Are route decisions made by people who actually know the North East and even live up here? I made a suggestion for an x38 service and they replied back to me saying that an 8 minute journey saving (more during peak times) would not be enough over the 308. They claim that an express needs to save 22-25% in time over a regular service. Now they did also reply back to me mentioning that this was why the old 44 failed.
Do they not look at things such as WHERE a bus serves? They forget that the 44 served Marden and New York / Norham Road rather than Hillheads, Billy Mill Lane, Billy Mill and the Formica Slip Roads. OK, 8 minutes isn't huge but it aint bad and would certainly help the 308 improve in terms of reliability and offer a faster alternative to passengers during peak times.
This isn't a service suggestion post as such. I just wonder how Arriva actually look into routes. For example putting Arriva's X9 (to be X6) a side, GNE's X39 particularly the 17:05 service isn't much quicker than the 309 but, at least gives passengers an alternative way to get to and from Cobalt whilst saving them a bit of time. Do Arriva not look at journey patterns closely to see where passengers are travelling to and from?
RE: Arriva North East: Latest News & Discussion - August 2015