The new Arriva timetables from May 15th.
All the services through Newton Aycliffe are getting pushed back by 5 minutes, the biggest issue with me here is getting to/from Middlesbrough is now becoming even more of a pain in the arse, first back in October when the X66/X67 changed I could no longer connect through to Middlesbrough on the 5/5A so I ended up having to get the 7 however as the 7 will now run 5 minutes later meaning that there is now only 5 minutes to connect between the 7 and X66 at Harrowgate Hill and that's if I get off at Ashleigh House and walk round the corner to the Elmcroft stop which is about 3 minutes walk, if I stay on until the next stop it's 3 minutes and chances are the X66 will be early and it takes forever to cross to the opposite side of the road so chances are knowing my luck I would miss it every time. The alternative is to sit on the 5/5A for 40 minutes into Darlington Town Centre and then a 5 minute wait before catching the X66 where I end up heading along North Road again for a 47 minute journey to Middlesbrough, so this makes for a painfully long journey just to reach Middlesbrough which could be done faster on the train which despite it's current two hour frequency and use of Class 142 Pacer's is starting to look a more convenient attractive option!
Been using the first 5A to Darlington on a Saturday morning for my further afield outings recently but sadly it would appear that this is being withdrawn meaning I would only be able to catch the 0754 VTEC service I've been using a lot recently by getting a lift or taxi to Darlington Rail Station, so now I would not only have the expense of Rail fares but taxi fares as well, yay!!! I don't quite understand its withdrawal either as it's been pretty busy everytime I've used it and most of the passengers have been weekly ticket holders as well with the odd concession pass holder as well.
Nice of you to now provide Harrowgate Hill with an early morning Sunday service 7 into Darlington Town Centre but not the rest of us on the 7 route!
Sapphire 7 still feels like a second class service on a Sunday with it's hourly frequency whilst the 8 goes around carrying fresh air and runs stupidly late!
Other than the new Sunday evening service 5A which I'll probably rarely use these changes are not going down well with me I'm afraid, say all you want about my views but I'm not happy about these changes. [emoji34]
What's annoying you today? V4