(16 Nov 2013, 5:49 pm)Dan wrote I could ask the same about services such as the M2/M3. On many occasions I've seen those services running with very few passenger numbers - at peaks and non-peaks.
I used to use that X3 journey daily in the summer, and it was always quite full. With it being winter now, I don't use it anymore. I wonder if others are the same? Cold, dark nights... I don't want to be out in Newcastle at that time, returning to Sunderland!
I'm sure Go North East know what they're doing - if any journeys were so bad that they were making a loss, they wouldn't exist.
Do you think different services have different tolerance levels - depending on their length, duration, percieved importance and maybe if there is any competition on the route?
I have been on an x1 from Newcastle several times (at different times of the day) and it emptied on hitting the Galleries - carrying me, another few passengers and fresh air.
However, it always seems to pick up a decent load between Shiney Row and Hetton for passengers travelling locally.
The 21 is similar beyond Low Fell/Harlow Green.
My personal thoughts, are that an express service, linking the only two cities within Tyne & Wear during rush hour, that x3 should be busy.
However, that bus may have picked up passengers further into the journey travelling into Sunderland - thus making it viable.