(22 Aug 2013, 3:13 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Well to be honest, I don't know why the 13 route is still there is there much of a need of a Langley Park-Findon Hill?! I think having the 14 operate half-hourly would be better as the current 13 is just the 43/44 route to Sacriston then 14 route to Langley. The 14 is the most used in my opinion 2 factors bring me to this conclusion, 1) buses I've seen in Durham are busier on the 14 2) A lot of people on social networks, seem to ask for the 14 and the Arnison Centre seems to be quite an attraction.
I do concur! I've used the 13/14 and its many previous incarnations for around 12 years.
The 13 in reality only benefits a small proportion of people wishing to go to Findon Hill- it doesn't benefit scholars at Fyndoune School as free school transport is provided by DCC from Langley Park and other surrounding areas.
The 14 does serve all the important areas: Arnison Centre, Framwellgate Moor (for FSD and New College), Dryburn Hospital and Durham.
The only people I can see annoyed at the loss of the 13 are college students studying at New College having to 'suffer' a trip through Nettlesworth and the Arnison Centre instead of a more direct route through Findon Hill.
I've asked for 2 14s an hour since they reduced the service from 2 14s and 1 13 an hour. However, they will not do it is because it increases the PVR by 1. Currently, the 13/14 just manages on a 2 PVR with interworking- however it can very easily run late- ideally the 14 needs around 35 minutes each way to take in traffic and other service delays.
Merging the 15s and 13/14 together would be an excellent proposal- it would provide fantastic and much wanted links. As other users have said it would disadvantage the original users of the 15- so it is highly unlikely to occur. On another note- GNE did mention about interworking the services at Durham but once again concerns about reliability and its knock effects nullified that proposal.
Now the Kickstart funding! That did boil my blood! The chance of my service actually getting improved was ripped away by government cuts!
Do not get me started on the X25!
I would be amazed if the 13/14 gets any improvements when its had straight cuts over the last 5 years. Speaking of which they've only just solved a major problem of the numbering of the additional 14 in the morning- bearing in mind the problem has been there for the past 5 years!