(06 Jun 2016, 6:34 pm)Adrian wrote It was the Durham to Houghton section that was quicker. I used it every afternoon from work when it was introduced, and you did save massively on the 20. It would do limited stop to the Belmont Sportsman arms, and then non-stop to Houghton, iirc? Perhaps it served West Rainton, but that may have been the 20X!
Sunderland suffers because the city centre is a mess. It's gone from being a thriving high street, to a pretty non-existent high street, and a shopping mall full of pound shops or cash for gold places. Binns is obviously long gone too.
Which on balance, probably isn't the most popular section of the route.
I must admit to preferring it over the other two '20's' as it stands now, getting it regularly on a morning when heading to the station and occasionally from. It saves 5/10 mins off memory now and at that time of the morning - is ideal.