(19 Nov 2017, 7:08 pm)L469 YVK wrote The 4 is a bit of a nightmare for timekeeping though to be fair. Been on many of routes myself where the bus behind has ended up catching up and 'leapfrogging' the late runner that has been getting rammed with passengers and personally if I know that a bus is running way later than it should, I just wait for the next one as it'll be a heck of a lot quieter and quicker too!
One example is that when I got the 309 to Newcastle one Monday morning, I was waiting for the one that commenced a short trip from Whitley Bay (before the times changed in Jul 2016) and ended up turning up 10 minutes late so I let it go and waited for the one one that started from Blyth which was only 5 minutes late and despite this, the driver managed to get it back on time by 'scratching' of the 310 through Battle Hill Drive then when clear, gave the bus a bit of a right foot and ended up catching the really late 309 on the Coast Road arriving into Newcastle before it and on time too!
If you think thats bad try the 56 , every morning i get it on time sometimes 2 mins early but going towards newcastle at 6:45am there is normally 2 together which says alot even though the 56 is always late 7 days a week ! Even the 35 is better for been on time / lateness too.