the attachment.

(08 Aug 2026, 1:25 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote Whilst your at it maybe increase the 62/62A in order to speed up the 61, or do whats in the attachment.

See under franchising I'd move the 22 into the 60/61 corridor and combine stuff together.

So you'd end up with something like, but renumbered appropriately:
22/60/61: Every 7.5 Minutes from Sunderland to West Lea
22/61: Every 15 Minutes from Sunderland to Dalton Park
X20/23 Extension: Every 15 Minutes from Houghton to Sunderland Fast
23/24: Every 15 Minutes Peterlee to Hartlepool

It's much cleaner than now where stuff just sits on top of each other especially along that corridor. 

Depot wise you could then do

Deptford takes on the:
22/23/24
X21/X22 (ANE)

Belmont takes on the:
7
14
65
X12
X21 (GNE) (Merge this with the 6)
59

Peterlee locals go as a small packages.

It would sort out a few of the headaches with dodgy interworking (14/50 and 20/65 in particular) and remove duplication in East Durham operations wise.

Interesting ideas, but the 59 runs half-empty most of the day, which is why Arriva couldn't make it pay for itself commercially.
Replying to  Storx

(09 Aug 2026, 7:34 am)Storx wrote See under franchising I'd move the 22 into the 60/61 corridor and combine stuff together.

So you'd end up with something like, but renumbered appropriately:
22/60/61: Every 7.5 Minutes from Sunderland to West Lea
22/61: Every 15 Minutes from Sunderland to Dalton Park
X20/23 Extension: Every 15 Minutes from Houghton to Sunderland Fast
23/24: Every 15 Minutes Peterlee to Hartlepool

It's much cleaner than now where stuff just sits on top of each other especially along that corridor. 

Depot wise you could then do

Deptford takes on the:
22/23/24
X21/X22 (ANE)

Belmont takes on the:
7
14
65
X12
X21 (GNE) (Merge this with the 6)
59

Peterlee locals go as a small packages.

It would sort out a few of the headaches with dodgy interworking (14/50 and 20/65 in particular) and remove duplication in East Durham operations wise.

This is exactly why a logical numbering scheme needs reintroducing