(19 Sep 2013, 9:26 pm)Daniel wrote We've had confirmation that an order has been placed for Wright Eclipse Geminis of the Volvo B9TL variety to be used on "Fab Fifty Six" service 56, and these will presumably be fitted with free Wi-Fi and plug sockets (like "TEN" and "Tyne Tees Xpress")...
Do we not think Go North East would use this to their advantage? Many people would prefer those benefits compared to a more frequent Metro that can take a shorter time.
I foresee service changes...
Really? The Metro from somewhere like Millfield (nearest to Chester Road used in the example) to Monument (nearest to 56 stop) takes 35 minutes. The 56 takes precisely double that. Apart from an enthusiast who enjoys traveling on buses, would someone who needs to get from A to B really opt for doubling their journey time just for the opportunity to charge their phone and send a tweet? And of course their journey time will be considerably longer than 70 mins to use the 56 because they have to get to the Interchange, or another point along the route (which incidentally largely duplicates or runs close to the route of X36 for much of its length in Sunderland - and indeed all 3 Newcastle to Sunderland services follow pretty similar routes within Sunderland while GNE chose to entirely ignore corridors south of the river).