(07 Aug 2015, 10:01 am)GX03 SVC wrote Here's my suggestion for routes X18, X20, X21, X22, 35, 35A.
Let's hope this suggestion doesn't turn into a multi-million pound investment into E400MMCs and that.
- Order 9 new ADL Enviro400 / Dennis Trident 2s for routes X21/X22(becomes X41/X42) rebrand 7522-8 as "Sapphire Express" and re-number as X41 & X42. No route or timetable changes while these are trialed with the current timetable to see if it needs tweaking in any places etc.
- 7501-5 get branded as 35/35A along with 1579-81 which will be refurbished to Sapphire spec for 35/35A which will be upgraded to a 10 minute frequency - Mon-Sat daytimes. As the 35 no longer interworks onto route 100 the frequency can be upgraded with just one more bus(?).
- Route X20 (Newcastle-Alnwick) gets upgraded to MAX with deckers from another Arriva division, these will be branded as "Explore Coast & Castles", and promoting the link to South East Northumberland. This route would remain hourly and use the X18 route between Widdrington Station and Alnmouth Station, where the X18 & X20 will call at Alnmouth Station, while the X20 goes straight to Alnwick while the X18 calls at Alnmouth Village then Alnwick (or whatever it is currently) to have a 30-minute frequency between Widdrington & Alnwick.
- So the X18 & X20 get promoted as "every 30 minutes between Widdrington and Alnwick, with hourly extensions to Alnmouth Village"
X21 needs quicker journeys, simple as. If a minute was added to the X21 between Bedlington Stn and Red Lion and 2 minutes were took from the X22 (between Ashington and Park Rd and between Wansbeck Est and Guide Post), the X21 could run by the Hartlands and this would mean that both services could maintain a 10 minute frequency from Ashington then between Bedlington and Newcastle a bit like this and similar to the way that the X10 / X11 run from Blyth:
Ashington: X21 (00), X22 (08), X21 (20), X22 (28), X21 (40), X22 (48)
Bedlington to Newcastle: Every 10 minutes.
Also, the X21 would take 53 mins from Ashington to Newcastle with the X22 taking 55 minutes. With increased layover times at Haymarket and Newbiggin (9 in Toon and 13 in Newbiggin) whilst also getting about 7-9 minites in Ashington,the X22 could afford to run a few minutes late if it got a good hammering amd not have a knock on effect. The X22 bar a few journeys, managed the 55 minute journey without too many issues, it was more down to poor layover times before the X21 / X22 began to be interworked.
Also, the Nedderton section could be replaced by a service that would form part of the Wide Open to Newcastle corridoor.