(25 Nov 2013, 5:20 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Well yes I will agree that a frequent service is good, which is why personally I'm not keen on all this A/B/C lettered routes as it detracts from that in many ways. However if I'm going Sunderland-Seaham (The Harbour) I'll wait a few minutes extra for the X7 as opposed to getting the 60 as ill get there quicker. I wouldn't say if I'm going to the Mill Inn I prefer the 60 to the 61 at all intact I'd often prefer the 61 during peak times as the scholars from The Avenue/Harbour/Dawdon were significantly more than those going to Murton. The only thing that I do now is that I'd often get a 60 to ride a Streetlite since they're new and I am a member of a bus group! However as far as normal passengers go I can't say anyone would 'prefer a 60 to a 61' especially when both had Versas.
Like I say - if the journey time is the same, but the frequency is higher on one service, most people will go for the higher frequency service.
These quotes come from very early on this year, when the 60 was allocated Versas and the 61 was allocated Cadets. All of my friends know the difference between a Versa and a Cadet, and they often judged it on the interior alone - while the Versa has the 'refreshed' new interior style, the Cadets retain the old interior style. The smell, cleanliness and speed of the buses were also factors too - I'll let you decide which of the above factors my friends gave to the bus!
You said yourself when we were first discussing the original plan for the 39/61 that passengers know the difference between a Versa and Cadet, and it's true.
(25 Nov 2013, 5:20 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Well yes we both agreed (See we do Sometimes agree Dan!) we weren't keen on having the 61 in the SimpliCity brand. For me albeit I was thought of it been 'out of the city' aswell as the 'Simply turn up and go' slogan. However GNE still have the 61 in SimpliCity brand so theres the problem.
Also should the consultation go through unchanged the extra 39's would be replaced by 26's.
Ah, it is possible! We're better than A1 and eezy then!
I believe that even if the feedback was negative, GNE would still go ahead with the plan of axing the short 39s and replacing them in some way or another.
Allocating both the 39 and 61 Versas was a recipe for disaster.
I just hope that the consultation results show that most users were in favour of the proposed changes so that it hasn't worked out so badly after all.