(10 Sep 2015, 7:44 pm)BusLoverMum wrote I used to live in Gateshead so caught the X66 quite regularly, particularly when I worked near Rowlands Gill for a few months. To be honest, it's always been frequent enough that you don't even stop to think that it runs to a given timetable unless it's so badly delayed that 3 come at once. And that was without the handy little shortcut that some runs can take. Delays were always down to traffic, rather than the buses themselves so I can't see what problem having streetlites would cause. Yes there are single deckers that can carry a handful more passengers, but they cost more to run. In the entire history of the service, the bendy buses were relatively short lived and, I suspect, expensive to run half full.
At Christmas, we will see those inevetable delays you mention.
We will also see loads increase and see runs close to full to the brim.
Having used it quite a bit recently, both prior to the six weeks and during - there were times, drivers transferring to/from the depot, were squeezed in tightly.
I can only imagine Christmas will be worse.