(21 Sep 2013, 8:48 pm)W179SCU wrote I rode the 50 (all of the way from South Shields to Durham) last weekend (I had a random trip out, and forgot to post it on here) and that has some odd passenger numbers!
From South Shields, the bus (Scania 4930) was half-full until Boldon ASDA, where it emptied at Whiteleas and Boldon. After that, there were only two people on until Sulgrave, where a few boarded. The from Concord to Washington it was half-full, but after Washington it was full! - There were no seats left. A few departed at Lambton, but it emptied at Chester-le-Street. To Durham there wasn't that many people on from Chester-le-Street to Waldrige Park, but then it got busy onwards, and quite a few boarded/departed at Arninson Centre.
This goes to show an additional bus is needed from Washington to Durham, what does everyone else think?
How about a new Durham-Sunderland service, I know there is already 6ph on the 20 and a bus every few minutes from Washington to Sunderland, it would unlock links between Durham and Waterview and the likes of Fram to Sunderland
Durham-Aykley Heads-Framwellgate Moor-Chester-le-Street-Fast to Washington-Waterview Park-A19-Hastings Hill-Sunderland Hospital-Park Lane
Keep the 50 as it is and put the extra service in between to give a 20 minute for Durham-Washington...
As for a service number, maybe bring it into the Prince Bishops and run the X20 on it...
Just a thought
Marxista Fozz