(24 Jul 2015, 10:36 am)Charles41 wrote At 11.05 I boarded a very busy Scarlet Band 85 service to Barnard Castle. The vehicle was 28 seater Optare M880, NX55FFS. The bus left slightly late due to the heavy loading and the friendly driver trying to find the option for my Explorer ticket on his machine.
Great review.
You were lucky to actually use an Explorer ticket on the 85 from Bishop Auckland as I think the Explorer ticket is not actually valid on the Bishop Auckland - Cockfield section of this route which I think is something to do with this section of the route being commercial with the Cockfield - Barnard Castle section being supported by Durham County Council I think. May be wrong on that but I think it's been said before.
It's nice that a fair few people seem to be using the Scarlet Band 85, the 1700 85 Barnard Castle - Bishop Auckland last night carried a decent amount of passengers with many of them being fare paying passengers to.