(08 Sep 2013, 9:35 am)Andreos1 wrote I'm just trying to compare the Bishop Auckland to Hexham operations, following on from the comments above.

Bishop:
* Dedicated depot on hire to reduce costs.
* Reliant on pushing Buzzfare.
* 4 services launched in competition to Arriva.
* Limited service on Sundays.
* Cascaded vehicles, including second hand examples.

Hexham:
* Dedicated depot.
* Competing against train and 685.
* Several local services feeding into town centre with ongoing connections to neighbouring towns and Newcastle.
* Very limited service on Sundays on certain routes.
* Mixture of cascaded and brand new vehicles
servicing the town.

It is obvious where GNE are focusing their attention, investing more in the Tyne Valley, than down the road in the Wear Valley.
Hexham is a more prosperous area, with the weekday market attracting people from around the area as well as the commuters along the valley needing to get onto Tyneside.

However, like with the Coaster, I can't help feeling as though they have missed the boat so to speak with the x84/85.
The majority of people using the Hexham services at this time of year, will be residents living in the Hexham area.
If the X84/85 had been launched earlier in the year, then it could have found its feet perfectly with visitors and tourists wanting to go to Hexham over the summer, when the weather is nicer.
Needless to say, Sunday is an ideal day for people to do that - just not as autumn sets in...

From the other side of the coin, as we get closer to Christmas, the attraction may well be the Metrocentre and Newcastle, with loads increasing from Northumberland as they head onto Tyneside to do their shopping.

Touching on what Daniel was saying, the 74a probably won't have enough passengers to justify using a Scania and to be honest, I can't see the 7.24 X84 on a Sunday morning being too busy either.
As aureolin said, for the sake of 10mins, you can get a 10 and charge your phone up.

This isn't me having another go at GNE, I'm just trying to stand back, trying to understand and analyse their services.