(17 Mar 2016, 9:13 pm)LeeCalder wrote As Kuyoyo says, not all shifts will be fully Sapphire, in fact, I know for a fact they aren't.
Some drivers may go off the 43 on to the 6 for example, or from the X12 onto the 22.
Durham drivers get further than some depot's Sapphire drivers - I believe the only out-of-town route the Stockton lad have that aren't 5/5a is 28/28a (I'm waiting to be corrected on that score - however I do know they don't get any X12s).
(17 Mar 2016, 10:07 pm)BusLoverMum wrote It makes sense not to stick to one route. A round trip on the 22 or 24 from Durham is 3 hours, for example. 2 of those isn't going to fill a full working day for a full time driver, even with statutory allowances for breaks. Some of the runs on the 6 are much shorter, but there's not enough of those to make up every driver's hours exclusively on a Sapphire service.
There will be more shifts that only do Sapphire routes in a shift than shifts that do Sapphire then something else or the other way round.